Randall duel

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Randall Duell (born July 14, 1903 in Russell County , Kansas , † November 28, 1992 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American architect and film designer who was nominated three times for the Oscar for best film construction .

Life

After attending school, Duell studied architecture at the University of Southern California (USC) and, after completing his studies, joined the architecture firm Weber, Stanton and Spaulding in Los Angeles in 1925 . For this he designed the buildings of the Catalina Casino in Avalon and parts of the Pomona College in Claremont .

Duell began his career as art director and production designer in the Hollywood film industry in 1937 in the film My Dear Miss Aldrich , a comedy drama by George B. Seitz with Edna May Oliver , Maureen O'Sullivan and Walter Pidgeon in the leading roles, and worked until 1959 in the staging of almost sixty films.

He received his first nomination for an Oscar for best production design along with Cedric Gibbons and Edwin B. Willis at the 1942 Academy Awards for the black and white film When Ladies Meet (1941), a comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard starring Joan Crawford , Robert Taylor and Starring Greer Garson . Another Oscar nomination in this category followed in 1943 with Gibbons, Willis and Jack D. Moore for the black and white film Found Years (1942), a melodrama directed by Mervyn LeRoy starring Ronald Colman , Greer Garson and Philip Dorn .

He received his last Oscar nomination in the category of best production design again with Gibbons, Willis and Henry Grace at the 1956 Academy Awards for Richard Brooks' black and white film The Seed of Violence (1955) with Glenn Ford , Anne Francis and Louis Calhern .

After finishing his career in Hollywood, he was responsible for the construction and development of most of the US theme parks as an architect . After the success of Disneyland Resort in Anaheim , then park manager CV Wood founded Marco Engineering with Wade Rubottom , who joined Duell in 1958. In the period that followed, the company established parks similar to Pleasure Island in Boston and Freedomland in New York's Bronx . After the success of his designs for Six Flags in Irving , he founded in 1961 in Santa Monica with Randall Duell and Associates his own company , which he built up rapidly into a leading company in the design of leisure and theme parks. In addition to the parks of the Six Flags chain, he designed amusement parks such as Astroworld , Magic Mountain , Kings Island and Kings Dominion together with art directors such as John DeCuir .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Duel, Randall
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American art director, production designer and architect
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Russell County , Kansas
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1992
Place of death Los Angeles , California