born April 13, 1924, Columbia, S.C., U.S.

Donen began his career in New York City in the stage chorus of Pal Joey (1940), where he met Gene Kelly (Kelly, Gene). Later, as an assistant dance director in Hollywood, he collaborated with Kelly on several spirited musicals. He helped choreograph such films as Cover Girl (1944) and Anchors Aweigh (1945) and then in 1949 codirected On the Town, which was hailed as a major landmark in the evolution of musical comedy. Successfully blending reality and fantasy, it introduced a vivid showmanship to the genre. The two men also did Singin' in the Rain (1952), which combined dance parodies of choreographer Busby Berkeley and comic satire in a classic about early talkies, and It's Always Fair Weather (1955).

Without Kelly, Donen directed and produced other successes such as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Funny Face (1957), The Pajama Game (1957), and Damn Yankees (1958). In the late 1950s he moved to Europe, where he made such films as Indiscreet (1958), Charade (1963), Arabesque (1966), Bedazzled (1967), Two for the Road (1967), and Movie Movie (1978).