Jean Negulesco

Jean Negulesco
Jean Negulesco in 1986
Born	29 February 1900 (O.S.) Craiova, Dolj, Romania
Died	18 July 1993 (aged 93) Marbella, Andalusia, Spain
Cause of death	Heart failure
Spouse(s)	Dusty Anderson (m. 1946–1993)

Jean Negulesco (born Ioan Negulescu; 29 February 1900 (O.S.) – 18 July 1993) was a Romanian-American film director and screenwriter.

Born in Craiova, he attended Carol I High School. In 1915 he moved to Vienna, and then went to Bucharest in 1919, where he worked as a painter before becoming a stage decorator in Paris. In 1927 he went to New York City for an exhibition of his paintings and settled there. He then made his way to California, at first working as a portraitist.

In 1934 he entered the film industry, first as a sketch artist, then as an assistant producer, second unit director. In the late 1930s he became a director and screenwriter. He made his reputation at Warner Brothers by directing short subjects, particularly a series of band shorts featuring unusual camera angles and dramatic use of shadows and silhouettes.

Negulesco's first feature film as director was Singapore Woman (1941). In 1948 he was nominated for an Academy Award for Directing for Johnny Belinda. In 1955 he got a nomination the BAFTA Award for Best Film for How to Marry a Millionaire. His 1959 movie, The Best of Everything, was on Entertainment Weekly's Top 50 Cult Films of All-Time list.