Jocelyn Rickards

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Jocelyn Rickards (born July 29, 1924 in Melbourne , † July 7, 2005 in London ) was a British costume designer of Australian origin.

Live and act

Rickards was born in Melbourne in 1924 as the daughter of a businessman. There she attended the Girls' Grammar School . When her father's company went bankrupt, the family moved to Sydney . At the age of 14, Rickards began a six-year art course at East Sydney Technical College . At two exhibitions she presented her pictures, which sold well and financed her a boat ticket to England. In 1949 she went to London with the fashion photographer Alec Murray, where they shared an apartment. Shortly after arriving in London, Rickards met the philosopher Alfred Jules Ayer , with whom she began a love affair that lasted five years. In 1953, she met the writer Graham Greene , which later developed into a lifelong friendship.

It was through her friend, costume designer Loudon Sainthill (1918–1969), who asked her for assistance with a musical, that Rickars first came into contact with theater costume design. Her debut in the film industry followed in 1956 as assistant to costume designer Roger K. Furse in the comedy The Prince and the Dancer . While Rickards failed to make her breakthrough as a painter, she soon established herself successfully as a recognized designer who helped shape the style of British films in the 1960s.

In 1958, Rickards met the playwright John Osborne, who was married to Mary Ure . They started an affair and lived together, which sparked critical media reports. They also cooperated professionally on several projects, for example Rickards created the costumes for Osborne's play The World of Paul Slickey (1959). For the first time as the sole responsible costume designer for a feature film, she worked in the films Blick zurück im Zorn (1959) and The Comedian (1960), based on Osborne's literary models and directed by Tony Richardson . Osborne later described Rickards in his autobiography as a woman with "passionate intelligence and emotional candor". After Osborne left her for Penelope Gilliatt , Rickards married the artist Leonard Rosoman (1913–2012) in 1963 , from whom she divorced. A professional high point of this time was her collaboration on the successful James Bond film With Love from Moscow (1963), whose elegant style typical of the series she underlined with her costumes.

In 1966, Rickards took part in Karel Reisz 's black-and-white comedy Protest , in which the artist Morgan Delt behaves increasingly insane as he tries to win his wife back for himself. Rickards outfitted, among other things, the main characters who belong to different social classes: the eccentric Morgan ( David Warner ), who first appears in white sweaters and aviator goggles, later in a gorilla costume , as well as his wife Leonie ( Vanessa Redgrave ), who comes from a wealthy family originating, wearing a new dress in every situation. Rickards received an Oscar nomination for her achievements as a costume designer .

In the same year she worked again with director Tony Richardson, who directed the drama Mademoiselle with Jeanne Moreau in the title role. Rickards received a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) in the category Best Costumes - Black and White for the costumes . Rickards also received a BAFTA nomination for his subsequent collaboration on a Richardson film, the drama Just a Woman on Board with Jeanne Moreau and Vanessa Redgrave in the lead roles.

Rickards also created the women's clothes for the feature film Blow Up (1966) during this time , after she met director Michelangelo Antonioni while touring her studio as a potential location. The film is centered around a fashion photographer, and Antonioni expected Rickards to foresee the development of fashion trends up to the film's appearance, which prompted her to undertake extensive studies. When designing her costumes, she oriented herself towards innovative fashion designers such as Mary Quant and Rudi Gernreich .

During the filming of Alfred the Great in 1968 Rickards met the film director and film editor Clive Donner , who became her second husband in 1970. The last major films Rickards worked on were Ryan's Daughter and Sunday, Bloody Sunday . She was again nominated for a BAFTA for designing the costumes for the melodrama Ryan's daughter .

After her withdrawal from the film business in the early 1970s, Rickards worked again as a painter. She wrote articles for The Oldie magazine and published the autobiography The Painted Banquet: My Life and Loves in 1987 , in which she discussed her love affairs with Ayer, Greene and Osborne, among other things. She also taught costume design at the University of Southern California .

Jocelyn Rickards died of pneumonia at the age of 80 in a London retirement home.

Awards (selection)

Filmography

Publications

  • The painted banquet: my life and loves. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1987, ISBN 0-297-79119-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Mary Rourke: Jocelyn Rickards, 80; Artist Designed Costumes for Top Films in '60s and' 70s. In: Los Angeles Times August 27, 2005, accessed January 17, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b c d David Jays: Jocelyn Rickards. Artist and costume designer who gave British movies the 60s look. In: The Guardian , July 14, 2005, accessed January 17, 2014
  3. ↑ Winner: Mademoiselle, Jocelyn Rickards awards.bafta.org, accessed January 17, 2014
  4. ↑ Jocelyn Rickards. In: The Daily Telegraph July 12, 2005, accessed January 17, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Rickards, Jocelyn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British costume designer
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Melbourne
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 2005
Place of death London