Mitchell Leisen
James Mitchell Leisen was an American director, art director, and costume designer.
Early life
Leisen grew up in St. Louis with his mother, following her divorce from his father, a brewery owner. From an early age, he suffered the effects of a poorly performed foot operation, which left him with a permanent limp. This condition had a lasting impact on his life. He was sent to military school, believing it would strengthen his discipline. Leisen later attended Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied architecture, and subsequently worked in advertising art in Chicago. While there, he acted in local theatre productions before moving to Los Angeles in an effort to enter the film industry.Although his attempts at acting were unsuccessful, Leisen found work designing sets for community theatre. He was soon hired as a costume designer by Cecil B. DeMille, beginning with Male and Female. Over the next decade, he also worked as a set decorator and art director for DeMille and other filmmakers. His contributions included major productions such as Robin Hood, The Thief of Bagdad, The King of Kings, and Dynamite, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction.
Film career
He directed his first film in 1933 with Cradle Song and became known for his keen sense of aesthetics in the glossy Hollywood melodramas and screwball comedies he turned out.He was often described as a “woman’s director” because of his strong working relationships with actresses. In many of his films, made primarily at Paramount Pictures, female characters were central to the narrative, and their perspectives shaped the story. Actresses such as Barbara Stanwyck, Paulette Goddard, Olivia de Havilland, Claudette Colbert, and Carole Lombard frequently appeared in leading roles.
His best known films include Alberto Casella's adaptation of Death Takes a Holiday and Murder at the Vanities, a musical mystery story, as well as Midnight and Hold Back the Dawn, both co-scripted by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. Easy Living, written by Preston Sturges and starring Jean Arthur, was another hit for the director, who also directed Remember the Night, the last film written by Sturges before he started directing his scripts as well.
Lady in the Dark, To Each His Own, and No Man of Her Own were later successes. Charles Brackett's comedy The Mating Season starring Gene Tierney, Miriam Hopkins and Thelma Ritter was an updated version of Leisen's earlier screwball comedies of the 1930s, and was also his last big movie success.
When his film career ended, Leisen directed episodes of such television series as Thriller, Shirley Temple's Storybook, The Twilight Zone, and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.. He later became a nightclub owner.
Personal life
Mitchell Leisen married opera singer Stella Yeager in 1927, though the couple lived separately for much of their marriage and remained in contact over the years. Leisen maintained a wide social circle in Hollywood and was known for hosting elaborate gatherings and pursuing artistic interests beyond filmmaking, including costume design, interior decoration, and nightclub staging.Leisen had long-term relationships with both women and men, reflecting a bisexual orientation that was largely private during his lifetime. One of his most significant relationships was with costume designer Natalie Visart, with whom he shared a close personal and professional bond. He also had relationships with male companions. According to Carolyn Roos, Leisen's longtime business manager's daughter, he had a very long relationship with dancer/actor/choreographer Billy Daniel until the 1950s. Leisen, with Daniel and dancer/actor Mary Parker, formed Hollywood Presents Inc. as a means of promoting both Daniel and Parker off-screen. Leisen died of heart disease in 1972, aged 74. His grave is located in Chapel of the Pines Crematory.
Legacy
Although Mitchell Leisen was well regarded during his career, his work received less attention in later decades. From the 1950s onward, changes in the film industry and interest in his personal life contributed to a decline in his professional visibility. However, his films have since been reappraised and continue to be valued by critics and enthusiasts of classic cinema.Leisen is now best remembered for his ability to blend genres and for his emphasis on character-driven storytelling marked by elegance and visual sophistication. His influence on narrative style and screen characterization remains evident, and his work is often referenced in discussions of classic American cinema.