OLIVER STONE Biography - Other artists & entretainers

 
 

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OLIVER STONE
       

Oliver Stone, controversial director of such films as "JFK" and "Natural Born Killers" was the product of a French mother and an American Jewish father. Louis changed his name from Silverstein to Stone as a teenager in 1927 as he sensed the wave of anti-Semitism that was brewing. Jacqueline Goddet was from a suburb of Paris, France and met Louis days after World War II ended. They were married in November 1945 and in January of 1946 took the troopship to New York and during the long crossing Jacqueline was seasick. She later discovered that she was pregnant.

       

William Oliver Stone was born in New York, New York on September 14, 1946. His timing was impeccable as his father was working in the world of high finance and doing extremely well, living in a fine apartment overlooking the East River. He grew up speaking French even before he mastered English. Lou Stone was unhappy with his Wall Street job and opted to form his own business in order to sustain their high-end lifestyle. He established a business manufacturing machetes in Stamford, Connecticut, moving there and retaining the apartment. Oliver was sent to the Trinity School in Manhattan where he remained through the eighth grade. Many weekends were spent going to the movies and Oliver’s father had the ability to analyze the filmed stories and find plot holes. Frederico Fellini’s "La Dolce Vita" made an impression on young Oliver who loved the mythology that the 1960 film presented.

       

Living at home no longer became a reality when he was sent to the exclusive all-boys Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Although an athletic and intelligent teen, Oliver (using his real first name of William) was a loner. He was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps and attend Yale. During his visits home he was subjected to his parents’ opposite personalities—the socialite/artistic mother and the Wall Street father. In 1962, at the age of 15, his parents got divorced; his father was broke from his mother’s freewheeling spending days. The only thing Lou Stone promised his son was the Ivy League education.