Mel Bourne

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Melvin 'Mel' Bourne (born November 23, 1923 as Melvin B. Bornstein in Chicago , † January 14, 2003 in New York ) was an American set designer and film architect .

Life

Bourne trained as a chemical engineer at Purdue University in Indiana , but was prevented from practicing his profession by World War II . After the war he attended the Yale School of Drama with the aim of working as a set designer for the theater. He began his career in smaller theaters in the late 1940s, and later Bourne designed the decorations for ambitious Broadway productions such as The Millionairess with Katharine Hepburn in the title role, The Male Animal, Seagulls Over Sorrento (all 1952) and End as a Man ( 1953).

From the mid-1950s, Bourne created a second mainstay as an outfitter for television productions, and in 1957 also designed for the first time for the cinema. He stayed away from this medium until well into the 1970s, when Woody Allen brought Bourne back for the big screen. Bourne should deliver his best work for his New York tragicomedies The Urban Neurotic , Manhattan and Broadway Danny Rose . Commissions for a number of classic Hollywood commercial productions such as F / X - Deadly Tricks , The Unyielding , A Doomed Affair , An Immoral Offer and Striptease were added later. Despite his work for the cinema, Bourne remained connected to television sporadically and appeared briefly as a design consultant for the series Miami Vice .

In his career, Bourne was nominated three times (1979, 1985, 1992) for an Oscar in the category of Best Production Design.

family

Mel Bourne was married for five years to the actress Sarah Marshall (1933-2014), a daughter of Herbert Marshall .

Timothy Bourne (born 1954), Mel son of this marriage, worked as a manager , assistant director and since 2008 regularly as a film producer . His other son followed in his father's footsteps: Tristan P. Bourne (* 1966) initially worked as a cloakroom and decorative painter, later as an assistant set designer and finally as a film architect.

Movies

literature

  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 1: A - C. Erik Aaes - Jack Carson. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 494.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bourne, Mel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bornstein, Melvin B. (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film architect
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , USA
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 2003
Place of death New York , USA