“Marty” director Delbert Mann, 87
Posted: Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 1:03 pm
Delbert Mann, who transformed Paddy Chayefsky’s classic teleplays “Marty” and “The Bachelor Party” into big-screen triumphs and helped bring TV techniques to the film world, died Sunday. He was 87. …
Mann’s 1955 feature version of “Marty” won four Oscars: best picture and director, best actor for Ernest Borgnine and best screenplay for Chayefsky. The low-budget film with mostly little-known actors told the stark, poignant story of Borgnine’s 34-year-old Brooklyn butcher who felt he was too ugly to find love. …
Using techniques he brought from television, Mann took a mere 16 days to shoot the film version of “Marty,” plus an additional three days for retakes. …
He followed “Marty” with 1957’s “The Bachelor Party.” They were some of the first examples of television’s emerging role in Hollywood — not necessarily as a rival medium, but as a synergistic one. …
Mann’s other feature credits include “Desire Under the Elms” (1957), “Separate Tables” (1958), “Middle of the Night” (1959), “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” (1960), “The Outsider” (1961), “That Touch of Mink” (1962), “A Gathering of Eagles” (1963), “Dear Heart” (1964), “Fitzwilly” (1967), “Kidnapped” (1971), “Night Crossing” (1982) and “Bronte” (1983). … Read full obituary
