Suzanne de Passe

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Suzanne Celeste de Passe (also DePasse, born July 19, 1946 in New York City ) is an American record manager specializing in black music artists from the USA, as well as a screenwriter and producer for film and television.

Live and act

Origin and beginnings

Born in the New York borough of Harlem , the daughter of a Caribbean couple - he an employee of the Canadian conglomerate Seagram , she a teacher - attended Manhattan High School and began studying at Syracuse University in New York State in 1964 . Failing to do this, she was asked to quit university and enrolled at Manhattan Community College to study English. She also completed this degree and a few years later married the actor Paul Le Mat . She had three daughters with him.

First professional steps at Motown and founding of my own company

De Passe started her showbiz career in New York's Cheetah nightclub. Because of her friendship with Cindy Birdsong , who replaced Florence Ballard in 1967 as a member of the Supremes , she began working in 1968 for the Motown record company, which specializes in promoting black musical talent, as the creative assistant to company founder Berry Gordy .

Initially, it was part of her job to look after the wardrobe of The Jackson Five . She got to know the young Michael Jackson . She was instrumental in placing the record label in television recordings with music specials. She celebrated her greatest success in this sector in 1983 with the production Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever , which was intended to give an overview of the success story of Motown on the occasion of the company's 25th anniversary. This show was produced and awarded several awards by Motown Productions, who she served as President at the time. In 1988 she left Motown Productions and founded her own company, De Passe Entertainment, in 1992. Her long-standing relationship with Motown company founder Gordy was presented in the December 2008 Vanity Fair issue under the title Motown: the Untold Story with photographs by Annie Leibovitz .

Engagement in film and television

In her early days, Suzanne de Passe also worked as a screenwriter. De Passe, who knew the singer Diana Ross from the Supremes, wrote the manuscript for Lady Sings the Blues , a biopic about the black jazz singer Billie Holiday , for her. The film received considerable critical acclaim in 1972 and earned de Passe and her co-writers Terence McCloy and Chris Clark a nomination for a Screenplay Oscar .

However, film and especially television only gained in importance with her anniversary film about Motown (1983), and since then she has produced a wealth of documentaries as well as films with a game plot. Several documentaries about Michael Jackson and his family were the focus of attention. As a production manager, she was also involved in the creation of various television series such as Der Ruf des Adler, Wildes Land, On Our Town, Streets of Laredo, Dead Man's Walk, Smart Guy, Sister, Sister and Daytime Divas . Most of these shows used mostly black actors.

Teaching activities, awards and honors

De Passe also taught at Harvard Business School . Two case studies of her were also published there: Suzanne de Passe and Motown Productions and De Passe Entertainment . In 2002 she was appointed Time Warner Visiting Professor in the Department of Radio, Television and Film at Howard University's John H. Johnson School of Communications. In March 2006 she received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Humanities. She was also required to teach at Emerson College, School of the Arts in Boston. From 2002 to 2008 she was the production manager of the weekly entertainment program Showtime at the Apollo. In 2009 she was featured on The Black List , a production by HBO, along with other black personalities such as filmmaker Tyler Perry , Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and Pastor TD Jakes.

Suzanne de Passe has received numerous awards. In 1972 she was chosen as one of twelve women by the liberal feminist newspaper Ms. for Woman of the Year and in 1988 she received the Women in Film Crystal Award. She was inducted into the UCLA Film and Television Library's Legacy of Women in Film and Television in 1992 and received the Turner Broadcasting Trumpet Award and Achievement Award the following year. Suzanne de Passe was also the first woman to join the board of directors of Morehouse College.

Filmography

as producer or production manager, unless otherwise stated:

  • 1972: Lady Sings the Blues ( The Lady Sings the Blues ) (co-script only)
  • 1982: happy endings
  • 1983: Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (also screenplay)
  • 1985: Motown Returns to the Apollo
  • 1986: Motown on Showtime: Temptations and Four Tops
  • 1986: Nightlife
  • 1987: Marvin Gaye
  • 1987: Motown Merry Christmas
  • 1989: Michael Jackson: The Legend Continues
  • 1989: The Call of the Eagle ( Lonesome Dove )
  • 1989: Reunion in Logansport ( Bridesmaids )
  • 1989: Looking into the Abyss ( Small Sacrifices )
  • 1990: Smokey Robinson: The Quiet Legend
  • 1992: Class Act
  • 1992: The Jacksons - An American Dream ( The Jacksons: An American Dream )
  • 1993: Wildes Land ( Return to Lonesome Dove )
  • 1994: The child of another ( Someone Else's Child )
  • 1994: On Our Town
  • 1994: Sister, Sister
  • 1995: Buffalo Girls
  • 1995: Streets of Laredo
  • 1996: Dead Man's Walk - The Path of the Damned ( Dead Man's Walk )
  • 1998: The Temptations
  • 1998: Motown: The Music is Forever (also screenplay)
  • 1998: Zenon: The Little Heroine of the 21st Century ( Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century )
  • 1999: Chains
  • 2000: High School Cheaters - The Super fraudsters ( Cheaters )
  • 2000: Zenon II: The Adventure Continues ( Zenon: The Zequel )
  • 2002: Essence Awards
  • 2004: Zenon III: The Race to the Moon ( Zenon: Z3 )
  • 2004: The Soluna Project
  • 2005: The Black Movie Awards
  • 2006: The 2006 Black Movie Awards
  • 2012: Errors of the Human Body
  • 2017: Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland
  • 2017: Daytime Divas

literature

  • Jessie Carney Smith: Notable Black American Women, Book IL Gale 1996.
  • Ashyia N. Henderson / Shirelle Phelps: Who's Who Among African Americans. 12th edition, 1999.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME De Passe, Suzanne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Passe, Suzanne Celeste (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American screenwriter, company manager, and film and television producer
DATE OF BIRTH July 19, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Harlem , New York City , United States