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Saul Bass is a Director, Writer, Producer, Editor, Title Designer and Other American born on 8 may 1920 at New York City (USA)

Saul Bass

Saul Bass
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Nationality USA
Birth 8 may 1920 at New York City (USA)
Death 25 april 1996 (at 75 years) at Los Angeles (USA)

Saul Bass (/sɔːl bæs/; May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Academy Award winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos.

During his 40-year career Bass worked for some of Hollywood's most prominent filmmakers, including Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Among his most famous title sequences are the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict's arm for Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm, the credits racing up and down what eventually becomes a high-angle shot of a skyscraper in Hitchcock's North by Northwest, and the disjointed text that races together and apart in Psycho.

Bass designed some of the most iconic corporate logos in North America, including the Bell System logo in 1969, as well as AT&T's globe logo in 1983 after the breakup of the Bell System. He also designed Continental Airlines' 1968 jet stream logo and United Airlines' 1974 tulip logo which became some of the most recognized airline industry logos of the era.

Biography

Saul Bass naît dans le Bronx, à New York, en 1920. Il montre très tôt des prédispositions pour le dessin et à 15 ans prend des cours de peinture au « Art Students League » de Manhattan avant d'atteindre l'âge requis pour poursuivre ses études au « Brooklyn College ». C'est à cette époque que sous l'impulsion de son professeur György Kepes , il découvre le Bauhaus et le constructivisme russe et s'initie à l'esthétique moderniste. Après plusieurs stages dans des studios de design de Manhattan, Bass commence comme graphiste publicitaire freelance. Il déménage pour Los Angeles en 1946, à la recherche de plus de liberté dans son travail et ouvre son propre studio, « Saul Bass and associates », en 1950.

Il participe par la suite à la réalisation d'affiches de films et rencontre Otto Preminger en 1954 pour la conception de l'affiche de Carmen Jones. L'approche adoptée par Bass, consistant à centrer la publicité du film sur un symbole graphique (en l'occurrence une rose stylisée), est en rupture totale avec les méthodes en vigueur jusque-là et reposant essentiellement sur l'utilisation d'éléments visuels issus du film (les bandes-annonces et les affiches d'alors ne sont qu'un montage d'images du film ou de portraits des acteurs). Séduit, Preminger lui demande de réaliser le générique. C'est l'année suivante, alors qu'il travaille sur la campagne de promotion de L'Homme au bras d'or (The Man with the Golden Arm) toujours avec Preminger, qu'il réalise le générique qui le fera reconnaître comme le maître du genre. La force d'évocation du visuel conçu par Saul Bass (un bras stylisé représentant les talents de musicien et de joueur de poker du personnage principal, ainsi que son addiction à l'héroïne) est telle que lors de la première du film à New York, seul le logo est affiché, le titre est superflu. Une note d'accompagnement est collée sur les bobines du film ; elle précise : « Projectionnistes : ouvrir les rideaux avant le générique ». Jusqu'alors, la liste des participants à la réalisation du film était jugée si ennuyeuse que les rideaux ne s'ouvraient pour découvrir l'écran qu'une fois le générique fini. Pour Preminger, le travail de Saul Bass fait partie intégrante de L'Homme au bras d’or et doit être vu par les spectateurs. La collaboration entre les deux hommes se poursuivra sur dix autres films.

La qualité de ce deuxième générique l'amène à en réaliser de nombreux autres ainsi que des prologues et épilogues dont ceux d’Autopsie d'un meurtre ou West Side Story. Il entame alors deux autres collaborations notables, l'une avec Alfred Hitchcock, l'autre avec Stanley Kubrick. C'est avec ces réalisateurs qu'au-delà de son travail sur les génériques, Saul Bass participe également à la conception de certaines séquences, notamment la scène de la douche dans le film Psychose (Psycho) ou les combats de Spartacus.

Dès 1964, il réalise des courts-métrages (les premiers d'entre eux sont The Searching Eye et From Here to There), dont plusieurs seront récompensés dans des festivals (Why Man Creates remporte un Oscar en 1969). L'échec de son seul long métrage, Phase IV, l'amène à se concentrer sur la conception graphique. Il produira dans ce cadre de nombreux logos parmi lesquels ceux de United Airlines, AT&T ou Minolta.

