Mel Stuart

Directing

Mel Stuart

Born 1928-09-02 · New York City, New York, USA

Mel Stuart (born Stuart Solomon; September 2, 1928 – August 9, 2012) was an American film director and producer who often worked with producer David L. Wolper, at whose production firm he worked for 17 years, before going freelance. Stuart directed the fantasy-musical Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). He has directed other features, including If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969), One Is a Lonely Number (1974) and Running on the Sun: The Badwater 135 (2000). Stuart also directed feature documentaries including Four Days in November and Wattstax. In addition he has directed or produced over 150 films including movies of the week, The Triangle Factory Fire, Bill, The Chisholms, and Ruby and Oswald, the television series Ripley's Believe it Not, and the documentaries The Making of the President 1960, 1964, and 1968, The Hobart Shakespeareans, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Man Ray - The Prophet of the Avant-Garde, George Plimpton and the Philharmonic and The Poet's View. He has been awarded four Emmy awards, an Academy Award nomination, a Peabody and numerous other awards. He served as president of the International Documentary Association for two years. He was related to TV producer David L. Wolper. Description above from the Wikipedia article Mel Stuart, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory poster
7.5

When eccentric candy man Willy Wonka promises a lifetime supply of sweets and a tour of his chocolate factory to five lucky kids, penniless Charlie Bucket seeks the golden ticket that will make him a winner.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

1971

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium poster
5.9

A group of travelers from the United States race through seven European countries in 18 days.

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

1969

I Love My Wife poster
3.5

Young surgeon becomes bored with his wife and family, he has a very successful career, but even with having so much in life, he feels empty and goes through a series of brief and meaningless relations with attractive women.

I Love My Wife

1970

Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond poster
6.7

An hour documentary on the history of Bond for the 25th anniversary of the film series.

Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond

1987

Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond poster
6.7

An hour documentary on the history of Bond for the 25th anniversary of the film series.

Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond

1987

The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal poster
7.2

The story of a fire in the Triangle Shirt Mfg. Co. building in New York City in 1911 that resulted in the deaths of 146 employees, mostly young women. The ensuing investigation revealed the company's almost total disregard for its workers' safety in pursuit of increased production and profits, and resulted, among other things, in the passage of new worker safety laws and the formation of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.

The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal

1979

Mean Dog Blues poster
4.8

A victim of circumstance, country and western musician Paul Ramsey finds himself on a Southern chain gang.

Mean Dog Blues

1978

Wattstax poster
6.7

A documentary film about the Afro-American Woodstock concert held in Los Angeles seven years after the Watts riots. Director Mel Stuart mixes footage from the concert with footage of the living conditions in the current-day Watts neighborhood.

Wattstax

1973

Wattstax poster
6.7

A documentary film about the Afro-American Woodstock concert held in Los Angeles seven years after the Watts riots. Director Mel Stuart mixes footage from the concert with footage of the living conditions in the current-day Watts neighborhood.

Wattstax

1973

Ruby and Oswald poster
8.0

The most accurate portrait ever made of the events surrounding the Kennedy assassination and the subsequent assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Ruby and Oswald

1978

The White Lions poster
10.0

A college professor, his wife, and daughter go the the wilds of Africa to live, and study the rare white lions of the region.

The White Lions

1981

Sophia Loren: Her Own Story poster
5.5

This biopic about actress Sophia Loren covers her life from childhood through international stardom, her marriage to Carlo Ponti following a romantic fling with Cary Grant, and the birth of her first child, and is tied together with actual clips from some of her movies.

Sophia Loren: Her Own Story

1980

One Is a Lonely Number poster
5.1

A young woman has difficulty understanding why her husband walks out on her. Alone for the first time, she finds life difficult to cope with and for a time lives with the hope that her husband will come back to her.

One Is a Lonely Number

1972

The Hobart Shakespeareans poster
6.0

Rafe Esquith, 1992 American Teacher of the Year and National Medal of Arts recipient, teaches 5th-grade children whose parents don't speak English at a school in a dangerous, poor, drug-infested 100% Latino/Asian neighborhood in Los Angeles.

The Hobart Shakespeareans

2005

Brenda Starr poster
6.8

A newspaper reporter trying to track down a hermit-like billionaire goes to the Brazilian jungle, where she finds herself in the middle of an extortion plot, voodoo and supernatural occurrences.

Brenda Starr

1976

Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy poster
6.0

A profile of writer-director Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy

1998

Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy poster
6.0

A profile of writer-director Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy

1998

The Making of the President: 1964 poster
NR

Acclaimed producer David L. Wolper presents this landmark documentary (based on Theodore H. White's best-selling book) that analyzes Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson's landslide victory over Republican Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election.

The Making of the President: 1964

1966

Bill poster
7.4

Bill, an intellectually disabled man, ventures out into the world for the first time, having spent most of his life in a dreary inner city institution. He is taken in by a kind family and learns what it means to love and be loved for the first time in his life.

Bill

1981

Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant-Garde poster
7.0

Man Ray, the master of experimental and fashion photography was also a painter, a filmmaker, a poet, an essayist, a philosopher, and a leader of American modernism. Known for documenting the cultural elite living in France, Man Ray spent much of his time fighting the formal constraints of the visual arts. Ray’s life and art were always provocative, engaging, and challenging.

Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant-Garde

1997

Four Days In November poster
6.4

1964 American documentary film about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Four Days In November

1964

Four Days In November poster
6.4

1964 American documentary film about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Four Days In November

1964

The Unfinished Journey of Robert Kennedy poster
10.0

A documentary story of a man of our times- In a period when his country was tormented by conflict and violencei he perceived and embraced the struggle of his epoch - the struggle for human dignity and freedom. The only documentary that was presented as an ABC Movie of the Week.

The Unfinished Journey of Robert Kennedy

1970

Running on the Sun: The Badwater 135 poster
6.1

Forty runners compete in the most gruelling race on earth, the Badwater. The film documents the trials and tribulations of these athletes as they run 135 miles through Death Valley in July and explores the motivations behind this seemingly masochistic contest. A celebration of the perseverance of the human will beyond the limits of the human body

Running on the Sun: The Badwater 135

2000