Stanley Earl Kramer (September 29, 1913 – February 19, 2001) was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message movies". As an independent producer and director, he brought attention to topical social issues that most studios avoided. Among the subjects covered in his films were racism (in The Defiant Ones and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), nuclear war (in On the Beach), greed (in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), creationism vs. evolution (in Inherit the Wind) and the causes and effects of fascism (in Judgement at Nuremberg). His other notable films included High Noon (1952, as producer), The Caine Mutiny (1954, as producer), and Ship of Fools (1965). Director Steven Spielberg described him as an "incredibly talented visionary," and "one of our great filmmakers, not just for the art and passion he put on screen, but for the impact he has made on the conscience of the world." Kramer was recognized for his fierce independence as a producer-director, with author Victor Navasky writing that "among the independents . . . none seemed more vocal, more liberal, more pugnacious than young Stanley Kramer." His friend, Kevin Spacey, during his acceptance speech at the 2015 Golden Globes, honored Kramer's work, calling him "one of the great filmmakers of all time."Despite mixed critical reception, both then and now, the film industry heavily promoted Kramer's work with numerous awards. His films received 16 Academy Awards and 80 nominations, and he was nominated nine times as either producer or director. In 1961 he received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. In 1963 he was a member of the jury at the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival. In 1998 was awarded the first NAACP Vanguard Award "in recognition of the strong social themes that ran through his body of work." In 2002, the Stanley Kramer Award was created, to be given to recipients for work that "dramatically illustrates provocative social issues."
September 29, 1913, Hell's Kitchen, New York City, New York, United States
Died
February 19, 2001, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States
Place Of Birth
Hell's Kitchen [now Clinton], Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Profession
Producer, Director, Miscellaneous Crew
Education
New York University, DeWitt Clinton High School
Nationality
American
Spouse
Karen Sharpe (m. 1966–2001), Anne P. Kramer (m. 1950–1963), Marilyn Erskine (m. 1945–1945)
Children
Kat Kramer, Casey Kramer, Jennifer Kramer
Awards
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama
Nominations
Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Director, Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, BAFTA Award for Best Film, Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film, Golden Globe Award for Best Film Promoting International Understanding
Movies
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Judgment at Nuremberg, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Defiant Ones, Inherit the Wind, On the Beach, Ship of Fools, High Noon, The Pride and the Passion, Not as a Stranger, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, Bless the Beasts and Children, The Wild One, The Caine Mutiny,...
TV Shows
Something a Little Less Serious: A Tribute to 'It's a Mad Mad Mad
Star Sign
Libra
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Quote
1
During the filming of Mad World with all the comedians, I think Spencer Tracy was in poorer health than I (believed): he had bad colour and no stamina whatever. But then, even though this lack of energy showed, I think he had his best time ever during the making of a film. The comedians worshipped him. Never before or since has a king had a court full of jesters who strove only to entertain him so that his majesty might say, 'That was funny,' or just laugh and smile. Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Buddy Hackett, Phil Silvers, Mickey Rooney - even the silent Sid Caesar - crowded about him and vied for his affection. They had it. And he talked about them to the very last; he loved them all.
2
[on studio chiefs and backers who wanted him to soften his message (1960 interview)] I take a very reluctant and conservative view on what a single film can do in affecting our lives. I don't make films to stir the world. I am not conscious of a responsibility to society or even to my own social consciousness when I make a film. My motivation can be as simple as saying, gee, this would make an exciting picture.
3
[in 1949] I firmly believe that the independent producer today can select material which will return vitality to the motion picture industry. I think people are completely fed up with the pattern. The independent has simply got to destroy that pattern. If our industry is to flourish, we must break away from formula thinking.
4
[on some of the directors who emerged in the 60's (1968)] The put-on leads to the adoration of technique. The nouvelle vague, the neo-realists and the angry young men have opened the gates to interrupted dialogue, mismatching, jump cuts, super-imposures, split screens and the camera as primary weapon in the director's bag. Technique covers a multitude of sins.
