Charles Walters

Charles Powell Walters was born in Pasadena, California, on 17 November 1911. He trained as a dancer and began his career on Broadway in the 1930s, appearing in musicals and eventually choreographing, before Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer brought him to Hollywood in the early 1940s to stage dance numbers for its musicals. He choreographed for films including Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) before moving into directing, and quickly became one of MGM's most trusted directors of musicals and light comedy through the 1940s and 1950s. His work was marked by fluid camera movement built around dance staging and an ability to draw relaxed, warm performances from stars like Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, and Leslie Caron. Easter Parade (1948), pairing Astaire and Garland, and Lili (1953), starring Caron, were among his most celebrated films; Lili earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. He continued into the 1950s and 1960s with films including High Society (1956), a musical remake of The Philadelphia Story starring Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). His final feature was Walk, Don't Run (1966), a comedy that turned out to mark the end of another career besides his own: it was Cary Grant's last film. Walters worked afterward in television before retiring. He died in Malibu, California, on 13 August 1982.