Person Details

Birthday: 1917-04-01 07:43:18

Death: 2007-08-08 07:43:18

Aliases: Mel Shavelson

Gender: Male

Place of birth: New York City, New York, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 62

TV Involvements: 6


Most Famous Work

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Melville Shavelson (April 1, 1917 – August 8, 2007) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. He was President of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAw) from 1969 to 1971, 1979 to 1981, and 1985 to 1987. He came to Hollywood in 1938 as one of comedian Bob Hope's joke writers, a job he held for the next five years. He is responsible for the screenplays of such Hope films as The Princess and the Pirate (1944), Where There's Life (1947), The Great Lover (1949), and Sorrowful Jones (1949), which also starred Lucille Ball. Shavelson was nominated twice for Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay -- first for 1955's The Seven Little Foys, starring Hope in a rare dramatic role, and then for 1958's Houseboat. He shared both nominations with Jack Rose. He also directed both films. Other films he wrote and directed include Beau James (1957), The Five Pennies (1959) for which he won a Screen Writers Guild Award, It Started in Naples (1960), On the Double (1961), The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962), A New Kind of Love (1963), Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), and Yours, Mine and Ours (1968), which starred Henry Fonda and again with Lucille Ball. The film, a comedy about a widow (Lucille Ball) and a widower (Henry Fonda) raising 18 children together. When Ms. Ball later asked Mr. Shavelson how he enjoyed directing her, The Associated Press reported, he replied, “Lucy, this is the first time I ever made a film with 19 children.” Ms. Ball was not amused. In addition to his film work, Shavelson created two Emmy award-winning television series and wrote for a dozen Academy Award shows. He also wrote,produced and co-directed the six-hour ABC screenplay to the 1979 television miniseries Ike about Dwight D. Eisenhower, based on the World War II exploits of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. He also wrote, miniseries Ike, The War Years. Shavelson's autobiography, published by BearManor Media in April 2007, is entitled How to Succeed in Hollywood Without Really Trying, P.S. - You Can't! Shavelson wrote several other books, including, with Mr. Hope, “Don’t Shoot, It’s Only Me: Bob Hope’s Comedy History of the United States” (Putnam, 1990), and How to Make a Jewish Movie (1971), a memoir of his experiences while producing and directing Cast a Giant Shadow, and the Hollywood-themed novel Lualda (1973). Shavelson was a noted instructor at USC's Master of Professional Writing Program from 1998-2006. He taught screenwriting, who often cracked to his students, "I'm a writer by choice, a producer by necessity and a director in self-defense." Shavelson's first wife, Lucille, died in 2000. He was married to his second wife, Ruth Florea, from 2001 until his death in 2007. He had two children, Lynne Joiner and Richard Shavelson. Description above from the Wikipedia article Melville Shavelson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Most Famous Work

Shirley's World
Average
5

Shirley's World

(1972) Creator
Accidental Family
Average
5

Accidental Family

(1967) Creator
My World and Welcome to It
Average
6
Deceptions
Average
6

Deceptions

(1985) Director
The Danny Thomas Show
Average
6

The Danny Thomas Show

(1953) Creator
Yours, Mine and Ours
Average
7

Yours, Mine and Ours

(1968) Screenplay
Houseboat
Average
6

Houseboat

(1958) Writer
The Pigeon That Took Rome
Average
5

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2009 Self
2003 Himself
Year Character Movie/Tv

Directing

Writing

Year Role Movie/Tv
1985 Writer
1979 Writer
1976 Writer
1975 Writer
1974 Screenplay
1972 Writer
Writer
1968 Screenplay
1966 Screenplay
1963 Writer
1962 Writer
1961 Writer
1960 Screenplay
1959 Screenplay
1958 Writer
1957 Writer
1955 Writer
1954 Screenplay
1953 Screenplay
1952 Writer
Screenplay
1951 Screenplay
Writer
Screenplay
1950 Story
Screenplay
1949 Screenplay
Writer
Writer
Screenplay
1947 Story
Screenplay
1946 Adaptation
1945 Writer
Screenplay
1944 Screenplay
Year Role Movie/Tv

Production

Creator


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