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Emile Ardolino

 
Director: Emile Ardolino
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: 1943 in Queens, New York City, New York
  • Died: Nov 20, 1993 in Bel Air, California
  • Occupation: Director
  • Active: '80s-'90s
  • Major Genres: Musical, Fantasy
  • Career Highlights: Dirty Dancing, Gypsy, Chances Are
  • First Major Screen Credit: He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' (1982)

Biography

American filmmaker Emile Ardolino spent much of his distinguished career making television documentaries about classical dance and designing innovative multi-media presentations for theatrical productions, but he is still best known for his commercial feature film debut, the hit sleeper, Dirty Dancing. The New York born Ardolino, began his career as an actor in an off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks. He then joined the film industry as an editor, producer and director of industrial films, documentaries, and multi-media productions. Among the latter, his best-known productions are the Joffrey Ballet's rendition of "Astarte," Jesus Christ Superstar, and Oh! Calcutta! for which he won an Obie award. He then began directing and producing documentaries for public television. He worked for PBS from the '70s through the '80s and caught on film some of the finest work of the world's premiere dancers and choreographers in the Dance in America and Live from Lincoln Center series, for which he won a total of 17 Emmy Awards. In 1983 he won an Oscar for Best Documentary for He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'. After Dirty Dancing, Ardolino continued to find mainstream commercial success; in 1992 he scored another hit with the Whoopi Goldberg vehicle Sister Act (1992). His final features were the film adaptation of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker and the acclaimed TV movie Gypsy which was adapted from a famous Broadway musical. Ardolino died of AIDS in 1993. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Emile Ardolino
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Emile Ardolino (May 9, 1943 in Maspeth, New York – November 20, 1993) was an award-winning American film director and producer, best known for making films which feature dancing and song such as Dirty Dancing (1987) and Sister Act (1992).

Contents

Biography

Emile Ardolino, son of Italian immigrants Emilio and Ester Ardolino, was born in a neighborhood of Queens. His father – who at the time of Emile's birth was 54 years old – died in 1949, when Emile was 6 years old.

He began his career as an actor in off-Broadway productions, but soon moved to the production side of the business. In 1967, he founded Compton-Ardolino Films with Gardner Compton.[1] In the 1970s and 1980s Ardolino worked for PBS; his profiles of dancers and choreographers for their Dance in America and Live from Lincoln Center series won him a total of 17 Emmy Awards.

Ardolino won an Academy Award for Best Documentary for the 1983 movie He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'. He found commercial success with the 1987 sleeper hit Dirty Dancing, and went on to make several other mainstream films.

Ardolino, who lived openly gay, died in 1993 of complications from AIDS. He was buried in New York next to his parents, his mother having died in 1975. His last films, The Nutcracker, (based on George Balanchine's New York City Ballet version), and the television production of Gypsy: A Musical Fable, were released and shown posthumously.

Awards

  • 1969 Obie Award, for film for the Broadway production of Oh! Calcutta!
  • 17 Emmy Awards Nomination and 1 winning
  • 1983 Academy Award, Best Documentary Feature, He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'

Filmography (partial)

References

  1. ^ "Emile Ardolino, Director, Is Dead; Specialist in Dance Films Was 50". Obituary (New York Times): p. B12. 1993-11-22. http://proquest.umi.com.remote.scccld.lib.mo.us:8080/pqdweb?did=966731641&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=48491&RQT=309&VName=PQD. 

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Learn More
Dirty Dancing: Live in Concert (1988 Music Film)
George Balanchine's The Nutcracker (1993 Dance Film)
Chances Are (1989 Fantasy Film)

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Director. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Emile Ardolino".  Read more