Respecté voire adulé pour son travail dans les années 1950 et 60, il est sollicité par des réalisateurs de la génération suivante tels que Danny DeVito (La Guerre des Roses) ou Penny Marshall (Big). En 1990, une nouvelle relation de travail fructueuse s'entame avec Martin Scorsese pour les films Les Affranchis (Goodfellas), Casino, puis sur deux autres films.

Son décès en avril 1996, à l'âge de 75 ans, survient au terme d'une carrière de 40 ans et de contributions à plus de 50 films.

Best films

Big (1988)
(Title Designer)
Casino (1995)
(Title Designer)
Spartacus (1960)
(Visual Effects Design Consultant)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
(Title Designer)
GoodFellas (1990)
(Title Designer)
West Side Story (1961)
(Title Designer)

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Saul Bass (36 films)

Display filmography as list

Director

Phase IV
Phase IV (1974)
, 1h24
Directed by Saul Bass
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Horror
Themes Films about animals, Films about music and musicians, Natural horror films, Films about insects, Musical films
Actors Michael Murphy, Nigel Davenport, Lynne Frederick, David Healy
Rating63% 3.198593.198593.198593.198593.19859
Due to an unknown cosmic event, listed in "phases", ants have undergone rapid evolution and developed a hive mind. A scientific team begins investigating strange towers and geometrically perfect designs that ants have built in the desert. Except for one family, the local human population flees the strangely acting ants. Scientists James Lesko and Ernest Hubbs set up a computerized lab in a sealed dome located in an area of significant ant activity in Arizona. The ant colony and the scientific team, along with the holdout family, fight each other though the ants are the more effective aggressors.
Why Man Creates, 29minutes
Directed by Saul Bass
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Documentary, Animation, Romance
Rating72% 3.6328253.6328253.6328253.6328253.632825
Le film est un mélange d'animation, de photographies et de vignettes qui offre une perspective historique de la créativité à travers les âges.

Scriptwriter

Why Man Creates, 29minutes
Directed by Saul Bass
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Documentary, Animation, Romance
Roles Writer
Rating72% 3.6328253.6328253.6328253.6328253.632825
Le film est un mélange d'animation, de photographies et de vignettes qui offre une perspective historique de la créativité à travers les âges.

Producer

Why Man Creates, 29minutes
Directed by Saul Bass
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Documentary, Animation, Romance
Roles Producer
Rating72% 3.6328253.6328253.6328253.6328253.632825
Le film est un mélange d'animation, de photographies et de vignettes qui offre une perspective historique de la créativité à travers les âges.

Editor

Grand Prix
Grand Prix (1966)
, 2h59
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Action, Adventure
Themes Sports films, Transport films, Films about automobiles, Auto racing films, Road movies
Actors James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, Toshiro Mifune, Antonio Sabàto, Jr., Jessica Walter
Roles Editorial Consultant
Rating71% 3.599113.599113.599113.599113.59911
The story follows the fate of four Formula One drivers through a fictionalised version of the 1966 Formula One season:
Nine Hours to Rama, 2h4
Directed by Mark Robson
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Historical, Crime
Themes Children's films
Actors Horst Buchholz, José Ferrer, Robert Morley, Diane Baker, Valerie Gearon, Harry Andrews
Roles Editor
Rating63% 3.194143.194143.194143.194143.19414
The film is a fictional narrative set in the nine hours in the life of Nathuram Godse (Horst Buchholz) that lead up to his assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (J.S. Casshyap). As he prepares for the shooting at Gandhi's residence, flashbacks recall Godse's hostility to Muslims, his adherence to a militant Hindu group that hatches the plot to kill Gandhi, and his involvement with a married woman Rani (Valerie Gearon) and a prostitute Sheila (Diane Baker). Meanwhile, a police officer Supt. Gopal Das (Jose Ferrer) is attempting to find the killer before it is too late.

