Cedric Gibbons
- Veronica Cooper (niece)
- Billy Gibbons (second cousin once-removed)
Austin Cedric Gibbons (March 23, 1890[1] – July 26, 1960) was an American art director for the film industry. He also made a significant contribution to motion picture theater architecture from the 1930s to 1950s. Gibbons designed the Oscar statuette in 1928, but tasked the sculpting to George Stanley, a Los Angeles artist.[2][3] He was nominated 39 times for the Academy Award for Best Production Design and won the Oscar 11 times, both of which are records.[4]
Early life
Cedric Gibbons was born in New York City in 1890[1] to Irish architect Austin P. Gibbons and American Veronica Fitzpatrick Simmons. The family moved to Manhattan after the birth of their third child.[5] Cedric studied at the Art Students League of New York in 1911.[6] He began working in his father's office as a junior draftsman, then in the art department at Edison Studios under Hugo Ballin in New Jersey in 1915. He was drafted and served in the US Navy Reserves during World War I at Pelham Bay in New York.[7]
Career
Gibbons joined Goldwyn Studios,[when?] and began a long career with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924, when the studio was founded.[8]
In 1925, when he was first working in the art department at MGM, he was in competition with Romain De Tirtoff for a more substantial position, while working with Joseph Wright, Merrill Pye and Richard Day on some 20 films.[9] Tirtoff is better known as Erte. When studio executive Irving Thalberg summoned Gibbons to work on Ben Hur (1925), he used knowledge of the up-and-coming art moderne (that was to become known as art deco) to advance in the MGM art department.[9]
Gibbons was one of the original 36 founding members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and designed the Academy Awards statuette in 1928,[3] a trophy for which he himself would be nominated 39 times, winning 11,[10] the last time for Best Art Direction for Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956).
He retired from MGM as art director and the head of the art department on April 26, 1956, due to ill health with over 1,500 films credited to him; however, other designers did major work on these films, some credited, some not, during Gibbons' tenure as head of the art department.[9] Even so, his actual hands-on art direction is considerable and his contributions lasting.[11][12]
Personal life and death
Gibbons married 22 year old, Texas born, Gwendolyn Weller in New York City on January 16 1926 after having known her for one week. (On the marriage certificate he stated that he had been born in Dublin, Ireland.) They divorced shortly thereafter on the grounds of "desertion." Gibbons at first failed to pay the promised $6,000 per year alimony. [13][14]
In 1930, Gibbons married actress Dolores del Río and co-designed their house with Douglas Honnold[15] in Santa Monica, an intricate Art Deco residence influenced by Rudolf Schindler.[16][17] The couple divorced in 1941. In October 1944, he married actress Hazel Brooks,[18] with whom he remained until his death.[19]
Gibbons' niece Veronica "Rocky" Balfe was Gary Cooper's wife and briefly an actress known as Sandra Shaw.[20][21]
Gibbons' second cousin[citation needed] Frederick "Royal" Gibbons—a musician, orchestra conductor, and entertainer[22] who worked with him at MGM—was the father of Billy Gibbons of the rock band ZZ Top.[23][24]
Despite holding a US birth certificate,[25] Gibbons claimed on census forms that he was born in Ireland and that his family emigrated to the US during his early childhood.[26][27] His press marriage announcement also stated that he was a native of Ireland.[28] The reasons for this misstatement are unknown.
Gibbons died in Los Angeles on July 26, 1960, after a long illness at age 70 and was buried under a modest marker at the Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles.[29] Dorothy Kilgallen, journalist and gossip columnist, a friend of his second wife, reported his age as 65 at the time of his death.
Legacy
Gibbons' set designs, particularly those in such films as Born to Dance (1936) and Rosalie (1937), heavily inspired motion picture theater architecture in the late 1930s through 1950s.
Among the classic examples are the Loma Theater in San Diego, the Crest theaters in Long Beach, California and Fresno, California, and the Culver Theater in Culver City, California, some of which are still extant. The style sometimes is referred to as Art Deco or as Art Moderne. The style is found in the theaters that were managed by the Skouras brothers, whose designer Carl G. Moeller used the sweeping scroll-like details in his creations.[30]
The iconic Oscar statuettes that Gibbons designed, which were first awarded in 1929, still are being presented to winners at Academy Awards ceremonies each year.