5
(On Roosevelt's New Deal) That all probably as profound an influence on me as any event on which I can base the things I believe in; my attitudes regarding the blacks; the freedom of teachers; world guilt and sectarian prejudice. I never became any kind of evangelist because of those beliefs, but I tried to translate the drama of them into film.
6
[on working with Montgomery Clift during the filming of Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)]. He was a total wreck at this point. He kept stumbling and forgetting his lines during take after take. Finally I said to him: "Just forget the damn lines, Monty. Let's say you're on the witness stand. The prosecutor says something to you, then the defence attorney bitterly attacks you... and you have to reach for a word in the script. That's all right. Go ahead and reach for it. Whatever the word may be, it doesn't really matter. Just turn to [Spencer] Tracy on the bench whenever you feel the need, and ad lib something. It will be all right because it will convey the confusion in your character's mind." He seemed to calm down after this. He wasn't always close to the script, but whatever he said fitted in perfectly, and he came through with as good a performance as I had hoped.
7
[on Sidney Poitier] Sidney has a greatness and professionalism and a deep, deep sensitivity. He's an absolutely beautiful man inside and out.
8
[on Ava Gardner] She can read a script and immediately give you a completely lucid explanation of its merits and faults.
9
[on Katharine Hepburn] The most completely thorough, driving, constantly seeking actress with whom I'm been associated. She's never really satisfied; she never stops thinking about what she's doing and about what everybody else is doing. She is a marvelous woman who has a capacity for many emotional areas and she has great talent. She can trigger an emotional truth at precisely the right time. I don't know what she draws on; it's a deep, deep well.
10
If I am to be remembered for anything I have done in this profession, I would like it to be for the four films in which I directed Spencer Tracy.
11
[on Lee Marvin] I'm not his psychiatrist. I don't know whether he has one or needs one. I'm only saying that to understand him, one needs help.
12
[on Humphrey Bogart] He was playing Bogart all the time, but he was really just a big sloppy bowl of mush.
13
I'm always pursuing the next dream, hunting for the next truth.
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Fact
1
He died of complications from pneumonia at the Motion Picture Home, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.
2
NYU, Kramer's alma mater, awarded him its prestigious Gallatin Medal in 1968. The award honors persons whose accomplishments are of "lasting significance to society." Three of its previous eleven recipients were Dr. Jonas Salk, Ralph Bunche, and C. Douglas Dillon.
3
His films Home of the Brave (1949) and Champion (1949) were the only two major box office hits United Artists had in 1949.
4
Served in the Army Signal Corps during World War II, making training films. He finished the war with the rank of first lieutenant.
5
His mother worked as a secretary for Paramount. One of his uncles worked in distribution for Universal.
6
After graduating De Witt Clinton High School, he attended New York University, graduating with a degree in business administration. His articles for a university publication won him a contract as junior writer at 20th Century Fox, earning $70 a week. For the next fourteen years, he worked as a scriptwriter/researcher at Fox, Republic and Columbia; as set dresser, researcher and editor at MGM and as associate producer for Loew-Lewin. Formed his own production company in 1947, in conjunction with Carl Foreman and George Glass. Under contract as director at United Artists (1955-63) and Columbia (1965-67; 1970-73). Had a reputation for being frugal, working well within his budgetary limitations. Many of his films reflected social or political concerns and were often controversial. He was consequently -- and to his chagrin -- tagged as a "message film maker" and "Hollywood's Conscience".
7
After his retirement in 1980, he moved to Seattle, where he wrote a column for the Seattle Times and taught at the University of Washington and Bellevue Community College.
8
Was to name his child after Spencer Tracy, but when the baby turned out to be a girl, he named her after Katharine Hepburn. Hepburn was also her godmother.
9
After graduating from New York University in 1933, majoring in writing, Kramer accepted an internship in Hollywood as a production assistant. He worked as a set p.a. at several studios from 1933 onward and eventually worked at Universal in the early 1940s as part of the swing gang in the art department.
$850,000
