Delbert Mann Biography
(Film Director)
Birthday: January 30, 1920 (Aquarius)
Born In: Lawrence, Kansas, U.S.
Delbert Martin Mann, Jr. was an American film and television director who won the ‘Academy Award for Best Director’ for the 1955 romantic drama film ‘Marty’. It is believed that he "helped bring TV techniques to the film world". Starting his career in direction at the ‘Town Theatre’ in Columbia, South Carolina, he later turned to television and worked as assistant director and stage manager with an American commercial broadcast TV network called the ‘National Broadcasting Company’ (‘NBC’). Soon he was made an alternate director of an American television anthology series called ‘The Philco Television Playhouse’ that was broadcast live. Moving on he contributed to directing over 100 live TV dramas. Some of the TV films he directed are ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, ‘David Copperfield’, ‘Heidi’ and ‘Jane Eyre’. His stint as a film director for the big-screen for almost three decades saw him delivering many remarkable films. Some of his notable big-screen flicks are ‘The Bachelor Party’, ‘Night Crossing’, ‘A Gathering of Eagles’, ‘The Outsider’, ‘The Dark at the Top of the Stairs’, ‘Middle of the Night’, ‘Desire Under the Elms’ and ‘Dear Heart’ among several others. He served as President of the ‘Directors Guild of America’ from 1967 to 1971 and was awarded the ‘Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award’ by the Guild in 1997. Later in 2002 he was conferred Honorary Life Membership by the Guild.