48 March 7 • 2019
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soul

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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