Gibbons was inducted into the Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame in February 2005.[31]
Academy Awards
Awards for Art Direction
- The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929)
- The Merry Widow (1934)
- Pride and Prejudice (1940)
- Blossoms in the Dust (1941)
- Gaslight (1944)
- The Yearling (1946)
- Little Women (1949)
- An American in Paris (1951)
- The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
- Julius Caesar (1953)
- Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
Nominations for Art Direction
- When Ladies Meet (1933)
- Romeo and Juliet (1936)
- The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
- Conquest (1937)
- Marie Antoinette (1938)
- The Wizard of Oz (1939)
- Bitter Sweet (1940)
- When Ladies Meet (1941)
- Random Harvest (1942)
- Madame Curie (1943)
- Thousands Cheer (1943)
- Kismet (1944)
- National Velvet (1944)
- The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
- Madame Bovary (1949)
- The Red Danube (1949)
- Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
- Too Young to Kiss (1951)
- Quo Vadis (1951)
- The Merry Widow (1952)
- Lili (1953)
- The Story of Three Loves (1953)
- Young Bess (1953)
- Brigadoon (1954)
- Executive Suite (1954)
- I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)
- Blackboard Jungle (1955)
- Lust for Life (1956)
See also
Bibliography
- "Cedric Gibbons Architect of Style", LA Modernism catalog, May 2006, pp. 16–17 by Jeffrey Head
Notes
References
- ^ a b "B-M-1893-0022033 - Historical Vital Records of NYC". Retrieved September 8, 2023.
- ^ Nichols, Chris (February 25, 2016). "Meet George Stanley, Sculptor of the Academy Award Los Angeles Magazine". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ a b "Oscar Statuette". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. July 25, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ "Nominee Facts – Most Nominations and Awards" Archived April 2, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; retrieved November 29, 2015.
- ^ Pawlak, Debra Ann (January 12, 2012). Bringing up Oscar: The story of the men and women who founded the Academy. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-60598-216-8.
- ^ Hogan, David J. (June 1, 2014). The Wizard of Oz FAQ: All That's Left to Know About Life According to Oz. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4803-9720-0.
- ^ Gutner, Howard (September 17, 2019). MGM Style: Cedric Gibbons and the Art of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4930-3858-9.
- ^ "Cedric Gibbons, M-G-M Artist, 65". The New York Times. July 27, 1960. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
- ^ a b c Gutner, Howard (October 1, 2019). MGM Style: Cedric Gibbons and the Art of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4930-3858-9.
- ^ "Cedric Gibbons and Hazel Brooks papers". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
- ^ Stephens, Michael L. (September 2, 2015). Art Directors in Cinema: A Worldwide Biographical Dictionary. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-1128-0.
- ^ "The Architectural Digest Greenroom at the 2013 Oscars". Architectural Digest. January 31, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ "Gibbons-Weller Marriage Certificate". New York City Vital Records. 1926. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
- ^ ""Delores Del Rio's New Husband May Have to Support 2 Wives "". New York Daily News. October 9, 1930. p. 3. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
- ^ Bingen, Steven; Sylvester, Stephen X.; Troyan, Michael (February 25, 2011). MGM: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot. Santa Monica Press. ISBN 978-1-59580-893-6.
- ^ "Inside Oscar Statuette Designer Cedric Gibbons' Restored Art Deco Home (Exclusive Photos)". The Hollywood Reporter. May 16, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
- ^ "Cedric Gibbons Crafts a California Home That Evokes Hollywood Glamour". Architectural Digest. February 29, 2008. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
- ^ "Hazel Brooks". Los Angeles Times. October 27, 1944. p. 13. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- ^ "Cedric Gibbons and Hazel Brooks papers". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
- ^ Meyers, Jeffrey (February 27, 2001). Gary Cooper: American Hero. Cooper Square Press. ISBN 978-1-4616-6098-9.
- ^ Frankel, Glenn (February 21, 2017). High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-62040-950-3.
- ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions. Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 1944.
- ^ Welling, David (June 30, 2010). Cinema Houston: From Nickelodeon to Megaplex. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-77398-1.
- ^ Jasinski, Laurie E. (February 22, 2012). Handbook of Texas Music. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-0-87611-297-7.
- ^ "B-M-1893-0022033 - Historical Vital Records of NYC". a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
- ^ "Cedric Gibbons discovered in 1930 United States Federal Census". Ancestry.com.
- ^ "Adrie Gibbons discovered in 1920 United States Federal Census". Ancestry.com.
