Scenic artist Albert “Obie” Obregon, Emmy®-nominated set designer Cate Bangs and sr. illustrator Joseph Musso join Emmy-winning production designer René Lagler as recipients of the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award. Announcement was made by ADG Council Chairperson Marcia Hinds and awards producer Thomas Wilkins. They will be honored at the 21st Annual Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Awards on Saturday, February 11, 2017 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.
ADG Lifetime Achievement Awards are awarded to outstanding individuals in each of the guild’s four crafts: Art Directors; Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; and Set Designers and Model Makers. Previous recipients include production designers Patrizia von Brandenstein (2016), Jim Bissell (2015), Rick Carter (2014), Herman Zimmerman (2013) and Stuart Craig (2012); set designers William J. Newmon, II (2016) and John P. Bruce (2015); matte artist Harrison Ellenshaw (2016) and sr. illustrator Camille Abbott (2015); and scenic artists Bill Anderson (2016) and Will Ferrell (2015).
Scenic artist Obregon spent 29 years at NBC Studios from 1958 to 1987, heading the studio’s scenic art department. His credits include sitcoms, game shows and soap operas such as The Bob Hope Show, Bright Promise, Days of Our Lives, High Rollers, Hollywood Squares, Let’s Make a Deal, Peyton Place, Sanford and Son, The Tonight Show, Welcome Back, Kotter and Wheel of Fortune. He worked on a number of variety shows, specials and musicals for Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Dinah Shore, Flip Wilson, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Mitzi Gaynor, among many others. After leaving NBC, he started his own company Premiere Scenery, working on the Golden Globes, American Music Awards, Pee-Wee Herman Show, and concerts for Madonna, Gloria Estefan and Ringo Starr. He later joined ABC Studios. Obregon’s paintings can also be seen in the Magic Castle in Los Angeles and Orange County’s Crystal Cathedral.
Set designer Bangs has worked in the industry for over 35 years, working on films and TV shows such as Private Practice, Desperate Housewives, Charmed, Home Alone 3 and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. In 1998, she earned an Emmy and Art Directors Guild nomination for the ABC television series Nothing Sacred. Bangs has also worked as an art director on Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Life, Ouija, The Fighting Temptations and RoboCop 3; and as an assistant art director on Beverly Hills Cop II, Cobra and Blue City. She served as treasurer of the Art Directors Guild, president of IATSE Local 847 and is currently a trustee of the ADG Set Designers Counsel. Bangs administrates and teaches for the contractual Junior Set Designer Training Program for Contract Services, passing on the standards of the industry.
Sr. illustrator Musso has over 46 years in the film and television industry, having worked with legendary filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Blake Edwards, Clint Eastwood, John Huston, Jules Dassin, Mike Nichols, Norman Jewison, Richard Brooks and Steven Spielberg. His credits as a production illustrator include Teleios, The Hateful Eight, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Monk, Flags of Our Fathers, Vanilla Sky, Space Cowboys, Basic Instinct, The Flash, Dick Tracy and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Musso’s credits as a storyboard artist include 90210, She’s Out of My League, Be Cool, Hulk, The Italian Job, Ladder 49, DragonHeart, The Scarlet Letter and Addams Family Values. His specialty in researching historic events and scenes.
As previously announced, René Lagler is five-time Emmy winner and production designer of more than 2,500 television shows and major events. He designed the 57th Academy Awards® for which he won an Emmy; the Grammy Awards from 1983 to 1987; the Emmy Awards; and the Country Music Awards from 1991 to 2006. He was production designer for the 1984 Summer Olympics opening and closing ceremonies and for the Statue of Liberty 100th anniversary celebration, Liberty Weekend, for which he also won an Emmy.
Producers of this year’s ADG Awards (#ADGawards) are production designers Tom Wilkins and Tom Walsh. Online voting will be held December 7, 2016-January 4, 2017. Nominations will be announced on January 5, 2017. Final online balloting will be held January 9-February 9, and winners will be announced at the dinner ceremony on Saturday, February 11, 2017. ADG Awards are open only to productions, when made within the U.S., by producer’s signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.
