Rouben Mamoulian

Rouben Zachary Mamoulian ( ; ; October 8, 1897 – December 4, 1987) was an American film and theater director. Early life Mamoulian was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire (now Tbilisi, Georgia), to a family of Armenian descent. His mother, Virginia (née Kalantarian), was a director of the Armenian theatre, and his father, Zachary Mamoulian, was a bank president. On New Year's Eve, 1920, Mamoulian arrived, in London, worked with émigré actors and directed a play, at St. James Theatre, based on the Russian Revolution, The Beating on the Door, invited by Austin Page and Vladimir Rosing to co-direct. Academic career In 1923, Mamoulian accepted an invitation from George Eastman to become director of the American Opera Company in Rochester, New York and taught at the Eastman School of Music. Mamoulian produced Carmen, Faust, Boris Godunov, as well as Gilbert and Sullivan and Viennese operettas.