Michael Stevens was a writer, producer and director best known for his work on the Kennedy Center Honors. He contributed to the special annually from 2003 to 2014, beginning as a writer in ‘03 and adding work as a producer in '06.
Stevens received Emmy Award nominations for the Honors broadcast in the Variety, Music or Comedy Special category for five consecutive years between 2007 and 2011, and won the statuette in the latter three years.
He also worked consistently on the television special Christmas in Washington, which airs annually from the National Building Museum and features a one-hour concert with various artists. Additionally, he contributed to AFI Life Achievement Award specials for Elizabeth Taylor, Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese and Robert Wise.
His resume also included numerous specials, including We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, From Dust to Dreams: Opening Night at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond, America's Millennium, All Together Now: A Celebration of Service and both the 65th and 66th Annual Directors Guild Awards. Additionally, he was the director and one of the producers of Thurgood, a televised one-man play starring Laurence Fishburne as Thurgood Marshall in his years prior to being appointed to the United States Supreme Court.
Stevens’ work in film was less extensive, but he most notably worked as an associate producer on Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line in 1998. He also contributed to the films Bad City Blues, Sin and 2013 documentary Herblock: The Black & the White.
Stevens was the grandson of George Stevens — the renowned director of such films as A Place in the Sun, Shane and Giant, and three-term DGA president — and son of George Stevens, Jr., with whom Michael shared production work on many projects. Michael Stevens also won an Emmy Award in 2012 in the category of Outstanding Special Class — Short-Format Nonfiction Programs for DGA Moments In Time.
Stevens died October 20, 2015. He was 48.