- ^ "Clipped from Santa Maria Times". Santa Maria Times. August 2, 1930. p. 1.
- ^ Wilson, Scott (August 17, 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-7992-4.
- ^ Bitetti, Marge; Ball, Guy (2006). Early Santa Ana. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-3100-7.
- ^ McNary, Dave (October 26, 2005). "Art Directors paint quintet with honors". Variety. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
External links
- Cedric Gibbons at IMDb
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Interior Decoration
- 1927/1928: William Cameron Menzies
- 1929/1929: Cedric Gibbons
- 1929/1930: Herman Rosse
- 1930/1931: Max Rée
- 1931/1932: Gordon Wiles
- 1932/1933: William S. Darling
- 1934: Cedric Gibbons, Fredric Hope
- 1935: Richard Day
- 1936: Richard Day
- 1937: Stephen Goosson
- 1938: Carl Jules Weyl
- 1939: Lyle R. Wheeler
Black & White
/ Color separate
- 1940 (bw): Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse / (c): Vincent Korda
- 1941 (bw): Richard Day, Nathan Juran, Thomas Little / (c): Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary, Edwin B. Willis
- 1942 (bw): Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright, Thomas Little / (c): Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright, Thomas Little
- 1943 (bw): James Basevi, William S. Darling, Thomas Little / (c): Alexander Golitzen, John B. Goodman, Russell A. Gausman, Ira S. Webb
- 1944 (bw): Cedric Gibbons, William Ferrari, Paul Huldschinsky, Edwin B. Willis / (c): Wiard Ihnen, Thomas Little
- 1945 (bw): Wiard Ihnen, A. Roland Fields / (c): Hans Dreier, Ernst Fegté, Samuel M. Comer
- 1946 (bw): William S. Darling, Lyle R. Wheeler, Thomas Little, Frank E. Hughes / (c): Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis
Art Direction
- Set Decoration
Black & White
/ Color separate
- 1947 (bw): John Bryan, Wilfred Shingleton / (c): Alfred Junge
- 1948 (bw): Roger K. Furse, Carmen Dillon / (c): Hein Heckroth, Arthur Lawson
- 1949 (bw): Harry Horner, John Meehan, Emile Kuri / (c): Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis, Jack D. Moore
- 1950 (bw): Hans Dreier, John Meehan, Samuel M. Comer, Ray Moyer / (c): Hans Dreier, Walter Tyler, Samuel M. Comer, Ray Moyer
- 1951 (bw): Richard Day, George James Hopkins / (c): Cedric Gibbons, E. Preston Ames, Edwin B. Willis, F. Keogh Gleason
- 1952 (bw): Cedric Gibbons, Edward Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis, F. Keogh Gleason /(c): Paul Sheriff, Marcel Vertès
- 1953 (bw): Cedric Gibbons, Edward Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis, Hugh Hunt / (c): Lyle R. Wheeler, George Davis, Walter M. Scott, Paul S. Fox
- 1954 (bw): Richard Day / (c): John Meehan, Emile Kuri
- 1955 (bw): Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen, Samuel M. Comer, Arthur Krams / (c): William Flannery, Jo Mielziner, Robert Priestley
- 1956 (bw): Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm F. Brown, Edwin B. Willis, F. Keogh Gleason / (c): Lyle R. Wheeler, John DeCuir, Walter M. Scott, Paul S. Fox
Black & White
/ Color separate
- 1959 (bw): Lyle R. Wheeler, George Davis, Walter M. Scott, Stuart A. Reiss / (c): William A. Horning (posthumous award), Edward Carfagno, Hugh Hunt
- 1960 (bw): Alexandre Trauner, Edward G. Boyle /(c): Alexander Golitzen, Eric Orbom (posthumous award), Russell A. Gausman, Julia Heron
- 1961 (bw): Harry Horner, Gene Callahan / (c): Boris Leven, Victor A. Gangelin
- 1962 (bw): Alexander Golitzen, Henry Bumstead, Oliver Emert /(c): John Box, John Stoll, Dario Simoni
