Shirley Clarke

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shirley Clarke (born Shirley Brimberg October 2, 1919 in New York City ; died September 23, 1997 in Boston ) was an American director and film producer .

Life

Shirley Brimberg was born in New York City to a Polish father. Her mother was the daughter of a Latvian multimillionaire who made his fortune as a manufacturer and inventor. Her sister was the writer Elaine Dundy . She attended Stephens College , Johns Hopkins University , Bennington College, and the University of North Carolina .

She studied together with choreographers such as Martha Graham, Hanya Holm and Doris Humphrey. She took dance lessons at these schools and began an artistic career as a dancer in the New York avant-garde (a modern dance movement). When she failed to achieve success as a choreographer, her psychiatrist suggested a career change. After their marriage and the birth of a daughter, Clarke turned to the film and cinema sector and became a recognized filmmaker at a time when few women were active in the field. Her first works were short films that reflected her love for dance. She made her first film Dance in the Sun in 1953 with Daniel Nagrin. It was voted the best dance film of the year by the New York Dance Film Society.

Her short film Skyscraper about the construction of the New York Tishman Building was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Film in 1960 .

For her 1961 film The Connection , she received a lot of praise for the choreography and unspectacular portrayal of drug use. For the film The Cool World , she worked with Carl Lee, an African American star, with whom she was also friends privately until his death in 1986. In 1963, Clarke made a documentary film about the poet Robert Frost called A Lover's Quarrel with the World ( something like " A Lover's Quarrel with the World "). This film was made a few months before his death and shows Frost at lectures and privately at home. This work received an award in the Best Documentary Film category at the 1964 Academy Awards .

In December 1966 her film Portrait of Jason was made , an interview with the black hustler Jason Holliday. Stephen Winter made the feature film Jason and Shirley (2015) about the making of this documentary five decades later , in which Shirley Clarke is portrayed by Sarah Schulman .

After Clarke found little financial support for her film projects, despite some success, she taught from 1975 to 1985 in the field of film and video production at the University of California, Los Angeles. During this time she made other documentaries such as Ornette: Made in America, a portrait of the eccentric musical genius Ornette Coleman .

Shirley Clarke died of a stroke in Boston in 1997.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1953: Dance in the Sun (short film)
  • 1954: In Paris Parks (short film)
  • 1955: Bullfight (short film)
  • 1956: Moment in Love (short film)
  • 1957: Brussels Loops (short film)
  • 1958: Bridges-Go-Round (short film)
  • 1960: Skyscraper (short film)
  • 1962: The Connection
  • 1963: The Cool World
  • 1963: Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World
  • 1967: Portrait of Jason
  • 1967: Butterfly (short film)
  • 1978: Trans (short film)
  • 1978: One-2-3 (short film)
  • 1980: A Visual Diary (short film)
  • 1981: Savage / Love (short film)
  • 1982: Tongues (short film)
  • 1982: Performance (short film)
  • 1983: The Box (short film)
  • 1984: Ornette Coleman: A Jazz Video Game (short film)
  • 1985: Ornette: Made in America

literature

  • Clarke, Shirley , in: Jenny Uglow , Maggy Hendry: Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography . London: Macmillan, 1999 (3rd edition), ISBN 0333725735 , p. 128

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Philip Purser: Elaine Dundy - Successful author and former wife of the drama critic Kenneth Tynan . May 8, 2008. Retrieved December 23, 2012.
  2. ↑ a b c Shirley Clarke - Biography on projectshirley.com, accessed February 23, 2013.
  3. ↑ LA Times report of September 24, 1997: Shirley Clarke; Oscar-winning filmmaker. on articles.latimes.com, accessed February 23, 2013.
  4. ↑ Death notice in the NY Times of September 26, 1997: Shirley Clarke Is Dead at 77; Maker of Oscar-winning film. on nytimes.com, accessed February 23, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Clarke, Shirley
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American director
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York
DATE OF DEATH September 23, 1997
Place of death Boston