Rouben Mamoulian (October 8, 1897 – December 4, 1987) was an Armenian-American film and theatre director.
Born in Tbilisi, Georgia (ruled at that time by imperial Russia) to an Armenian family, Rouben relocated to England and started directing plays in London in 1922. He moved to America the next year to teach in Eastman School of Music and was involved in directing opera and theatre. In 1930, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest "The correct pronunciation is roo-BEN ma-mool-YAN." (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)
Mamoulian began his Broadway director career with a production of DuBose Heyward's Porgy, which opened on October 10, 1927. He directed the revival of that show in 1929 along with George Gershwin's operatic treatment, Porgy and Bess, which opened on October 10, 1935. Mamoulian was also the first to stage such notable Broadway works as Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945) and Lost in the Stars (1949).
He directed his first feature in 1929, Applause, which was one of the early talkies. It was a landmark film due to Rouben's innovative use of camera movement and sound, and these qualities were carried through to his other films released in the 1930s, such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) and the musical film Love Me Tonight (1932). He directed the first three strip Technicolor film, Becky Sharp (1935), based on Thackeray's Vanity Fair, as well as the 1937 musical High, Wide, and Handsome. His next two films earned him wide admiration, The Mark of Zorro (1940) and Blood and Sand (1941), both remakes of silent films. Blood and Sand was filmed in Technicolor, and used color schemes based on the work of Spanish artists such as Diego Velázquez and El Greco. His foray into screwball comedy genre in 1942 was a success with Rings on Her Fingers starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney.
His last completed musical film was MGM's 1957 film version of the Cole Porter musical Silk Stockings. This had been one of Porter's less successful stage musicals and was based on the 1939 Greta Garbo classic Ninotchka. The film Silk Stockings starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, with Janis Paige and Peter Lorre in support (with Lorre singing in the film).
Mamoulian's film directing career came to an end when he was fired from two consecutive films, Porgy and Bess (1959) and Cleopatra (1963). He had previously been fired as director of Laura (1944). After directing the highly successful original stage productions of Oklahoma! and Carousel, he worked on only a few other theatrical productions, such as St. Louis Woman, which introduced Pearl Bailey to Broadway audiences. In 1982 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America.
He died in 1987 of natural causes at the age of 90 in Woodland Hills, California.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1709 Vine Street.
