Iconic production designer Robert F. Boyle, a four-time Academy Award nominee for art direction for his work on “North by Northwest,” “Gaily, Gaily,” “The Shootist” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” and recipient of an honorary Oscar in 2008 for his work on these and more than 86 other motion pictures, died on Aug. 1 of natural causes after a two-day stay at Cedars Sinai Hospital. He was 100.
In 1997 Boyle was voted a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Art Directors Guild. In 2001 he was further honored with the Hollywood Production Designer of the Year Award by the Hollywood Film Festival. Recently he was given a tribute by the American Cinematheque and the Art Directors Guild with a screening at the Egyptian Theatre of two of his designed films, “The Wolf Man” (1941) and “Gaily, Gaily” (1969). In 1973 he was nominated for an Emmy for “The Red Pony.”
Among his other major motion picture credits as a production designer are “The Birds,” “Winter Kills,” “The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas,” “Private Benjamin,” “Portnoy’s Complaint,” “The Thomas Crown Affair,” “In Cold Blood,” “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying,” “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” “The Shootist” and the original “Cape Fear.”
Boyle worked on numerous films for Alfred Hitchcock and Norman Jewison as well as for such other famed directors as Tom Mankiewicz, Penny Marshall, Joe Dante, Sylvester Stallone, Hal Ashby, Arthur Hiller and Don Siegel. Until he was hospitalized he was a Distinguished Lecturer at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles where he was considered the “guiding light” of the Institute’s production design department.
Boyle is the subject of Daniel Raim’s Oscar-nominated documentary, “The Man On Lincoln’s Nose” (2000), which refers to Hitchcock’s “North By Northwest” film that Boyle designed. He also is a prominent subject in Raim’s newest documentary about production designers, “Something’s Gonna Live,” that includes participation by three other deceased production designers, Henry Bumstead, Albert Nozaki and Harold Michelson.
Boyle was born October 10, 1909, in Los Angeles and was a graduate of the School of Architecture of the University of Southern California (1933). He began his art direction career that year at Paramount Studios moving from there to Universal Studios. In 1941 Hitchcock chose him to be the art director on his “Saboteur” film. He served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for nine years and was a two-term president of the Art Directors Guild.
Memorial services are pending for Boyle who is survived by two daughters: Emily Boyle-Biddle of Hollywood, CA, and Susan Licon of Toledo, Oregon, and three grandchildren. Boyle’s wife, Bess Taffel Boyle, died in 1999.
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More