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Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director. From a career spanning over half a century, he is best known for his sophisticated innovation and artistry in musical films. As of 2026, six of his films have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
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entertainment · American stage and film director (1903–1986) · theatre director · film director · costume designer · director · producer · also Vincente Minnelli, Lester Anthony Minnelli, Vincent Minnelli, Minnelli
Born 28 February 1903 · Died 25 July 1986 · Q51535
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LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Vincente Minnelli
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“Vincente was a difficult person to communicate with. He was not very articulate, he would leave sentences unfinished. He had a great love of the visual aspects of moviemaking—he was originally a set designer, and people used to complain all the time,”
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The Guardian: I saw Liza Minnelli’s performance on the Muppet Show – and was inspired to become a drag star
Moviefone: Vincente Minnelli: The Movies That Stay With You - Where to Watch
Film historian Ronald Bergan contrastingly wrote: "What distinguished Minnelli from most of the other directors on the MGM roster was his mise-en-scène – his elegant compositions within an individual frame – the relation
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Died in his Beverly Hills home, aged 83, from emphysema and pneumonia, which had caused him to be repeatedly hospitalized in his final year
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Died 1986-07-25.
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Minnelli married Anderson
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Richard Schickel wrote Minnelli is "not by nature a storyteller
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Minnelli became interested in adapting Maurice Druon's 1954 novel The Film of Memory (La Volupté d'être)
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Film critics found the film sentimental and mildly engaging
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Minnelli received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry
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“George, you might be a seething volcano inside. But I”
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MGM purchased the film rights to Irwin Shaw's novel Two Weeks in Another Town for $55,000
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Awarded Academy Award for Best Director for Gigi (1959).
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Won Golden Globe Award for Best Director for Gigi (1959).
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Albert Johnson, in an article for Film Quarterly, called Minnelli "a master of the decorative image," belonging "neither to the old school nor to the new, but remains in a special position of accomplishment, one which pe
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At the Royale Theatre in New York, and received critical acclaim
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Arthur Freed purchased the film rights to the Broadway musical Bells Are Ringing, with its book and lyrics written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne
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And was finished ten weeks later, with on-location filming at the Newport Beach, Beverly Hills Hotel, and Marineland
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At the Radio City Music Hall, earning $2
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The film premiered at the Radio City Music Hall and earned $4
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Brigadoon premiered at the Radio City Music Hall, and received mixed reviews from film critics
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Freed's interest was renewed after seeing the Broadway play
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With Garland retaining parental custody of Liza
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Minnelli was announced to direct a musical film adaptation of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn
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Playwright Anita Loos adapted the novella into a play, which went to Broadway and starred Audrey Hepburn in her first major role
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An American in Paris proved popular with audiences, earning over $8 million in the United States
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“s Huckleberry Finn. Dean Stockwell was cast in the title role. William Warfield was cast as Jim, along with Gene Kelly and Danny Kaye as the Duke and Dauphin respectively. Rehearsals began in August; simultaneously, Minnelli filmed the fashion show finale for Mervyn LeRoy”
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At the MGM studios, though production was halted on September 15 to prepare for the ballet sequence
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MGM suspended Garland; three days later, Garland attempted suicide by puncturing her throat with a piece of glass
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Minnelli and Garland temporarily separated
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MGM acquired the rights to George's catalogue from his estate for $158,750 (equivalent to $2
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But five days later, Minnelli was called into Freed's office and removed from the film
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A recording session with Garland had to be cancelled due to her illness
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In Garland's mother's house in Wilshire, Los Angeles
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Before Garland was to film The Harvey Girls (1946), Minnelli and Garland were engaged to be married
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Though continued filming was frequently delayed by Garland's tardiness and claims of illness
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Freed offered Minnelli the direction of Cabin in the Sky (1943)
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Did minor consulting work, which included critiquing Norman Z
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Minnelli began working for MGM
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Arthur Freed brought Minnelli to Hollywood to work for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where he directed sequences in Babes on Broadway (1941) and Panama Hattie (1942)
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During the filming of Strike Up the Band
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With musical critic Brooks Atkinson writing in his review that Minnelli had not "solved the confusion of the story
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Paramount Pictures offered him a contract to produce and direct films
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Minnelli briefly worked for Paramount Pictures, but then returned to Broadway where he directed more shows including Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's last work together, Very Warm for May
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The Ziegfeld Follies was a commercial success, running for five months and reopened for another five months after a summer hiatus
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Selected Minnelli to produce his first stage show titled Coast to Coast, which opened on October 25
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The Paramount-Publix theater chain acquired Balaban and Katz and Minnelli moved to New York to work in Paramount's theaters there
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Balaban and Katz merged with the Paramount-Publix theater chain, and Minnelli was asked to work on New York stage productions for $150 a week
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Born 1903-02-28.
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To Mina Mary LaLouche LeBeau and Vincent Charles Minnelli
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