Ralph Jester

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Ralph Jester (born July 10, 1901 in Tyler , Texas , † September 25, 1991 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American costume designer , sculptor and architect .

Live and act

Jester had studied at Yale and received artistic training at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau . In 1931 he came to Hollywood for the first time , where he received his first worthwhile assignment three years later. Cecil B. DeMille , with whom he was to work again and again over the following decades, let him create some important, artistic details on his opulent Cleopatra film. Despite the recognition received, Ralph Jester remained just a guest in the film industry until the 1950s. In 1953 DeMille brought him again to work on the designs for the extensive biblical costumes for the monumental film The Ten Commandments . When the film opened in US cinemas in 1956 and Jester earned his first Oscar nomination, a number of other offers followed by the end of the same decade, most of which were very large.

Jester quickly showed himself to be particularly capable of creating costumes based on historical and exotic, but always opulent film material. The Texan designed the clothes for Storm over Persia for William Dieterle in 1956 , and two years later, again for DeMille, this time for the pirate, war and independence drama King of the Privateers . That flick, DeMille's Swan Song, earned Jester his second Oscar nomination. In the same year (1958) Jester received an order for the production of the costumes for King Vidor's Bible epic Solomon and the Queen of Sheba . Then Jester ended his cinematic activities.

Jester has also made several ambitious documentaries on the expression of religion in architecture and sculpture. Ralph Jester used the filmless time for various artistic activities. In 1929 he exhibited at the Dallas Allied Arts, and in 1934 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts . In addition, he took on extensive teaching activities and taught art and film arts, for example at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and at the Palos Verdes College. As an architect, he temporarily joined Lloyd Wright , the son of Frank Lloyd Wright , and was involved in the construction of the Wayfarers Chapel , a futuristic glass church.

From June 22 to August 4, 1990, the Palos Verdes Art Center honored Jester, who had lived on the Palos Verdes Peninsula for many years, with an exhibition of his film creations in the Norris Film Gallery.

Filmography (full feature films)

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personal data
SURNAME Jester, Ralph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American artist, costume designer, sculptor, and architect
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Tyler , Texas
DATE OF DEATH September 25, 1991
Place of death Los Angeles , California