Vanderbilt University Heard Library’s Special Collections has received a Golden Globe and two other major film awards given to the late film director Delbert Mann.
Mann’s children donated his 1979 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Made for Television for All Quiet on the Western Front. Their gift includes Mann’s Screen Directors Guild Award and Palme d’Or Award for the feature film Marty (1955).
“We are so pleased that Vanderbilt has received a Golden Globe,” said Connie Vinita Dowell, dean of libraries at Vanderbilt. “[rquote]We will be thinking during Sunday’s awards show about how Delbert Mann and his family felt on that occasion many years ago when his name was called.”[/rquote]
Mann, who graduated from Vanderbilt in 1941, served as a member of the university’s Board of Trust. He established and raised funds for the Fred Coe Artist-in-Residence-in-Theatre program at Vanderbilt. Coe, a lifelong friend, brought Mann to NBC to direct the Philco Television Playhouse in the early 1950s. Mann’s success led him to direct feature films for over a decade before turning to television films.
Among the actors Mann worked with during his stellar career were Humphrey Bogart, Grace Kelly, Rita Hayworth, Michael Caine and George C. Scott. All Quiet on the Western Front reunited Mann and Ernest Borgnine, who had starred in Marty in 1955. That film, which received the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture that year, also earned Oscars for Mann as Best Director and Borgnine as Best Actor.
Mann’s 1971 decision to donate his papers to Vanderbilt University was critical to the development of the manuscripts program in Special Collections. He continued to donate materials and encourage others to donate until his death in 2007.
Mann’s awards will be on display this spring as part of the library’s exhibition “Stage and Screen: The Star Quality of Vanderbilt’s Performing Arts Collections.” In addition, they will become part of the Delbert Mann Papers, which consist of materials from film and television productions, including scripts, publicity, reviews, scrapbooks, correspondence and more.
For more information, email Celia Walker or call 615-343-4701.