George Stevens, Jr.
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George Cooper Stevens Jr. (born April 3, 1932) is an American writer, playwright, director, and producer. He is the founder of the American Film Institute, creator of the
AFI Life Achievement Award The AFI Life Achievement Award was established by the board of directors of the American Film Institute on February 26, 1973, to honor a single individual for his or her lifetime contribution to enriching American culture through motion picture ...
, and co-creator of the Kennedy Center Honors. He has also served as Co-Chairman of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.


Personal life

Stevens was born and grew up in Los Angeles, California. His father was the film director
George Stevens George Cooper Stevens (December 18, 1904 – March 8, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Obituary '' Variety'', March 12, 1975, page 79. Films he produced were nominated for the Academy Award for ...
and his mother Yvonne Howell was an actress. Stevens' grandparents were also in the entertainment industry. His maternal grandmother
Alice Howell Alice Howell (born Alice Florence Clark; May 20, 1886 – April 12, 1961) was a silent film comedy actress from New York City. She was the mother of actress Yvonne Howell. Biography Early reviews of her movies describe her as ''"the scream of ...
was a silent comedy film actress, and his paternal grandparents
Landers Stevens John Landers Stevens (1877–1940) was an American stage and film actor. A character actor he appeared in prominent screen roles in the early 1920s before switching to smaller supporting parts, often authority figures, in the following decade. ...
and Georgia Cooper Stevens were film actors. In 1965, he married Elizabeth Guest, the daughter of Lily Polk Guest. With his wife, Stevens has two sons, David Stevens, film producer Michael Stevens and a stepdaughter, documentary producer Caroline Stevens.


Career


Early career

After graduating from Occidental College in 1953, Stevens enlisted in the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
, where he directed training films. He began his career in Hollywood as a production assistant on several of his father's movies, including A Place in the Sun,
Shane Shane may refer to: People * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born 1946) * iamnotshane (born 1995), formerly known as Shane, American singer * Shane (name) Shane is mainly a masculine g ...
, and
Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...
. He was also an associate producer and director of location scenes on his father's drama The Diary of Anne Frank. In 1957, Stevens directed a pilot for Dragnet creator Jack Webb called People. NBC turned the pilot down, but ABC aired it as a special in December of 1957. Stevens then went on to direct episodes of another Webb-created series, The D.A.'s Man, in 1959. He did additional TV directing work on shows such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and
Peter Gunn ''Peter Gunn'' is an American private eye television series, starring Craig Stevens as Peter Gunn with Lola Albright as his girlfriend, Edie Hart. The series aired on NBC from September 22, 1958, to 1960 and on ABC in 1960–1961. The seri ...
.


United States Information Agency

In 1962, while he was doing pre-production work on ''
The Greatest Story Ever Told ''The Greatest Story Ever Told'' is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens. It is a retelling of the Biblical account about Jesus of Nazareth, from the Nativity through to the Ascension. Along with the ensemble cast ...
'', Stevens was recruited by
Edward R. Murrow Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe f ...
to serve as director of the Motion Picture and Television Service, a division of the
United States Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to " public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bil ...
. At age 31, Stevens moved from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., where as director of the service, he produced roughly 300 short documentary films per year. One of the films Stevens commissioned was
Nine from Little Rock ''Nine from Little Rock'' is a 1964 American short documentary film directed by Charles Guggenheim about the Little Rock Nine, the first nine African-American students to attend an all-white Arkansas high school in 1957. The film was commissioned ...
, which followed the experiences of nine African-American students attending a previously all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. That film won an Academy Award for documentary short in 1965. Stevens also produced the agency's first full-length film, a 90-minute documentary about John F. Kennedy's presidency and death called Years of Lightning, Day of Drums, which in 1964 was named one of the Ten Best Films of the Year by the
National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...
.


American Film Institute

In 1965, Stevens was a consultant in the process that established the
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
. In June 1967, at age 35, Stevens resigned from his position at the USIA to join the American Film Institute, which was created using NEA funds, as its founding director. Stevens initially ran the AFI out of a suite in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and in his first days on the job began reaching out to American universities with film programs to see how the institute could best aid their efforts to develop the talents of young filmmakers and preserve archival copies of important films. In 1969, Stevens led the effort to establish the AFI's Center for Advanced Film studies, now known as the AFI Conservatory. Over the course of Stevens's tenure as founding director of the AFI, this developmental wing of the institute produced notable writer-directors such as Paul Schrader, David Lynch, and
Terrence Malick Terrence Frederick Malick (born November 30, 1943) is an American filmmaker. His films include '' Days of Heaven'' (1978), '' The Thin Red Line'' (1998), for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenp ...
. Under Stevens, the AFI preserved and restored approximately 14,000 films between 1967 and 1977. He oversaw the launch of AFI's magazine, American Film, which had around 100,000 subscribers in 1977, and opened a repertory theater at the Kennedy Center in 1973. Stevens also helped raise funds that financed independent film projects like Barbara Kopple's Harlan County, U.S.A. and Robert Kramer's
Ice Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...
. In 1973, Stevens established the
AFI Life Achievement Award The AFI Life Achievement Award was established by the board of directors of the American Film Institute on February 26, 1973, to honor a single individual for his or her lifetime contribution to enriching American culture through motion picture ...
, to honor and recognize decorated figures in the American film industry such as
Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
, James Cagney,
Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
, and Lillian Gish. Stevens produced and wrote for the Life Achievement Award's television broadcast from its inception until 1998. Stevens stepped down as head of the AFI in 1980.


