Martha Coolidge - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography (Read)
Actors » Actors » Martha Coolidge - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography
Martha Coolidge - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography
Rating: 8,3/10 (2100 votes)
Martha Coolidge - biography, date of birth, place of birth, filmography, clips, Director, Producer, Writer, Editor, Actress.
Martha Coolidge (born August 17, 1946) is an American film director and former president of the Directors Guild of America. She has directed films such as Real Genius and Rumbling Rose.
Coolidge was born in New Haven, Connecticut. She is the granddaughter of Arthur W. Coolidge, a former Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts who was himself the fifth cousin of President Calvin Coolidge.
Coolidge studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design, but changed big firms, directed the school's first major film. She received an MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Later in Los Angeles, she studied acting and other aspects of her craft with Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Joanne Baron, and David Craig.
Coolidge first made her reputation by directing many award-winning documentaries in New York City. While in New York City, she helped found the Association of Independent Video and Film Directors (AIVF) and IFP.
She moved to Hollywood in 1976 and spent several years as part of the Zoetrope studio set up by Francis Ford Coppola. Her full-length directorial debut, Not Pretty Picture, was based on the date rape she suffered at the age of 16. Her breakout film was self-produced by Girl of the Valley (1983), who is currently best remembered for the start of Nicolas Cage's career. She also helped popularize British group Modern English's hit song I Melt With You. Her film Rumbling Rose (1991) won three IFP Independent Spirit Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Diane Ladd, and won Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Ladd and Laura Dern (Best Actress). Rumbling Rose was well reviewed and made many top ten lists in a year. Despite the limited release hampered by economic problems suffered by the production company, the film played for several months without advertising and received many awards.
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) HBO has been nominated for eleven Emmy Awards, winning five including Best Actress for its star, Halle Berry, and earning Coolidge Emmy and DGA (Director of America's Guild) nominations for Best Director.
From 2002 to 2003, she was the Guild Director of America's first female president.
Coolidge was previously married to screenwriter Michael Bakays, with whom she has a son, Preston, named after director Preston Sturges. She is currently married to production designer James Spencer.