Art

Psycho
Psycho (1998)
, 1h45
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Horror, Crime
Themes Medical-themed films, Psychologie, Films about sexuality, Serial killer films, Films about psychiatry, LGBT-related film, Cross-dressing in film
Actors Vince Vaughn, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Heche, William H. Macy, Philip Baker Hall
Roles Title Designer
Rating46% 2.3047752.3047752.3047752.3047752.304775
Marion Crane steals $400,000 from her employer to get her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, out of debt. She flees Phoenix, Arizona, by car. While en route to Sam's California home, she parks along the road to sleep. A highway patrol officer awakens her and, suspicious of her agitated state, begins to follow her. When she trades her car for another one at a dealership, he notes the new vehicle's details. Marion returns to the road but, rather than drive in a heavy storm, decides to spend the night at the Bates Motel.
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, 3h45
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Origin USA
Genres Documentary
Themes Films about films, Documentary films about business, Documentary films about the film industry, Documentaire sur une personnalité
Actors Martin Scorsese, Kathryn Bigelow, Frank Capra, John Cassavetes, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma
Roles Title Designer
Rating85% 4.2856654.2856654.2856654.2856654.285665
Martin Scorsese, célèbre réalisateur américain, énumère les films américains qui l'ont marqué et qui ont influencé son œuvre. Son voyage à travers le cinéma commence au début du siècle pour se terminer en 1969, date de son premier film : Who's That Knocking at My Door.
Casino
Casino (1995)
, 2h58
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Mob film, Action, Historical, Crime, Romance
Themes Films about immigration, Mafia films, Medical-themed films, Seafaring films, Films about drugs, Films about sexuality, Transport films, L'Outfit de Chicago, Heist films, Gangster films, Escroquerie
Actors Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods, Frank Vincent, Pasquale Cajano
Roles Title Designer
Rating81% 4.0990454.0990454.0990454.0990454.099045
In 1973, Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) is a sports handicapper and Mafia associate who is sent to Las Vegas to run the Teamsters Union-funded Tangiers Casino on behalf of the Chicago Outfit. He hires old friend Billy Sherbert (Don Rickles) as his manager. In between, Ace and his friend, mob enforcer and caporegime Nicholas "Nicky" Santoro (Joe Pesci), narrate how the mob bosses control the Teamsters Union, which gives out money for casinos that they own, such as The Tangiers, and how they also drive off rival crews and get rid of cheaters. Ace becomes the Tangiers' de facto boss by taking advantage of lax gaming laws allowing him to work at the casino while his gaming license is still pending. He doubles the casino's profits, which are skimmed by the Mob before the records are reported to income tax agencies. The bosses are impressed with Ace's work and send Nicky to protect Ace and the whole business, along with Nicky's brother Dominick, Nicky's friend and subordinate Frank Marino (Frank Vincent), and the rest of Nicky's soldiers in his crew. Nicky, however, becomes more of a liability than an asset; his criminal activities- which he makes nearly no effort to conceal- and his violent and vicious temper quickly gets him banned by the gaming board from every casino, and his name is placed in the Black Book. In retaliation, Nicky gathers his own crew, opens a jewelry store and restaurant, begins running unsanctioned shakedowns and burglaries, and soon after is considered the mob boss of Vegas.
The Age of Innocence, 2h19
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Historical, Romance
Actors Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, Alexis Smith, Geraldine Chaplin, Mary Beth Hurt
Roles Title Designer
Rating71% 3.598223.598223.598223.598223.59822
Newland Archer (Daniel Day Lewis) is planning to marry the respectable May Welland (Winona Ryder). May's cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer) has returned to New York which causes a shock in society circles. The Countess unwisely married a Polish Count, who took her fortune and mistreated her; she left him to return to New York.
GoodFellas
GoodFellas (1990)
, 2h26
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Biography, Mob film, Action, Noir, Crime
Themes Films about films, Films about immigration, Mafia films, Medical-themed films, Seafaring films, Films about drugs, Transport films, Gangster films
Actors Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Paul Sorvino, Lorraine Bracco, Frank Sivero
Roles Title Designer
Rating84% 4.242374.242374.242374.242374.24237
