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Anthony Powell (designer)

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Anthony Powell
Born(1935-06-02)2 June 1935
Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England
Died16 April 2021(2021-04-16) (aged 85)
London, England
NationalityEnglish
OccupationCostume designer
AwardsAcademy Award, BAFTA Award, Tony Award, César Award

Anthony Powell (2 June 1935 – 16 April 2021) was an English costume designer for film and stage. He won three Academy Awards, for Travels with My Aunt (1972), Death on the Nile (1978) and Tess (1979).

Biography

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Powell was born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in June 1935,[1] and is not related to fellow costume designer Sandy Powell as Sandy Powell herself told fashion journalist Suzy Menkes on an episode of Menkes' podcast "Creative Conversations" (5 April 2023).[2] Raised in Yorkshire and Dublin, Powell began his professional career as a teenager touring with his handmade marionettes. While serving as a wireless operator in the military, he mistakenly led the British Army of the Occupation in Germany into the Russian zone. After graduating from the Central School of Art and Design in London, he was apprenticed as an assistant to designers including Oliver Messel and Cecil Beaton.[citation needed]

Simultaneously, Powell served as a lecturer at his alma mater. His costume designs for John Gielgud's production of The School for Scandal (1963) earned him a Tony Award, and he received a second nomination for his scenic design. He was consulted as a designer for men's sportswear as well as worked as a design consultant for hotels and restaurants. He assisted in the restoration and renovation of Sutton Place, Guildford during the 1960s and 1970s.

Powell made his first Hollywood connection with director Irving Lerner who chose him to design the costumes for The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969), which required styling both the Spanish conquistadors as well as the Native Americans. His first Oscar came for his outlandish designs for Maggie Smith's Augusta in George Cukor's Travels with My Aunt (1972). Powell returned to Broadway as set designer for a revival of Noël Coward's Private Lives and Peter Shaffer's Lettice and Lovage, both starring Maggie Smith.

The academy honored him with Oscars for his glamorous 1930s designs for Death on the Nile (1978), and his 19th-century attire for Tess (1979). The latter began a long-term collaboration with director Roman Polanski that included the lavish Pirates (1986), and the contemporary Frantic (1988). Additionally, Powell created the costumes and sets for the French stage production of Amadeus, in which Polanski starred as well as directed.

Powell also forged a collaboration with director Steven Spielberg, creating the period-appropriate costumes for both Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Powell had spent the better part of two years working closely with David Lean on the director's film project of Nostromo; however the project was halted due to Lean's death. In 1991, he designed the fantastic clothing for Hook, some of which recalled his earlier work for Pirates.

Returning to the stage, his lavish and luxuriant costumes for Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Sunset Boulevard (1993 in London; 1994 in the USA), based on the movie, earned him another Tony Award. Glenn Close headed the American production so Powell created the over-the-top costumes for her Cruella de Vil in the live action remake of 101 Dalmatians (1996) and its sequel 102 Dalmatians (2000), for which he received another Best Costume Design Academy Award nomination. He also reinterpreted 1960s mod fashions for the film version of The Avengers (1998).

In 2004, Anthony Powell designed the costumes for Richard Strauss's opera Capriccio for the Paris Opera at the Palais Garnier, starring Renée Fleming, and directed by Robert Carsen. He collaborated again with Robert Carsen in 2010 for the costumes of My Fair Lady at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. This production also travelled to the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg where it was the first musical comedy to be presented on this stage. This production was revived again in Paris in 2012.

Powell died at a care facility in London on 16 April 2021, aged 85.[3]

Credits

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Film

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Year Film Notes
1964 Festival (TV series) – "The Comedy of Errors"
1969 The Royal Hunt of the Sun
1972 Travels with My Aunt Won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design
1973 Papillon
1975 That Lucky Touch
1976 Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson
1977 Sorcerer
1978 Death on the Nile (costumes designed by) Won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design
Won the BAFTA for Best Costume Design
1979 Tess Won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design
Nominated for the BAFTA for Best Costume Design
1981 Priest of Love
1982 Evil Under the Sun
1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Nominated Saturn Award for Best Costume Design
1986 Pirates Won César Award for Best Costume Design
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design
1987 Ishtar
1988 Frantic
1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Nominated Saturn Award for Best Costume Design
1991 Hook Nominated Academy Award for Best Costume Design
1996 101 Dalmatians
1998 The Avengers
1999 The Ninth Gate
2000 102 Dalmatians Nominated Academy Award for Best Costume Design
2006 Miss Potter

Theatre

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Year Production Notes
1962 Women Beware Women[4]
The Comedy of Errors[5]
1963 The School for Scandal Won Tony Award for Best Costume Design

Nominated Tony Award for Best Scenic Design[6]

1975 Private Lives[7]
1981 Amadeus
1990 Lettice and Lovage[8]
1992 Hay Fever[9] Nominated Olivier Award for Best Costume Design[10]
1993 Trelawny of the 'Wells'
Sunset Boulevard
1994 Sunset Boulevard Nominated Tony Award for Best Costume Design
2001 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer[11] Nominated Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design
2002 Anything Goes[12]
2004 Capriccio
2010 My Fair Lady This production was revived again in Paris in 2012
2015 Singin' in the Rain

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ Anthony Powell, What's in a name?[dead link‍], letter, The Times, 3rd Dec 2008, page 33
  2. ^ "Anthony Powell". The Stage. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  3. ^ Sandomir, Richard (29 April 2021). "Anthony Powell, Oscar-Winning Costume Designer, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Search | RSC Performances | WOB196207 - Women Beware Women | Shakespeare Birthplace Trust". collections.shakespeare.org.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  5. ^ "Search | RSC Performances | COM196209 - The Comedy of Errors | Shakespeare Birthplace Trust". collections.shakespeare.org.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  6. ^ "The School for Scandal – Broadway Play – 1963 Revival | IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  7. ^ League, The Broadway. "Private Lives – Broadway Play – 1975 Revival | IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Lettice and Lovage – Broadway Play – Original | IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Hay Fever - London theatre tickets and information for the comedy starring Felicity Kendal up to 1 August 2015". www.thisistheatre.com. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Olivier Awards 1993 | WestEndTheatre.com". www.westendtheatre.com. 1 January 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  11. ^ League, The Broadway. "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Broadway Musical – Original | IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Denis Quilley withdraws from Anything Goes through illness". London Theatre Guide. 14 July 2004. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
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