Delbert Mann

Born in Lawrence, a small town in Kansas, on January 30, 1920, Delbert Martin Mann, Jr. was the son of a humble professor. The young Delbert graduated in political science from Vanderbilt University, where he met Ann Caroline Gillespie, the woman of his life, who, after marrying him, would accompany him until his death in 2001. With the outbreak of World War II, Mann enlisted in the air force. He became a bomber pilot and flew 35 combat missions in Europe. After the war ended, and after exercising various occupations, he ended up becoming a stage manager at a Columbia theater.

Before long, he switched from theater to television, when an old college classmate, writer-director Fred Coe , recommended him to direct episodes of the Philco Television Playhouse program . The most outstanding episode was “Marty”, one of the great successes of the small screen in the United States, due to the brilliant script by Paddy Chayevsky and the memorable performance of Rod Steiger . Mann was awarded the Emmy for Best Director for an episode of “Producers’ Showcase,” starring Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra . At that time, known as the Golden Age of Television, a number of filmmakers worked on various series, such as John Frankenheimer ., Martin Ritt , Robert Mulligan or Sidney Lumet , who together with Mann himself were known as the Television Generation. His work represents a total thematic and stylistic break with respect to the established filmmakers who until then operated in Hollywood, such as George Cukor , Fritz Lang or John Ford .

At that time, actor Burt Lancaster , who was one of the great stars of the cinema, had just teamed up with screenwriter Ben Hecht ( Front Page ) to found an independent company, Hecht-Lancaster, which had achieved various successes. Lancaster and Hecht were the ones who had the brilliant idea of ​​bringing Marty to the screen , a bet that went against the current, since many such simple and human stories were not seen on the screens, along the lines of this drama, about the adventures of a butcher normal and ordinary, who discovered love. They asked Mann to be the director, although they didn’t like that Rob Steigerrepeat as protagonist, because he was very little known. Lancaster suggested Ernst Borgnine, who had shot with him From Here to Eternity , and who delivered arguably the best work of Lancaster’s long career on this film.

The film was a great success with the public, as it raised ten times more than its low budget. It became the first American feature film to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and was also awarded four Oscars (film, director, actor and adapted screenplay). Mann himself, with his statuette, was the first newcomer to win the Best Director award, and the only one to date along with Sam Mendes ( American Beauty ). “Because I had already shot it for television, I knew it worked and that it was a pretty good story. But I could never anticipate how successful it was going to be on the big screen,” Mann once commented in reference to Marty .

During the following years, Mann alternated between television and film, specializing in everyday dramas along the lines of Marty . The author of the screenplay for his debut, the aforementioned Chayefsky, wrote for him The Night of the Husbands , which practically resembled a play, and In the Middle of the Night , starring Kim Novak . Mann also adapted famous playwrights, such as Eugene O’Neill, author of Desire Under the Elms , which starred Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins . He also directed Terence Rattigan ‘s Separate Tables , which won two Oscars. by william ingefilmed In the Dark Staircase .

In addition to directing dramas, Mann has also worked in other genres. He is responsible for Pijama para dos , one of the famous comedies by Rock Hudson and Doris Day ; this one would repeat with Mann in Suave como visón , a film of the same genre. He also has war films, such as The Sixth Hero and Eagle’s Nest , while Greed Fever is an adventure film.

In the late 1960s, Mann turned again to the small screen, with television adaptations of famous novels, such as Heidi (1968) , David Copperfield (1969) , Jane Eyre (1970) and All Quiet on the Front (1979) . He would occasionally return to the movies, with titles like David and Catriona and Fuga de noche . He is also the author of Patton’s Last Days , a television production conceived as a sequel to Franklin J. Schaffner ‘s film about the famous general. He recruited the same leading man, George C. Scott, who had won the Oscar for playing the lead. Mann suffered a severe blow when his daughter Susan died in 1978. The filmmaker was honored with a star on the Walk of Fame.