William Travilla (March 22, 1920 - November 2, 1990), who went by the professional name of Travilla, was an American costume designer for theatre, film, and television.^[1] He is perhaps best-known for dressing Marilyn Monroe in eight of her films.^[2]

[edit] Life and work

William Travilla first came to Hollywood in 1942. After work on several B movies, he earned an Oscar in 1949 for the Errol Flynn swashbuckler Adventures of Don Juan, and in 1951 designed the costumes in the now classic sci-fi tale of morality The Day the Earth Stood Still.

He then worked mainly at Twentieth Century-Fox and his credits include Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata! in 1952, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953, The Seven Year Itch in 1955, The Rains of Ranchipur (1955), Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), The Tall Men (1955), Bus Stop (1956) and Valley of the Dolls in 1967. Travilla's other Academy Award nominations were for How to Marry a Millionaire in 1953, There's No Business Like Show Business in 1954 and The Stripper in 1963.

In the late 1970s, Travilla began working mainly in television. One of his most widely seen latter day projects was the TV mini-series The Thorn Birds in 1983. Travilla was nominated for Emmy awards seven times for his work on television. In 1980, he won the Emmy for "Outstanding Costume Design for a Limited Series or a Special" for "The Scarlett O'Hara War", and in 1985 he won the "Outstanding Costume Design for a Series" Emmy for his work on the television show Dallas.^[3]

He died in Los Angeles, California, at age 69.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

Travilla at the Internet Movie Database