Martin Donovan (screenwriter)

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For the actor named Martin Donovan, see Martin Donovan.
Martin Donovan
Born
Carlos Enrique Varela y Peralta Ramos

(1950-01-21) January 21, 1950 (age 74)
Golden Space Needle Award at Seattle International Film Festival

Martin Donovan (born Carlos Enrique Varela y Peralta Ramos; January 21, 1950)

United Kingdom's and Hollywood's cinema, and he is mostly recognized as the co-writer and director of the cult film Apartment Zero (1989),[3] and for his co-written script for Death Becomes Her
(1992).

Biography

Early life

Martin Donovan was born in the city of

great-great-grandfather was Patricio Peralta Ramos, founder of the city of Mar del Plata. He was also the eldest of seven brothers and one sister, and viewed as the "strange one of the family" since the very beginning. He connected with movies and the theater since he was 6 or 7 years old and he voraciously read everything. His passion for films was shown, for instance, when he became desperate to see A Streetcar Named Desire. The young Martin would cry: "Why can't I see A Streetcar Named Desire?!", to which his mother would reply: "Because you're 8! Go wash your hands and come to the table!". In 1961, at the age of 11, he wrote a letter to renowned filmmaker Luchino Visconti
(addressing the envelope as "Luchino Visconti, Italy, Europe"). Visconti received the letter and replied; 8 years later Martin Donovan would be at his side as his assistant.

In 1963 he was sent to boarding school at Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepción in Santa Fe Province, where Eduardo Peralta Ramos SJ, Martin's mother's elder brother, was a teacher and the spiritual father of Jorge Bergoglio, known today as Pope Francis. Donovan went back home in 1964, and a couple of months later he escaped his parents’ home through a window, leaving a letter to his mother, which read: "Don't cry mama, I need to find myself..." He soon became a runaway in Buenos Aires during summer, with only his maternal grandmother, Celia Lertora de Peralta Ramos - whom Martin called "Mamama" -, as his accomplice. Those summer months in Buenos Aires while the police was searching all over for him became a fundamental period in his life.

Career

Donovan began his career acting in Italian films, such as

Berlin Film Festival of that same year.[4]

Donovan's second work as a director, Apartment Zero (1989), a British-Argentine coproduction, was entirely filmed in Buenos Aires and features Hart Bochner and a then relatively unknown Colin Firth in one of his first starring roles, together with a mostly Argentine cast. It is a complex suspense story with psychodrama elements, in the tradition of Joseph Losey's and Roman Polanski's movies.[1] The film has gained a strong cult following over the years.[3]

His most important work in Hollywood was the screenplay for the big budget black comedy Death Becomes Her (1992), which was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis.[1]

In 1996 he wrote and directed Somebody Is Waiting, a drama starring Gabriel Byrne, Nastassja Kinski and Johnny Whitworth.

Filmography

TV writer

Year Title Notes
1957 NBC Matinee Theater Episode "Three Kids"
1964-1966 The Farmer's Daughter 23 episodes;
Also associate producer (47 episodes)
1966-1967 Occasional Wife 12 episodes
1967-1968 The Second Hundred Years 7 episodes
1968-1969 That Girl 6 episodes
1969-1972 The Courtship of Eddie's Father 27 episodes
1970 My World and Welcome to It Episode "Monroe the Misogynist"
Make Room for Granddaddy Episode "Teaching Linda to Drive"
From a Bird's Eye View Episode "All in a Day's Work"
1971 The Partridge Family Episode "To Play or Not to Play?"
1972 The Mary Tyler Moore Show 2 episodes
1972-1974 Room 222 10 episodes
1974-1975 The Odd Couple 2 episodes
Run, Joe, Run 4 episodes
1975 Chico and the Man Episode "Sammy Stops In"
The Bob Crane Show 2 episodes
1976 Alice 3 episodes
1977 The Jeffersons Episode "The Costume Party"
1977-1978 Tabitha 2 episodes
1982 Mr. Merlin Episode "How to Help a Gymnast... in a Foreign Country"
Trapper John, M.D. Episode "Getting to Know You"
1983 Webster Episode "Travis"
The Love Boat Segment "The Reluctant Father"

Feature film

Year Title Director Writer Producer
1980 Loving Couples No Yes No
1984 State of Wonder Yes Yes Yes
1988 Apartment Zero Yes Yes Yes
1992 Mad at the Moon Yes Yes No
Death Becomes Her No Yes No
1996 Somebody Is Waiting Yes Yes No
2008 K. Il bandito Yes Yes No

TV movies

Year Title Director Writer
1984 Poor Richard No Story
1991 Death Dreams Yes No
Seeds of Tragedy Yes No
1992 The White River Yes No
1993 The Substitute Yes No

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Martin Donovan Biography/Filmography Videomaniaticos.com (in Spanish)
  2. ^ Martín Donovan Cinenacional.com (in Spanish)
  3. ^ a b Apartment Zero Mondo Digital
  4. ^ BERLIN 1984 – THE 34TH BERLINALE FILMFESTSPIELE: Zoo Parade, by Harlan Kennedy American Cinema Papers

External links

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