William Cameron Menzies

William Cameron Menzies
Born	July 29, 1896(1896-07-29) New Haven, Connecticut
Died	March 5, 1957(1957-03-05) (aged 60) Los Angeles
Education	Yale University, University of Edinburgh
Occupation	Production designer
Years active	1924–1956
Awards	Best Art Direction 1928 The Dove ; Tempest Academy Honorary Award 1939 Gone with the Wind

William Cameron Menzies (July 29, 1896 – March 5, 1957) was an Academy Award-winning American film production designer (a job title he invented) and art director who also worked as a director, producer, and screenwriter during a career spanning five decades. He earned acclaim for his work in silent movies,^{[citation needed]} and later pioneered the use of color in film for dramatic effect.

Early years

Menzies was born in New Haven, Connecticut to Scots immigrant parents, Charles A. and Helen originally from Aberfeldy, Scotland. 1910 US Census^{[citation needed]} He studied at Yale and the University of Edinburgh, and after serving in the US Army during World War I he attended the Art Students League of New York.

Career

Menzies joined Famous Players-Lasky (later to evolve into Paramount Pictures) working in special effects and design. Menzies established himself in Hollywood with his elaborate settings^{[citation needed]} for The Thief of Bagdad (1924), The Bat (1926), The Dove (1927), Sadie Thompson (1928), and Tempest (1928). In 1929, Menzies partnered with producer Joseph M. Schenck to create a series of early sound short films visualizing great works of music, including a 10-minute version of Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and created the production design and special effects for Schenck's feature film The Lottery Bride (1930).

His work on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) prompted David O. Selznick to hire him for Gone with the Wind (1939). Selznick's faith in Menzies was such that he sent a memo to everyone at Selznick International Pictures involved in the production reminding them "Menzies is the final word" on everything related to Technicolor, scenic design, set decoration, and the overall look of the production. Menzies was the director of the burning of Atlanta sequence.

The term and credit "production designer", sometimes used interchangeably with the term and credit "art director", was coined specifically for Menzies to refer to his being the final word on the overall look of the production, and it was intended to describe his uncanny ability to translate Selznick's ideas to drawings and paintings from which he and his fellow directors worked.^{[citation needed]}

Death

Shortly after working as an associate producer on Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Menzies died of cancer and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Accolades

At the 1st Academy Awards, held on May 16, 1929, Menzies won for Best Art Direction for The Dove and Tempest. The following year he was nominated in the same categories for his work on Bulldog Drummond, Alibi and The Awakening, but lost to Cedric Gibbons.

At the 12th Academy Awards held on February 29, 1940, Menzies won an Academy Honorary Award "for outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood in the production of Gone with the Wind.

In 2005, Menzies was in the first group of art directors and production designers inducted into the Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame.

Credits

Additional art direction credits

• The Iron Mask (1929)
• Alibi (1929)
• Condemned (1929)
• Coquette (1929) (Set Decoration, credited as "Settings")
• Puttin' on the Ritz (1930)
• Alice in Wonderland (1933; also co-wrote screenplay)

Additional production design credits

• Made for Each Other (1939)
• Our Town (1940)
• The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)
• The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
• Kings Row (1942)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
• Arch of Triumph (1948)
• Invaders from Mars (1953)

Selected directing credits

• Things to Come (1936)
• The Thief of Bagdad (1940, uncredited)
• Address Unknown (1944)
• Duel in the Sun (1946, uncredited)
• Drums in the Deep South (1951)
• The Maze (1953)
• Invaders from Mars (1953)

DVD release

In October 2009, Alpha Video released the public domain collection The Fantastic World Of William Cameron Menzies on DVD, which included four early experimental films created by Menzies and Joseph M. Schenck, shorts that visualize great works of classical music:

• "Irish Fantasy" (1929)
• "Impressions of Tschaikowsky's Overture '1812'" (1930)
• "Hungarian Rhapsody" (1930)
• Paul Dukas' "The Wizard's Apprentice" (1930).

According to Dave Kehr, The Wizard's Apprentice "clearly influenced Disney’s version in Fantasia.

See also

• Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame

External links

• William Cameron Menzies at the Internet Movie Database
• William Cameron Menzies at Find a Grave