Emile Ardolino

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BIRTHDAY

May 09, 1943

Maspeth, Queens, New york, USA

DIED

November 20, 1993

RECENT CREDITS

George Balanchine's The Nutcracker (FILM) Nov. 24, 1993

Sister Act (FILM) May. 29, 1992

3 Men and A Little Lady (FILM) Nov. 21, 1990

Chances Are (FILM) Jan. 1, 1989

Dirty Dancing (FILM) Jan. 1, 1987

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BIOGRAPHY

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Emmy-winning TV producer-director and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker (for his profile on ballet dancer-teacher Jacques d'Amboise, "He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'" 1983). After a distinguished career in television as director and producer of PBS' "Dance in America" and "Live From Lincoln Center" cultural series and as director of Joseph Papp productions for TV, Ardolino scored a huge hit with his first fiction feature, the dance-driven teen romance, "Dirty Dancing" (1987). After this sweaty charmer, Ardolino helmed the lackadaisically fantastic "Chances Are" (1988) and the happy-face sequel "Three Men and A Little Lady" (1990). He did even better in the box-office stakes with the surprise hit "Sister Act" (1992) which starred Whoopi Goldberg as woman on the lam posing as a singing nun. This assured goofy comedy of transformation grossed $200 million. His last feature was a return to his preoccupation, dance on film: "George Balanchine's The Nutcracker" (1993) starring Macaulay Culkin. Ardolino's final TV assignment was directing "Gypsy" (CBS, 1993) starring Bette Midler in an adaptation of the Sondheim/Styne/Laurents musical. This special was broadcast after the director's death.

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