Henry Hill says, "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster", referring to his idolizing the Lucchese crime family gangsters in his blue-collar, predominantly Italian-American neighborhood in East New York, Brooklyn. Wanting to be part of something significant, Henry quits school and goes to work for them. He is able to make a living for himself and learns the two most important lessons in life: "Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut", the advice given to him after being acquitted of criminal charges early in his career.
Big
Big (1988)
, 1h44
Directed by Penny Marshall
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Fantastic, Comedy, Romantic comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Themes L'adolescence, Films about children
Actors Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard, David Moscow, Jared Rushton
Roles Title Designer
Rating72% 3.6489853.6489853.6489853.6489853.648985
12-year-old Josh Baskin, who lives with his parents and infant sister in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, is told he is too short for a carnival ride called the Ring of Fire, while attempting to impress Cynthia Benson, an older girl. He puts a coin into an unusual antique arcade fortune teller machine called Zoltar Speaks, and makes a wish to be "big". It dispenses a card stating "Your wish is granted", but Josh is spooked to see it was unplugged the entire time.
The Human Factor, 1h54
Directed by Otto Preminger
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Thriller, Spy, Politic
Themes Spy films, Politique, Political films
Actors Richard Attenborough, Derek Jacobi, John Gielgud, Iman, Nicol Williamson, Robert Morley
Roles Title Designer
Rating60% 3.048663.048663.048663.048663.04866
Maurice Castle (Nicol Williamson) is a mid-level bureaucrat in MI6 whose life seems completely without peculiarity, peccadillo, or any highlighting quality to suggest he’s anything but a dull bureaucrat, except for the interesting, casually introduced detail that he has an African wife, Sarah (Iman), and son, Sam (Gary Forbes). Meanwhile, the company regime, represented by corpulent, bluffly cheery Dr. Percival (Robert Morley), who’s actually an expert in assassinations and biological toxins, and grey eminence Sir John Hargreaves (Richard Vernon), advise newly appointed security chieftain Daintry (Richard Attenborough) that, thanks to a source they have cultivated in their Moscow enemy headquarters, they believe they have a traitor at the MI6 African desk. The duo determine that the mole must be quietly killed, rather than be allowed publicity in a trial or a flight to Moscow. They determine quickly that the most likely candidate for the traitor is Arthur Davis (Derek Jacobi), Castle’s playboy office partner. Actually, Castle is the mole, but the information he leaks is entirely unimportant financial documents. He became involved in leaking to the Soviets when he was an MI6 agent in South Africa, seven years earlier: he met and fell in love with Sarah, and when their affair was discovered by the authorities, Castle was all but thrown out of the country, and he entrusted Sarah’s smuggling out of the country to a mutual communist acquaintance. Ever since, he’s been repaying the favor by filtering insignificant data to the Soviets. Castle makes one last informational drop to his communist handlers and he is summarily whisked off to Moscow for protection. However, Castle's primary problem is that he is not a communist, is not a communist sympathizer, and has absolutely no interest in politics, socialism, the Russian language, Slavic history or culture, geopolitical power plays, Moscow nor the Soviet Union. His only interest is in his wife and his son, who are left in London — where they will remain separated from him.
Phase IV
Phase IV (1974)
, 1h24
Directed by Saul Bass
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Horror
Themes Films about animals, Films about music and musicians, Natural horror films, Films about insects, Musical films
Actors Michael Murphy, Nigel Davenport, Lynne Frederick, David Healy
Roles Title Designer
Rating63% 3.198593.198593.198593.198593.19859
Due to an unknown cosmic event, listed in "phases", ants have undergone rapid evolution and developed a hive mind. A scientific team begins investigating strange towers and geometrically perfect designs that ants have built in the desert. Except for one family, the local human population flees the strangely acting ants. Scientists James Lesko and Ernest Hubbs set up a computerized lab in a sealed dome located in an area of significant ant activity in Arizona. The ant colony and the scientific team, along with the holdout family, fight each other though the ants are the more effective aggressors.
Seconds
Seconds (1966)
, 1h40
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Horror
Actors Rock Hudson, Salome Jens, John Randolph, Will Geer, Richard Anderson, Jeff Corey
Roles Title Designer
Rating75% 3.7971853.7971853.7971853.7971853.797185
The film is an expressionistic, part-horror, part-thriller, part-science fiction film about the obsession with eternal youth and misplaced faith in the ability of medical science to achieve it.