- 1963 (bw): Gene Callahan / (c): John DeCuir, Jack Martin Smith, Hilyard M. Brown, Herman A. Blumenthal, Elven Webb, Maurice Pelling, Boris Juraga, Walter M. Scott, Paul S. Fox, Ray Moyer
- 1964 (bw): Vassilis Photopoulos /(c): Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton, George James Hopkins
- 1965 (bw): Robert Clatworthy, Joseph Kish /(c): John Box, Terence Marsh, Dario Simoni
- 1966 (bw): Richard Sylbert, George James Hopkins / (c): Jack Martin Smith, Dale Hennesy, Walter M. Scott, Stuart A. Reiss
- 1967: John Truscott, Edward Carrere, John W. Brown
- 1968: John Box, Terence Marsh, Vernon Dixon, Ken Muggleston
- 1969: John DeCuir, Jack Martin Smith, Herman A. Blumenthal, Walter M. Scott, George James Hopkins, Raphaël Bretton
- 1970: Urie McCleary, Gil Parrondo, Antonio Mateos, Pierre-Louis Thévenet
- 1971: John Box, Ernest Archer, Jack Maxsted, Gil Parrondo, Vernon Dixon
- 1972: Rolf Zehetbauer, Jurgen Kiebach, Herbert Strabel
- 1973: Henry Bumstead, James W. Payne
- 1974: Dean Tavoularis, Angelo P. Graham, George R. Nelson
- 1975: Ken Adam, Roy Walker, Vernon Dixon
- 1976: George C. Jenkins, George Gaines
- 1977: John Barry, Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley, Roger Christian
- 1978: Paul Sylbert, Edwin O'Donovan, George Gaines
- 1979: Philip Rosenberg, Tony Walton, Edward Stewart, Gary J. Brink
- 1980: Pierre Guffroy, Jack Stephens
- 1981: Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley; Michael D. Ford (set)
- 1982: Stuart Craig, Robert W. Laing; Michael Seirton (set)
- 1983: Anna Asp
- 1984: Patrizia von Brandenstein; Karel Černý (set)
- 1985: Stephen B. Grimes; Josie MacAvin (set)
- 1986: Gianni Quaranta, Brian Ackland-Snow; Brian Savegar, Elio Altramura (set)
- 1987: Ferdinando Scarfiotti; Bruno Cesari, Osvaldo Desideri (set)
- 1988: Stuart Craig; Gérard James (set)
- 1989: Anton Furst; Peter Young (set)
- 1990: Richard Sylbert (art); Rick Simpson (set)
- 1991: Dennis Gassner (art); Nancy Haigh (set)
- 1992: Luciana Arrighi (art); Ian Whittaker (set)
- 1993: Allan Starski (art); Ewa Braun (set)
- 1994: Ken Adam (art); Carolyn Scott (set)
- 1995: Eugenio Zanetti (art)
- 1996: Stuart Craig (art); Stephenie McMillan (set)
- 1997: Peter Lamont (art); Michael D. Ford (set)
- 1998: Martin Childs (art); Jill Quertier (set)
- 1999: Rick Heinrichs (art); Peter Young (set)
- 2000: Timmy Yip (art)
- 2001: Catherine Martin (art); Brigitte Broch (set)
- 2002: John Myhre (art); Gordon Sim (set)
- 2003: Grant Major (art); Dan Hennah and Alan Lee (set)
- 2004: Dante Ferretti (art); Francesca Lo Schiavo (set)
- 2005: John Myhre (art); Gretchen Rau (set)
- 2006: Eugenio Caballero (art); Pilar Revuelta (set)
- 2007: Dante Ferretti (art); Francesca Lo Schiavo (set)
- 2008: Donald Graham Burt (art); Victor J. Zolfo (set)
- 2009: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg (art); Kim Sinclair (set)
- 2010: Robert Stromberg (art); Karen O'Hara (set)
- 2011: Dante Ferretti (art); Francesca Lo Schiavo (set)
- 2012: Rick Carter (art); Jim Erickson (set)
- 2013: Catherine Martin (art); Beverley Dunn (set)
- 2014: Adam Stockhausen (art); Anna Pinnock (set)
- 2015: Colin Gibson (art); Lisa Thompson (set)
- 2016: David Wasco (art); Sandy Reynolds-Wasco (set)
- 2017: Paul Denham Austerberry (art); Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin (set)
- 2018: Hannah Beachler (art); Jay Hart (set)
- 2019: Barbara Ling (art); Nancy Haigh (set)
- 2020: Donald Graham Burt (art); Jan Pascale (set)
- 2021: Patrice Vermette (art) and Zsuzsanna Sipos (set)
- 2022: Christian M. Goldbeck (art) and Ernestine Hipper (set)
- 2023: James Price and Shona Heath (art); Zsuzsa Mihalek (set)