fbpx

Stanley Kramer, 87

Legendary filmmaker Stanley Earl Kramer, best known for films such as the classic western \"High Noon,\" died on Feb. 19 of pneumonia. He was 87.
[additional-authors]
March 1, 2001

Legendary filmmaker Stanley Earl Kramer, best known for films such as the classic western "High Noon," died on Feb. 19 of pneumonia. He was 87.

Born in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen on Sept. 29, 1913, Kramer was among the pioneer independent producers, working outside the studio system to finance his socially conscious films. After working at MGM, he started his own production company in 1947. Kramer’s first film, "So This Is New York," flopped, but he scored with subsequent projects — 1949’s "The Champion," and "Home of the Brave," addressing anti-Semitism in the armed forces.

Kramer’s distinguished filmography also includes "The Wild Ones" (1954) with Marlon Brando; 1958’s "The Defiant Ones" with Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier; "Inherit the Wind" (1960); and "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961), about the Nazi war-crimes tribunal. Kramer also made the ambitious, three-hour-plus comedy epic "It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963), famous for a marathon celebrity roster that included Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Jonathan Winters, and Don Knotts.

After his last feature, 1979’s "The Runner Stumbles," flopped, Kramer moved his family to Seattle, where he taught at the University of Washington and wrote a weekly column for The Seattle Times. Seven years later, he returned to Hollywood and unsuccessfully tried to launch features on Lech Walesa and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. While the nine-time nominated Kramer never won an Academy Award, four actors did win Oscars® for roles in his films: Katharine Hepburn for "Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner"; Maximilian Schell for "Judgment at Nuremberg"; Gary Cooper for "High Noon"; and Jose Ferrer for "Cyrano de Bergerac."

Kramer was residing in the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills when he passed away. He is survived by Karen Sharpe Kramer, his wife of 35 years; and two daughters.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Three Dates to Dataland

I took three different dates, ages 6, 72 and 35, to see Dataland, the unusual digital art experience in downtown Los Angeles.

Hakol Shalom, All Is Shalom

This is the transcript of the speech Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson gave at the 2026 AJU Gala on May 19, 2026.

A Slice of Aussie Heaven for the Jewish Day of Love

A classic Australian dessert chocolate coconut slice features a rich, dense, fudgy chocolate base packed with dried coconut, finished with a thick cocoa frosting and generously dusted with even more coconut.

The Empty Plaza and the Eternal Bond

This Tisha b’Av, as we mourn over the Temple once more, it is an occasion to consider what resonance the remnants of the Temple structure hold for us today.

Rosner’s Domain | A Leftist (Not) by Choice?

Coalition supporters want to define Eisenkot as a leftist because leftist is a title most Israelis do not want their Prime Minister to hold. But this definition has inherent limitations.

Life, Love and Tisha b’Av

As if life needed one more complication, my anniversary with life, my birthday, usually falls somewhere inside the Three Weeks, that narrow corridor of Jewish time when celebration starts to feel suspicious.

Echoes of Oct. 7 in ‘The Odyssey’

The film reminded me that an ancient poet could write about massacres but also about moral courage, while terrorists who dream of killing Jews can only think of going right to the massacre.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.