48 March 7 • 2019
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soul
of blessed memory
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FELICE NADINE
SHECTER, 83, of
Farmington Hills, died
Feb. 27, 2019.
She is survived by
her beloved husband,
Harry Shecter; son
and daughter-in-law, Mark and
Concepcion Shecter; daughters
and son-in-law, Jacqueline Shecter-
Leitson and Marc Leitson, Pamela
Shecter; brother and sister-in-law,
Barry and Carol Sandrow; sisters
and brother-in-law, Sara and David
Neyers, Roberta Scull; grandchil-
dren, Jessica (Justin) Trotter, Erica
(Aron) Staege, Jordan Leitson,
Harper (Maddie) Shecter, Nikki
Bowen; great-grandchildren, Jace,
Jet, Juliet, Finn. She is also survived
by many loving nieces, nephews,
other family members and friends.
Contributions can be made to
Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy
Network. Arrangements by Dorfman
Chapel.
Oscar-Winning Jewish
Composer
Dies at 89
Andre Previn, pianist, composer and
conductor whose broad reach took in
the worlds of Hollywood,
jazz and classical music,
died Thursday, Feb. 28,
2019. He was 89.
According to an
Associated Press story, his
ex-wife Mia Farrow tweet-
ed Thursday, “See you in the Morning
beloved Friend. May you rest in glorious
symphonies.
” Previn and Farrow, his
third wife, had three children and adopt-
ed three others during their marriage.
Previn married five times. All ended in
divorce,
Previn was born Andreas Ludwig
Prewin in 1929 into a wealthy Jewish
family in Berlin. A child prodigy, he was
sent to study classical music. But the
family was forced to flee Nazi Germany
in 1938, moving briefly to Paris before
traveling to the United States.
Previn soon found work composing
for films in Hollywood, where he was
eventually nominated for 13 Academy
Awards and won four, for My Fair Lady,
Gigi, Porgy and Bess, and Irma La Douce.
Previn abandoned Hollywood for a
career as a classical conductor. He was
named musical director of the Houston
Symphony in 1967 and went on to lead
such renowned orchestras as the Los
Angeles Philharmonic and London’
s
Royal Philharmonic. In 1998, his opera
based on A Streetcar Named Desire pre-
miered at the San Francisco Opera.
In 1958, he won the first of his numer-
ous Grammys for the sound track for
Gigi. In 1960 he was awarded a Grammy
for best jazz performance for selec-
tions from West Side Story. In 1998, he
received the Kennedy Center’
s lifetime
achievement award.
Director of Singin’
In The
Rain Dies at 94
(JTA) — Stanley Donen, the filmmaker
and choreographer best known for the
1952 musical Singin’
in the Rain, died
Feb. 28 from heart failure in New York
City. He was 94.
As a child in Columbia,
S.C., Donen faced anti-Se-
mitic bullying and used
the movies as an escape
from the tensions of being
one of the few Jews in his
community, the Associated Press report-
ed. He became an atheist as a youth. The
movies turned him on to the world of
dancing and acting.
He met Gene Kelly when they worked
on the original Broadway production
of Rodgers and Hart’
s Pal Joey, when
Donen, then 16, was in the chorus and
Kelly was cast in the lead. They met
again in Hollywood and began working
together, first with Donen as Kelly’
s assis-
tant, choreographer and later as co-
director. Donen also worked with actors
Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Fred
Astaire.
Some of his other notable films
include On the Town (1949), Royal
Wedding (1951), Seven Brides for Seven
Brothers (1954), Funny Face (1957),
Indiscreet (1958) and Charade (1963).
Though his movies are well-known
and beloved, the director never received
an Academy Award nomination. In
1998, he was given an honorary Oscar
for lifetime achievement.
Steven Spielberg told the AP that
Donen was a “friend and early mentor.
His generosity in giving over so many
of his weekends in the late 60s to film
students like me to learn about telling
stories and placing lenses and directing
actors is a time I will never forget.
”
Donen was married five times and is
survived by three of his four children.
STEVE BOWBRICK, FLICKR.COM
ADAM SCHARTOFF, WIKIPEDIA.COM