Delbert Mann, who directed the acclaimed live TV production of "Marty," Paddy Chayefsky's classic tale of a lonely Bronx butcher, and then won an Academy Award directing the 1955 movie version, has died. He was 87.
Mann, a former president of the Directors Guild of America, died of pneumonia Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his son Fred said Monday.
Considered one of the premier directors of the golden age of live television, Mann directed "Marty," starring Rod Steiger in the title role, for NBC in 1953. When Chayefsky turned his story into a screenplay, he insisted that Mann direct it.
"Marty," which marked Mann's debut as a movie director, is said to have been the first teleplay to be transferred to the movies.
In his review of the low-budget black-and-white film, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "No matter what the movie people may say or think about television, they have it to thank for 'Marty.' "
"Marty" won the Academy Award for best picture, as well as Oscars for Mann, Chayefsky and Ernest Borgnine in the title role.
In 1979, Borgnine co-starred in Mann's TV-movie version of "All Quiet on the Western Front."
The actor recalled Monday that when his wife asked Mann why he had not worked with Borgnine since "Marty," Mann said: "I didn't want to spoil perfection."
"Can you imagine that?" Borgnine said. "What a tribute to me, and what a tribute to the picture. He was that kind of a fella."
Describing Mann as "the quietest, most wonderful guy," Borgnine said he "was the kind of director that you get home at night and say to yourself, 'Gee, I gave a pretty good performance' without realizing that he was the guy that got it out of you."
Recalling the filming of "Marty," Borgnine said that "we just enjoyed ourselves working, and [Mann] never made it hard for anybody. It happened so easily and nicely."
Actress Eva Marie Saint, who appeared in numerous live and filmed TV productions directed by Mann, said Monday that he "was just a prince of a guy."
"You never heard a word against Delbert," Saint said. "He was wonderful on the set. He was so patient, and you take your cue from the director, so it was a quiet set.
"If something really went wrong, he could raise his voice, and when Del Mann raised his voice everybody listened, because he never did."
