The Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame has announced it will soon induct Oscar-winning Production Designer William A. Horning and Oscar-nominated Production Designer, Costume Designer and Producer Polly Platt into its hallowed ranks.
Horning is best known for his legendary work on Ben-Hur, North by Northwest and The Wizard of Oz, while Platt is being honored for her design work on films such as Say Anything, Terms of Endearment, A Star is Born, and Broadcast News.
Their extraordinary contributions to the art of visual storytelling will be celebrated at the 26th Annual Art Directors Guild’s Excellence in Production Design Awards on March 5. The ADG Awards will return to a live in-person event at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown that will be hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown.
“The creative and professional standards set by the 2022 ADG Awards Hall of Fame recipients Polly Platt and William A. Horning are nonpareil,” ADG President Nelson Coates said in a statement. “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 more than 70 movies and was nominated for multiple Oscars, earning his first nod for 1937’s Conquest along with his boss at MGM, Cedric Gibbons. When Gibbons retired, Horning became the studio’s supervising art director, and he subsequently received posthumous Oscars for Gigi and Ben-Hur, as well as another posthumous Oscar nomination for his work on Alfred Hitchcock‘s North by Northwest. His other memorable credits include Jailhouse Rock and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
A mentor to many in Hollywood, Platt was also an industry trailblazer who was the first woman to join the Art Directors Guild as a Production Designer. At a time when women had restricted work possibilities, she was also a successful writer, costume designer and producer, thus making her one of the most versatile and creative talents of the ’70s 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 also wrote the screenplay. She died two years later, but not before earning credits on classics such as The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, The Bad News Bears, A Star Is Born, The Witches of Eastwick, and Terms of Endearment, the latter of which brought her an Oscar nomination. She also had producer credits on such films as Broadcast News, The War of the Roses and Bottle Rocket.
The ADG established a Hall of Fame to honor the contributions of legendary Production Designers and Art Directors of the past, and you can find a complete list of inductees on the ADG’s website.
This year’s ADG Awards will honor Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) with the esteemed Cinematic Imagery Award, while Dune director Denis Villeneuve will receive 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. Click here for a full list of this year’s ADG nominees.
Meanwhile, the ADG has also opened an exhibition titled Bringing Imagination into View at Los Angeles City College. It features the work of members on some of Hollywood’s hottest productions and franchises, such as Jurassic Park, Men in Black, Star Trek, Aquaman, Blade Runner, Speed Racer, Mars Attacks, Babylon 5, and various Marvel productions, including Black Panther and Spider-Man: Homecoming.
“Local 800 is committed to the diversification of our crafts. We recognize that due to the higher levels of knowledge and artistic skill necessary for entry-level positions, we must work with diverse educational institutions like LACC to plant seeds of interest in students, to spark their desire to pursue these careers by seeking out the training necessary to provide that skill and knowledge,” said dooner, the Associate National Executive Director of the Art Directors Guild.
Located at the newly renovated DaVinci Gallery, the exhibition is open to the public and it will run daily through February 24 from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The public is invited to join several of the participating artists at the opening reception, which will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 17 at DaVinci Hall. You can RSVP via [email protected].