Kennedy Center Honors and other work

In 1978, along with Nick Vanoff, Stevens co-created the Kennedy Center Honors, a ceremony and television production recognizing people who have made significant contributions to American culture through the performing arts, such as
Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...
, Stephen Sondheim, and
Jessye Norman Jessye Mae Norman (September 15, 1945 – September 30, 2019) was an American opera singer and recitalist. She was able to perform dramatic soprano roles, but refused to be limited to that voice type. A commanding presence on operatic, concert ...
. Stevens wrote and produced the television special from 1978 until 2014. The majority of the 14
Emmys The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
Stevens won over the course of his career came from producing the special. In 1982, Stevens created
Christmas in Washington ''Christmas in Washington'' was an annual Christmas television special that originated on NBC and later aired on the TNT network. It ended in 2015 after a 33-year run. Background One of two annual holiday specials produced by George Stevens J ...
, a musical television special benefitting the Children's National Hospital. He wrote and produced the show, which aired on NBC for 17 years and TNT for 15 years, until its final production in 2014. In the early 1980s, Stevens wrote and directed a documentary focusing on his father's life and work in the film industry. The documentary, titled ''George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey'' was first shown in the summer of 1984 at the
Deauville American Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival (french: Festival du cinéma américain de Deauville, link=no) is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Ch ...
, and was released commercially in the US in April 1985. Stevens included interviews with actors and directors who worked with his father, as well as footage from World War II taken by his father's military film unit that had been kept in a storehouse for several decades. The films contained the only known color footage of World War II, according to Stevens. The documentary won awards including an International Documentary Association Distinguished Achievement Award in 1985 and a Writers Guild of America Award in 1989 for its ABC television broadcast. In 1985, after a BBC journalist based in Washington D.C.,
Margaret Jay Margaret Ann Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington, (née Callaghan; born 18 November 1939), is a British politician for the Labour Party and former BBC television producer and presenter. Background Her father was James Callaghan, a Labour politici ...
, saw the World War II color footage in Stevens' documentary, Stevens permitted the BBC to use his father's films to create a documentary about the war. In 1994, Stevens produced a documentary titled ''George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin'', for which he and his colleague Catherine Shields received three Emmy Awards that year. The filmmakers who created the 1985 BBC documentary became aware of the 1994 film in 2019, and asked the Television Academy to investigate similarities between the two films. The Academy concluded that the two films "shared some production elements", and due to that, Stevens' documentary was ineligible to have been entered to the awards. The Emmys were rescinded in 2020. Stevens wrote and directed the 1991 television movie
Separate but Equal Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protec ...
, starring Sidney Poitier as
Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...
. The movie, which aired over two nights on ABC, depicts Marshall and a team of NAACP staffers arguing and winning the landmark
Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
case in the United States Supreme Court. It was nominated for a Best Television Motion Picture Golden Globe and won the 1991 Emmy for Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special and Miniseries. Stevens wrote the play Thurgood, which dramatizes Marshall's life and career. In 2006, it premiered for the stage at the
Westport Country Playhouse Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit regional theater in Westport, Connecticut, Westport, Connecticut. It was founded in 1931 by Lawrence Langner, a New York theater producer. Langner remodeled an 1830s tannery with a Broadway-quality ...
, with
James Earl Jones James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances in film, television, and theater, and "one of the greatest actors in America ...
playing the titular role. In 2008, the play made its Broadway premiere with
Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative charact ...
playing Marshall. One of Fishburne's performances was filmed by Stevens's son Michael and aired on HBO as a television movie in 2011. In 2009, Stevens was appointed by
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
as Co-Chairman of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.


Awards

Stevens has been nominated for an Emmy 38 times and has won 14 Emmys, as of 2022. He has received two Peabody Awards, one for The Murder of Mary Phagan and another for the 1986 Kennedy Center Honors. He has won eight awards from the
Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Gu ...
. In 1992, Stevens won the WGA's Paul Selvin Award for his Separate but Equal screenplay. He also won a
Humanitas Prize The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...
in 2012 for Thurgood. In December 2012, Stevens was awarded an honorary Oscar for his lifelong contributions to the film industry. He was presented the award by his friend and colleague Sidney Poitier.


Notable works


Television and film

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959, associate producer and director of location scenes)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1961-62, director)
Kennedy Center Honors (1978-2015, producer and writer)
AFI Life Achievement Award The AFI Life Achievement Award was established by the board of directors of the American Film Institute on February 26, 1973, to honor a single individual for his or her lifetime contribution to enriching American culture through motion picture ...
(1981-1998, producer and writer)
The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988, producer and writer)
Separate but Equal Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protec ...
(1991, executive producer, writer, and director)
The Thin Red Line (1998, executive producer)
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial (2009, executive producer)


Stage

Thurgood (2006, writer)


Books

Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age at the American Film Institute (2006, editor)
Conversations at the American Film Institute with the Great Moviemakers: The Next Generation (2012, editor)
My Place in the Sun: Life in the Golden Age of Hollywood and Washington (2022, author)


References


External links


Official website for George Stevens, Jr.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, George Jr. People from Hollywood, Los Angeles American male screenwriters Film producers from California 1932 births Living people American documentary film producers Peabody Award winners Academy Honorary Award recipients Film directors from Los Angeles Screenwriters from California Presidents of the American Film Institute