Academy Award-winning production designer William A. Horning, best known for his legendary work on Ben-Hur, Gigi, North by Northwest and The Wizard of Oz, and Oscar®-nominated production designer, costume designer and producer Polly Platt, honored for her designs including Say Anything, Terms of Endearment, A Star is Born, and Broadcast News, will be inducted into the Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) Hall of Fame for their extraordinary contributions to the art of visual storytelling at the 26th Annual Art Directors Guild’s Excellence in Production Design Awards. The ADG Awards will return to a live in-person event on Saturday, March 5, 2022, at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown.
Nelson Coates, ADG president, said, “The creative and professional standards set by the 2022 ADG Awards Hall of Fame recipients Polly Platt and William A. Horning are nonpareil. The breadth of the narrative design achievement and depth of storytelling excellence of both legendary designers has served as a benchmark for production design and collaboration and will continue to inspire for generations to come.”
Horning worked on over 70 motion pictures during his career, receiving multiple Oscar nominations. His accomplishments are even more impressive when you consider he was only 54 years old at the time of his passing. His original plan was to be an architect, but the great depression put an end to that dream and opened up a career as a maker of dreams. He joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, becoming an assistant to the studio’s supervising art director, Cedric Gibbons. Together with his boss he received his first Academy Award nomination for Conquest (1937), followed two years later with his second nomination for a little film called The Wizard of Oz. Two years later, his next nom came with Quo Vadis.
When Gibbons retired in 1956, Horning became MGM’s supervising art director. Oscar nominations followed, with Les Girls, Raintree County and Gigi. He received a posthumous Oscar at the 31st Academy Awards for Gigi. A posthumous Oscar® nomination ensued for Hitchcock’s North by Northwest. At the 32nd Academy Awards ceremony, his second posthumous Academy Award was bestowed for Best Art Direction for Ben-Hur. Other memorable credits include Tea and Sympathy, The Teahouse of the August Moon, Designing Woman, Jailhouse Rock, Silk Stockings, The Brothers Karamazov and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Oscar®-nominated Platt was the “first” in many areas of the entertainment industry, including being the first woman to join the Art Directors Guild as production designer. At a time when women had restricted work possibilities, she was also a successful writer, costume designer and producer. She was indeed one of the most versatile and creative talents of the 1970s and ‘80s.
Her first film as production designer was 1968’s Targets, for which she also wrote the story. Her last film, released in 1999, was A Map of the World, for which she wrote the screenplay. She passed two years later.
But in the intervening 30 years she was the creative mind in so many iconic movies–including production designer for The Last Picture Show, What’s Up Doc?, Paper Moon Moon, The Thief Who Came to Dinner, The Bad News Bears, A Star Is Born, The Man With Two Brains, The Witches of Eastwick and Terms of Endearment (which garnered Platt her Oscar nomination). As costume designer, her credits included The Last Picture Show, What’s Up Doc?, The Thief Who Came to Dinner and Paper Moon. She had producer credits on such films as Pretty Baby, Broadcast News, War of the Roses and Bottle Rocket. While Platt was a mentor to many throughout her career, it was Garry Marshall who considered her his film director mentor. She was production designer on his directing debut, Young Doctors in Love.
The ADG established a Hall of Fame to honor contributions of legendary production designers and art directors of the past. Previous ADG Hall of Fame inductees include production designers Bill Creber and Roland Anderson.
As previously announced, Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Jane Campion, best known for her legendary movies including the recent highly acclaimed The Power of the Dog, will receive the esteemed Cinematic Imagery Award. French Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, celebrated for directing numerous epic movies including Dune, will be the recipient of the William Cameron Menzies Award.
Production designer Ida Random (AD), graphic designers Michael and Denise Okuda (SDMM) set designer/art director Ann Harris (STG) and concept illustrator and storyboard artist Donna Cline (IMA) will all be presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards for their outstanding legacies and contributions to their crafts.
