John Whitney Stillman (born January 25, 1952) is an American
writer-director known for his 1990 film Metropolitan, which earned him
a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He is
also known for his other films, Barcelona (1994), The Last Days of
Disco (1998), Damsels in Distress (2011), as well as his most recent
film, Love & Friendship, which was released in 2016.Stillman was born
in 1952 in Washington, D.C., to Margaret Drinker (née Riley), from
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a Democratic politician, John Sterling
Stillman, an assistant secretary of commerce under President John F.
Kennedy (a classmate of Stillman's father at Harvard), from
Washington, D.C. His great-grandfather was businessman James Stillman;
his great-great-grandfather, Charles Stillman, founded Brownsville,
Texas. Stillman grew up in Cornwall, New York, and experienced
depression during puberty. "I was very depressed when I was 11 or 12,"
he told The Wall Street Journal. "I was sent to the leading Freudian
child psychologist in Washington, D.C. It was heck. The last thing I
needed to talk about was guilt about sex." However, when his parents
separated, he found that his depression ceased: "I actually felt
healthier."Stillman's godfather was E. Digby Baltzell, a University of
Pennsylvania professor and chronicler of the American upper
class.[note 1]
writer-director known for his 1990 film Metropolitan, which earned him
a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He is
also known for his other films, Barcelona (1994), The Last Days of
Disco (1998), Damsels in Distress (2011), as well as his most recent
film, Love & Friendship, which was released in 2016.Stillman was born
in 1952 in Washington, D.C., to Margaret Drinker (née Riley), from
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a Democratic politician, John Sterling
Stillman, an assistant secretary of commerce under President John F.
Kennedy (a classmate of Stillman's father at Harvard), from
Washington, D.C. His great-grandfather was businessman James Stillman;
his great-great-grandfather, Charles Stillman, founded Brownsville,
Texas. Stillman grew up in Cornwall, New York, and experienced
depression during puberty. "I was very depressed when I was 11 or 12,"
he told The Wall Street Journal. "I was sent to the leading Freudian
child psychologist in Washington, D.C. It was heck. The last thing I
needed to talk about was guilt about sex." However, when his parents
separated, he found that his depression ceased: "I actually felt
healthier."Stillman's godfather was E. Digby Baltzell, a University of
Pennsylvania professor and chronicler of the American upper
class.[note 1]
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