Stone, Oliver, 1946–, American filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer, b. New York City, studied filmmaking with Martin Scorsese Scorsese, Martin (skôrsā`zē, –sĕz`ē), 1942–, American film director; b. Queens, N.Y.
..... Click the link for more information. at New York Univ. (B.F.A., 1971). Stone enlisted (1967) in the army and saw combat in Vietnam, winning a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. He adapted the screenplay for Midnight Express (1978; Academy Award) and authored other scripts before directing his first Hollywood film, The Hand (1981). Stone won critical plaudits for Salvador (1986), but it was not until he wrote and directed the grimly realistic Vietnam War drama Platoon (1986; Academy Award, best director) that he catapulted to popular success. In his exploration of various uniquely American themes, Stone has become a controversial figure, frequently criticized for mingling fact and fiction in some films (e.g., JFK, 1991) and for portraying extreme violence in others (e.g., Natural Born Killers, 1994). His many other movies include Wall Street (1987), Born on the Fourth of July (1989; Academy Award, best director), The Doors (1991), Nixon (1995), and World Trade Center (2006).

Bibliography

See his Platoon and Salvador: The Screenplays (1987) and his autobiographical novel A Child's Night Dream (written 1966, pub. 1997); N. Kagan, The Cinema of Oliver Stone (1995); D. Kunz, ed., The Films of Oliver Stone (1997); C. Salewicz, Oliver Stone, Close Up (1998).

Stone, Oliver

(born Sept. 15, 1946, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. film director. He attended Yale University and served in Vietnam before studying filmmaking at New York University. He made his directorial debut with Seizure (1974) and wrote screenplays for several films marked by their rapid pace and violence, including Midnight Express (1978). He wrote and directed Platoon (1986, Academy Award), drawing on his Vietnam experience; it was followed by movies such as Wall Street (1987), Born on the Fourth of July (1989, Academy Award), JFK (1991), Natural Born Killers (1994), and Nixon (1995), some of them noted for their anti-establishment and often controversial interpretations of history.

Stone, Oliver (1946– ) movie director, screenwriter; born in New York City. Dropping out of Yale in 1965, he taught English and history in Saigon, Vietnam, as a civilian; he returned to Vietnam with the U.S. Army (1967–68) and was wounded in combat. He studied at the film school of New York University and went on to write screenplays; he won a 1978 Oscar for Midnight Express but subsequent screenplays were for mostly forgettable action films. He then wrote and directed two highly regarded movies, Salvador (1986) and Platoon (1987); the latter won him Oscars for best director and best picture. Established as a serious director, he produced and directed a series of commercially successful but often edgy movies, the most controversial being JFK (1991), his highly partisan account of the assassination of President Kennedy.