Boris Leven

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Boris Leven (born August 13, 1908 in Moscow , Russia , † October 11, 1986 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American film architect .

Life

Leven immigrated to the United States in 1927, where he graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1932 . He then attended the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York City for a year and then got a job as a draftsman at Paramount Pictures . After three years he moved to 20th Century Fox , where he worked with interruptions until 1946. In 1938 he received an Oscar nomination for his first film as art director, the film musical Alexander’s Ragtime Band after Irving Berlin . Well over 80 film sets were built for the film with Tyrone Power and Don Ameche . In the same year he took on the US citizenship. A second Oscar nomination followed in 1941 for the film noir settlement in Shanghai . In 1953 he worked at the science fiction - Horror Martian invasion with.

One of Leven's most important works was the classic James Dean film Giganten , for which he built the estate of landowner Jordan Benedict called Reata , a huge Victorian house in the middle of nowhere, along with the other film sets . Giants brought Leven his third Oscar nomination, but he could not win the award until his fourth nomination in 1962 for Robert Wise's West Side Story . However, this would remain his only Oscar. As a result, he worked until 1971 a further five times with Robert Wise, hereof he was responsible for My Sound of Music The Sand Pebbles , Star! and Andromeda - Deadly Dust from Space nominated for additional Academy Awards. From 1977 until his death in 1986 Leven worked for Martin Scorsese several times , starting with New York, New York and ending with The Color of Money . Scorsese then paid tribute to Leven in the credits of his next feature film, The Last Temptation of Christ .

Leven was first married to Vera Glooshkoff from 1946 until his death, the couple had no children.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

  • 1939: Oscar nomination for Alexander's Ragtime Band
  • 1943: Oscar nomination for The Shanghai Gesture
  • 1957: Oscar nomination for giants
  • 1962: Oscar for West Side Story
  • 1966: Oscar nomination for My Songs, My Dreams
  • 1967: Oscar nomination for gunboat on the Yangtze River
  • 1969: Oscar nomination for Star!
  • 1972: Oscar nomination for Andromeda - Deadly Dust from Space
  • 1987: Oscar nomination for The Color of Money

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Leven, Boris
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film architect
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1986
Place of death los Angeles