Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 22 May 2018
George Stevens Jr. adds history to the film academy library

By LINDSEY BAHR the “female Chaplin,” his
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) mother was a Mack Sen-
— American Film Institute nett bathing beauty, his fa-
founder and Kennedy Cen- ther was the Oscar-winning
ter Honors creator George director of “The Diary of
Stevens Jr. is adding anoth- Anne Frank,” and his late
er chapter to film history by son Michael Stevens was
donating hundreds of items an Emmy Award-winning
spanning five generations producer, and those are
of his family to film acad- just a few of the names on
emy’s Margaret Herrick Li- the family tree.
brary and its archive. Stevens Jr.’s previous do-
The Academy of Motion nation of a wide-ranging
Picture Arts and Sciences record of his father’s dis-
said Monday that Stevens tinguished career in 1980
Jr. will be contributing pa- helped turn the Margaret
pers, letters, photographs Herrick Library into an in-
and scripts from his life to ternationally respected re-
the Stevens Family collec- source, and has informed
tion. The public collection books like Mark Harris’s
of over 600 items will cover “Five Came Back” and
everything from his Holly- Don Graham’s account of
wood beginnings working the making of “Giant.”
alongside his father George Collection highlights dis-
Stevens, the legendary di- played on the film acad-
rector of film classics like emy’s website include per-
“Woman of the Year,” to sonal photos of Stevens Jr.,
Washington D.C. where including one of him stand-
he worked with Edward R. ing alongside, Elizabeth In this Nov. 1, 2017 file photo, AFI Founding Director George Stevens, Jr. attends AFI’s 50th Anniver-
Murrow at the United States Taylor, James Dean (who sary Gala at The Library of Congress in Washington.
Information Agency during Stevens Jr. calls Jimmy) and Associated Press
the Kennedy administra- his father in Marfa, Texas in
tion. 1955 on the set of “Giant.” experience leaving Hol- trips in June 1963, including vens Jr.’s first big casting
Along the way he also “That’s kind of a favorite lywood to run the motion his famous trip to Germany coup was getting Sidney
founded the American Film picture,” Stevens Jr. said. “I picture service of USIA mak- and his “Ich bin ein Ber- Poitier to star in “The Great-
Institute, in 1967 and the worked with my dad on the ing documentary films,” liner” speech. It would go est Story Ever Told” which
Kennedy Center Honors in script and then went in the Stevens Jr. said. “After on to be nominated for an would lead to a lifelong
1977, which he produced Air Force for two years and President Kennedy’s death Academy Award. friendship with the actor?
until 2014. He made award- came back and worked Jackie got all of these hun- On November 23, Stevens Stevens Jr. is working on
winning films and minise- with him on the editing. dreds of thousands of let- Jr. went to speak to Murrow getting it all down in a
ries like the Sidney Poitier- That was the pace he was ters and she wanted to and was handed the letter. book too, which he laughs
led “Separate but Equal” moving at!” thank the public and so she “It had been in his hands is on track for publication
and served eight years as The collection is a trea- asked me to film something three weeks earlier which in “early 2030.” It’s quite a
chairman of the President’s sure trove for film buffs, for her. I went to the house was profoundly moving,” life for someone who origi-
Committee on the Arts and where an ordinary family she was staying in George- Stevens Jr. said, who tried nally thought he wanted to
Humanities under President photo could be on the set town and we filmed a mes- to give the letter back to be a sportswriter. He thinks
Barack Obama. of “Shane,” at the Acad- sage to the people for her Murrow, but Murrow re- back to the documentary
“I’m a great believer in the emy Awards in 1951, when in 35 millimeter color.” fused. “He said, ‘You made he made about his father
importance of history as it George Stevens was nomi- One particularly important the film, you keep the let- nine years after his death
applies to motion pictures,” nated for “A Place in the item is a letter from John F. ter,’ which is all you need in 1984, “George Stevens:
Stevens Jr., 86, of his deci- Sun,” or during the Amster- Kennedy that wasn’t even to know about Edward R. A Filmmaker’s Journey,”
sion to add his own papers dam production of “The written to him, but just about Murrow.” which begins with a quote
to the Stevens Family col- Diary of Anne Frank” with his work. Dated October The stories run deep for that he discovered in one
lection, as well as items cinematographer Jack 21, 1963, Kennedy wrote to each photo — there’s of his father’s diaries.
from his extraordinary fam- Cardiff. Look closer and Murrow that “The Five Cities James Cagney getting an “It read, ‘Life is a jour-
ily, whose contributions to you’ll see Stevens Jr. be- of June” is “one of the fin- AFI Lifetime Achievement ney and it’s most interest-
the entertainment industry ing sworn in at the USIA, or est documentaries the USIA Award, but did you know ing when you don’t know
span the history of film. speaking with Jacqueline has ever done.” Stevens Jr. he wrote his speech on a where you’re going,’” he
His great grandmother Al- Kennedy. produced the short film de- shirt board that you’d find said. “And that turned out
ice Howell was considered “It was a life-changing tailing President Kennedy’s at a laundry? Or that Ste- to be true of mine.”q

Popular Greek comedian Harry Klynn dies at age 78

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — loniki. was Vassilis Triantafyllidis, immigrant family in 1940, Greek music idols. He spent
Greek comedian Harry Greek Prime Minister Alexis was enormously popular he studied acting before 10 years living in the United
Klynn, who for decades Tsipras expressed condo- during the 1980s and 1990s, turning to stand-up com- States and Canada. Klynn
poked fun at his country- lences for Klynn's family af- when Greece was strug- edy. His sketches produced was badly affected by the
men and their political ter the comedian's death gling to adjust to its new material for a dozen al- 2016 death of the eldest of
leaders, has died at age 78 Monday. membership in a united bums and cassettes and his three children, filmmak-
in his native city of Thessa- Klynn, whose real name Europe. Born into a poor their sales rivaled those of er Nicholas Triantafyllidis.q