Henry Grace

Henry Wooten Grace (born March 20, 1907 in Kern County , California , † September 16, 1983 in Los Angeles , California) was an American set designer and film architect who won the Oscar for best production design once and another twelve times for this Oscar was nominated.

Life

Grace began his career as an art director and set designer in the Hollywood film industry in 1934 for the film The Merry Widow (1934) and was involved in the production of around 200 films and television series over the course of his career, which lasted until 1970 .

At the 1956 Academy Awards , along with Cedric Gibbons , Randall Duell and Edwin B. Willis, he received his first of twelve Academy Award nominations for best production design in the black and white film The Saat of Violence (1955) by Richard Brooks with Glenn Ford , Anne Francis and Louis Calhern .

Grace won his only Oscar in 1959 with William A. Horning , E. Preston Ames and F. Keogh Gleason for Gigi (1958), a musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli starring Leslie Caron , Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan .

At the Academy Awards in 1960 he was nominated with William A. Horning , Robert F. Boyle , Merrill Pye and Frank R. McKelvy for the production design in the color film The Invisible Third (1959) by Alfred Hitchcock with Cary Grant , Eva Marie Saint and James Mason . He received another Oscar nomination for best production design in 1961 with George W. Davis , Addison Hehr , Hugh Hunt and Otto Siegel for the color film Cimarron (1960), a western directed by Anthony Mann starring Glenn Ford, Maria Schell and Anne Baxter .

Because of his extraordinary resemblance to General Dwight D. Eisenhower , Grace had a guest appearance in the 1962 war film The Longest Day in the role of the future US President .

At the Academy Awards in 1963 , Grace was nominated three times: On the one hand with George W. Davis, Edward C. Carfagno and Richard Pefferle for the color film Die Wunderwelt der Gebrüder Grimm (1962) by Henry Levin and George Pal with Laurence Harvey , Karlheinz Böhm and Claire Bloom , on the other hand with Davis, Hugh Hunt and J. McMillan Johnson for the color film Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) by director Lewis Milestone with Marlon Brando , Trevor Howard and Richard Harris and thirdly with Davis, Carfagno and Pfefferle for the black and white film Zeit der Adjustment (Period of Adjustment, 1962) by George Roy Hill , starring Anthony Franciosa , Jane Fonda and Jim Hutton .

He received two more Oscar nominations for best production design in 1964 : on the one hand with Davis, Hehr, William Ferrari , Don Greenwood Jr. and Jack Mills for the color film That Was the Wild West (1962), a joint directorial work by John Ford , Henry Hathaway , George Marshall and Richard Thorpe with James Stewart , John Wayne and Gregory Peck as well as another star cast, on the other hand with Davis, Hunt and Paul Groesse for the black and white film character assassination (1963) by Boris Sagal with Richard Chamberlain , Nick Adams and Claude Rains in the lead roles.

Grace was also nominated twice at the 1965 Academy Awards , first with Davis, Ames and Hunt for the color film Goldgräber-Molly (1964), a musical adaptation by Charles Walters with Debbie Reynolds , Harve Presnell and Ed Begley and second with Davis, Hans O Peters , Elliot Scott and Robert R. Benton for the black and white film For Officers Only (1964) directed by Arthur Hiller and starring James Garner , Julie Andrews and Melvyn Douglas . In 1966 he was with Davis, Urie McCleary and Charles S. Thompson for the Oscar for best production design in the black and white film Dreaming Lips (1965) by Guy Green with Sidney Poitier , Shelly Winters and Elizabeth Hartman in the lead roles.

Grace received his twelfth and final Oscar nomination for best production design together with Davis, Groesse and Hunt at the 1967 Academy Awards for the black and white film Face Without a Name (1966), a drama directed by Delbert Mann starring James Garner, Jean Simmons and Suzanne Pleshette .

Filmography (selection)

• 1934: The Merry Widow ( The Merry Widow )
• 1935: No More Ladies
• 1935: The Night Is Young
• 1949: Marriage War ( Adam's Rib )
• 1949: Malaya
• 1954: Athena
• 1957: Land Without Men ( Until They Sail )
• 1957: The Treasure of the Hanged ( The Law and Jake Wade )
• 1959: Great Mansions
• 1959: Tarzan, the lord of the jungle ( Tarzan the Ape Man )
• 1959: Torpedo go! ( Torpedo Run )
• 1960: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ( The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn )
• 1960: Cimarron
• 1961: Ada Dallas ( Ada )
• 1961: go naked into the world ( Go Naked in the World )
• 1962: Sacramento ( Ride The High Country )
• 1962: Whether blond - whether brown ( It Happened at the World's Fair )
• 1962: The Longest Day ( As part of Dwight D. Eisenhower )
• 1963: Men - Hard As Iron ( The Hook )
• 1964: Mail Order Bride
• 1964: Quick, before it melts ( Quick, Before It Melts )
• 1965: Guns of Diablo
• 1965: Gold Trap ( The Money Trap )
• 1965: War of the Spies ( One of Our Spies Is Missing )
• 1966: Dominique - The Singing Nun ( The Singing Nun )
• 1967: Midnight - Canale Grande ( The Venetian Affair )
• 1967: The Love-Ins
• 1968: Hard Fists, Hot Songs ( Stay Away Joe )
• 1968: Darling, Let This Lie (Live a Little, Love a Little)
• 1970: The Phantom Tollbooth

Awards

• 1959 : Oscar for best production design

Web links

• Henry Grace in the Internet Movie Database (English)