Stephen Verona

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Stephen F. Verona (born September 11, 1940 in Springfield , Illinois - † July 13, 2019 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American screenwriter , film director and film producer .

Live and act

Verona grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where he went to Madison High School. As a young adult, he attended a New York art school and eventually got his first job in advertising. He was employed as creative director at Ogilvy & Mather. Stephen Verona then began shooting television commercials. It was on one of these commercials that he met Beatle John Lennon in the mid-1960s , and both of them took part in the making of a cartoon short based on the Beatles song " I Feel Fine ". With his follow-up work, which Verona produced on behalf of CBS / Columbia Records as promotional shorts for musicians such as Barbra Streisand , Chicago , Santana , Roberta Flack and The Lovin 'Spoonful , the New Yorker established a kind in the late 1960s and early 1970s Forerunner of the music video. Verona also worked temporarily as the director of Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio . Stephen Verona made a short film called The Rehearsal in 1969 about this conflictual experience, which suffered from atmospheric disturbances between him and Strasberg and therefore only lasted a short time, which he produced, directed and also edited. The 17-minute film earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Short Film in 1972 .

After this award, Stephen Verona also seemed interesting for the classic Hollywood entertainment film. Together with Martin Davidson, he directed the straightforward New York film The Lords of Flatbush in 1973 , which started in Germany under the title Brooklyn Blues - The Law of the Gutter and provided an effective picture of the life of a youth gang in the Flatbush district in the late 1950s . In addition, Verona presented the hitherto largely unknown young mime Sylvester Stallone to a broad masses for the first time with his staging and paved his world career with this film. In 1976 Verona gave the singer Gladys Knight the opportunity to appear as an actress for the first time in his staging Alaskatäume . None of Verona's follow-up works were to receive the attention of his early works, even if in 1979 the Canadian production Promenade am Strand, shown at the Cannes Film Festival , had another explosive clash with Strasberg. Verona's later films are completely irrelevant. In 2002 he ended his active film career with a script participation in a German television film. Stephen Verona died of lung cancer .

Filmography

  • 1969: The Rehearsal (short film. Direction, production, editing)
  • 1974: Brooklyn Blues ( The Lords of Flatbush ) (Co-Director, Screenplay, Production)
  • 1976: Pipe Dreams (Director, Screenplay, Production)
  • 1979: Promenade am Strand ( Boardwalk ) (Director, Screenplay)
  • 1987: The turbo-charged Spanner Hotel ( Talking Walls ) (Director, Screenplay)
  • 1988: Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves (video documentary. Direction, production)
  • 2003: How do you exchange your parents? (German TV film, co-script)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Verona, Stephen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Verona, Stephen F.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American screenwriter, film director and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH September 11, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Springfield
DATE OF DEATH 13th July 2019
Place of death los Angeles