Juleen Compton (born 1933, Phoenix, AZ)[1][2] is an American independent filmmaker, writer, and actor. She is best known for Stranded (1965) and The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean (1966), which she wrote, directed, and financed.[3] She also starred in and distributed Stranded.
Juleen Compton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1933 Phoenix, Arizona, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Filmmaker, writer, actress |
Career
editThe Plastic Dome of Norma Jean won a special award at Cannes, as well as an award at the San Francisco Film Festival, and was screened at MoMA in 1970.[4][5] She studied acting with Lee Strasberg, and performed in a production of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard in 1955 and played the title role in a production of Jean Anouilh's Jeannette in 1960.[3][6][7] She also originated the role of Fredrica in John Patrick's Broadway comedy Good As Gold in 1957, alongside Roddy McDowall and Zero Mostel, and played Myrrhina in a production of Lysistrata in 1959 that re-opened the East 74th Street Theater.[8][9] The UCLA Film & Television Archive likens her work to that of the French New Wave.[3] In 1974 she took part in the first Directing Workshop for Women at the American Film Institute.[3] Compton also at one point began on a documentary of the history of women directors in Hollywood called Women in Action, "but there's no trace of it."[1]
In the 1990s Compton moved to New York City to run the Century Center for the Performing Arts, an off-Broadway theater company.[3] Compton's other writing credits include the TV movies Virginia Hill (1974), which starred Dyan Cannon and Harvey Keitel, and Women at West Point (1979).[10] Her directing credits include Buckeye and Blue (1988).[10] A script by Compton entitled Two Nice Girls is among a New York Public Library collection of scripts "produced, co-produced, or sponsored" by the New York Shakespeare Festival between 1972 and 1992.[11]
In an article for The New Yorker in 2019, film critic Richard Brody, discussing Stranded, stated that with the film, Compton "places herself boldly in a tradition of director-stars that includes Charlie Chaplin and Erich von Stroheim, Orson Welles and Jacques Tati," as well as "Jean Seberg, Shirley MacLaine, and Judy Garland."[1]
In February 2022, TIFF's Bell Lightbox Theater screened The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean as the first in its Midnight Madness screening series following closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.[12]
Personal life
editShe was married to director and drama critic Harold Clurman from 1960 until his death in 1980, according to some reports.[3] In a 1979 interview in connection with a New York Times piece on Clurman's legacy, Clurman was Compton's "director and acting teacher," and their marriage "lasted anywhere from six months to five years; according to Miss Compton, there is still some question as to the legality of the divorce."[13] According to a biography of Clurman's first wife, actress Stella Adler, Compton "never filed the papers [to divorce Clurman] and consequently inherited certain rights to his writings."[14]
Compton has had a number of real estate dealings: in 1961, The New York Times profiled her on the occasion of her acquiring a $250,000 building on West Thirteenth Street with plans to turn it into a complex with theatres, a drama school, and a restaurant.[15] The same article mentions she previously owned the East 74th Street Theater. A 1980 New York Times article on architecture mentioned that Compton owned a movie theater at 350 East 72nd Street, and that architect Philip Birnbaum was working on a project for her.[16]
A 2019 Metrograph blog post by film critic Kristen Yoonsoo Kim stated: "Little is known about Compton now. By all accounts, she lives in the Hamptons and goes by the name Justine. Word has it that she dropped by previous Metrograph screenings of her films incognito."[17]
In December 2019, Mexico's Museo Nacional de Arte acquired a 1956 portrait of Compton by Mexican artist Diego Rivera, which was given to the museum by Compton and her husband Nicholas Wentworth.[18] It is possible a second portrait of Compton by Rivera exists, according to coverage by Mexican newspaper Excélsior. The Rivera portrait, along with a bust of Compton by Jacob Epstein,[19] are mentioned as the two objects Compton kept across her many moves to different residences in a 1970 New York Times interview.[2]
Filmography
edit| Year | Name | Director | Writer | Producer | Actress | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Stranded | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Raina | |
| 1966 | The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| 1974 | Virginia Hill | Yes | TV movie | ||||
| 1979 | Women at West Point | Story | TV movie | ||||
| 1988 | Buckeye and Blue | Yes |
References
edit- ^ a b c Brody, Richard (2019-06-19). "Juleen Compton, a Director and Actor Whose Career Was Tragically Overlooked". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
- ^ a b Warren, Virginia Lee (5 January 1970). "She Throws Out All the Furniture And Moves Every Few Years". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d e f "Stranded / The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean | UCLA Film & Television Archive". www.cinema.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
- ^ "Cineprobe Presents a Feature Film by Juleen Compton: 'The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean'" (PDF). moma.org. January–June 1970.
- ^ Colaciello, Robert (April 9, 1970). "The Village Voice - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
- ^ Atkinson, Brooks (25 March 1960). "Theatre: Play by Anouilh: Jeannette' Makes Bow at the Maidman". The New York Times.
- ^ "Juleen Compton - Lortel Archives". www.lortel.org. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
- ^ "Good as Gold Broadway @ Belasco Theatre - Tickets and Discounts | Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
- ^ Atkinson, Brooks (20 May 1959). "Theatre: Old and New: Lysistrata' Opens on Refurbished Stage". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Juleen Compton". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
- ^ "archives.nypl.org -- New York Shakespeare Festival Records. Series III. Scripts". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
- ^ Hertz, Barry (2022-02-24). "Inside TIFF's top-to-bottom plan to emerge from a long, cruel winter". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
- ^ Gussow, Mel (1979-05-06). "A LONG LIFE IN THE THEATER; In his 55‐year career, Harold Clurman has directed—with passion — more than 40 plays, and written some of the finest dramatic criticism of our age. Now (fittingly) a theater has been named after him". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
- ^ Ochoa, Sheana (2014-04-01). Stella! Mother of Modern Acting. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781480392557.
- ^ Lask, Thomas (30 April 1961). "Little Woman With Big Ideas About Her New Theatre". The New York Times.
- ^ Horsley, Carter B. (23 August 1981). "Slim Designs Make Slim Spaces Work". The New York Times.
- ^ "Juleen Compton: Stranded by Film History | Metrograph". metrograph.com. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
- ^ "Retrato de Juleen Compton, el Diego Rivera donado al Munal". Excélsior (in Spanish). 2019-12-21. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
- ^ Ross, David (27 November 1955). "Epstein's Model". The New York Times.