James Basevi (born 21 September 1890,

Plymouth, Devon Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth' ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

– d. 27 March 1962,

Bellflower, California Bellflower is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was founded in 1906 and incorporated on September 3, 1957. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 79,190, up ...

) was a British-born art director and

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wo ...

expert. After his military service during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Basevi emigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and later on to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. He began his career in 1924 with MGM, designing sets for silent films. After the advent of

talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

s, Basevi became the head of MGM's special effects department, helping to create the

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

scene in ''

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

'' (1936 in film, 1936). He also worked on the storm sequence in John Ford's ''The Hurricane (1937 film), The Hurricane'' for 20th Century Fox. In 1943 in film, 1943, he shared an Academy Awards, Oscar for Academy Award for Best Production Design, art direction with William S. Darling for ''The Song of Bernadette (film), The Song of Bernadette''. He was nominated for Oscars for ''Wuthering Heights (1939 film), Wuthering Heights'' (1939 in film, 1939), ''The Westerner (1940 film), The Westerner'' (1940 in film, 1940), ''The Gang's All Here (1943 film), The Gang's All Here'' (1943 in film, 1943) and ''The Keys of the Kingdom (film), The Keys of the Kingdom'' (1944 in film, 1944).

Filmography

* ''The Big Parade'' (1925) * ''The Circle (1925 film), The Circle'' (1925) * ''The Tower of Lies'' (1925) * ''Soul Mates (film), Soul Mates'' (1925) * ''Pretty Ladies'' (1925) * ''Confessions of a Queen'' (1925) * ''The Devil's Circus'' (1926) * ''Dance Madness '' (1926) * ''Bardelys the Magnificent'' (1926) * ''The Temptress'' 1926) * ''The Mysterious Island (1929 film), The Mysterious Island'' (1929) * ''Tarzan and His Mate'' (1934) special effects * ''China Seas (film), China Seas'' (1935) special effects * ''

'' (1936) special effects * ''Dead End (1937 film), Dead End'' (1937) special effects * ''History Is Made at Night (1937 film), History Is Made at Night'' (1937) special effects * ''The Good Earth (film), The Good Earth'' (1937) special effects * ''The Hurricane (1937 film), The Hurricane'' (1937) special effects * ''The Adventures of Marco Polo'' (1938) special effects * ''Blockade (1938 film), Blockade'' (1938) special effects * ''The Cowboy and the Lady (1938 film), The Cowboy and the Lady'' (1938) * ''The Real Glory'' (1939) * ''Wuthering Heights (1939 film), Wuthering Heights'' (1939) * ''They Shall Have Music'' (1939) * ''Raffles (1939 film), Raffles'' (1939) * ''The Westerner (1940 film), The Westerner'' (1940) * ''The Long Voyage Home'' (1940) * ''Tobacco Road (film), Tobacco Road'' (1941) * ''A Yank in the R.A.F.'' (1941) * ''Son of Fury'' (1942) * ''Moontide'' (1942) * ''China Girl (1942 film), China Girl'' (1942) * ''The Black Swan (film), The Black Swan'' (1942) * ''Thunder Birds (1942 film), Thunder Birds'' (1942) * ''Guadalcanal Diary (film), Guadalcanal Diary'' (1943) * ''Paris After Dark'' (1943) * ''The Ox-Bow Incident'' (1943) * ''Sweet Rosie O'Grady'' (1943) * ''Claudia (1943 film), Claudia'' (1943) * ''They Came to Blow Up America'' (1943) * ''Hello, Frisco, Hello'' (1943) * ''Jitterbugs '' (1943) * ''Bomber's Moon'' (1943) * ''Wintertime (film), Wintertime'' (1943) * ''Happy Land (film), Happy Land'' (1943) * ''The Dancing Masters'' (1943) * ''The Gang's All Here (1943 film), The Gang's All Here'' (1943) * ''Stormy Weather (1943 film), Stormy Weather'' (1943) * ''Holy Matrimony (1943 film), Holy Matrimony'' (1943) * ''The Gang's All Here (1943 film), The Gang's All Here'' (1943) * ''Heaven Can Wait (1943 film), Heaven Can Wait'' (1943) * ''Jane Eyre (1943 film), Jane Eyre'' (1944) * ''The Moon is Down'' (1943) * ''The Song of Bernadette (film), The Song of Bernadette'' (1943) * ''Home in Indiana'' (1944) * ''Greenwich Village (film), Greenwich Village'' (1944) * ''In the Meantime, Darling'' (1944) * ''Wilson (1944 film), Wilson'' (1944) * ''The Eve of St. Mark'' (1944) * ''Lifeboat (1944 film), Lifeboat'' (1944) * ''Casanova Brown'' (1944) * ''The Lodger (1944 film), The Lodger'' (1944) * ''The Fighting Sullivans'' (1944) * ''The Purple Heart'' (1944) * ''Four Jills in a Jeep'' (1944) * ''Ladies of Washington'' (1944) * ''Roger Touhy, Gangster'' (1944) * ''Tampico (film), Tampico'' (1944) * ''Pin Up Girl (film), Pin Up Girl'' (1944) * ''Bermuda Mystery'' (1944) * ''Buffalo Bill (1944 film), Buffalo Bill'' (1944) * ''The Keys of the Kingdom (film), The Keys of the Kingdom'' (1944) * ''Spellbound (1945 film), Spellbound'' (1945) * ''The Dark Corner'' (1946) * ''Home, Sweet Homicide'' (1946) * ''Johnny Comes Flying Home'' (1946) * ''If I'm Lucky (film), If I'm Lucky'' (1946) * ''It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog'' (1946) * ''Somewhere in the Night (film), Somewhere in the Night'' (1946) * ''My Darling Clementine'' (1946) * ''Claudia and David'' (1946) * ''Margie (1946 film), Margie'' (1946) * ''Duel in the Sun (film), Duel in the Sun'' (1946) * ''13 Rue Madeleine'' (1946) * ''Strange Triangle'' (1946) * ''Carnival in Costa Rica'' (1947) * ''Thunder in the Valley (film), Thunder in the Valley'' (1947) * ''The Homestretch'' (1947) * ''The Late George Apley (film), The Late George Apley'' (1947) * ''The Brasher Doubloon'' (1947) * ''The Shocking Miss Pilgrim'' (1947) * ''Captain from Castile'' (1947) * ''3 Godfathers (1948 film), Three Godfathers'' (1948) * ''Fort Apache (film), Fort Apache'' (1948) * ''Somewhere in the Night (film), Somewhere in the Night'' (1948) * ''Mighty Joe Young (1949 film), Mighty Joe Young'' (1949) * ''She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'' (1949) * ''To Please a Lady'' (1950) * ''Wagonmaster'' (1950) * ''Night Into Morning'' (1951) * ''The People Against O'Hara'' (1951) * ''Across the Wide Missouri (film), Across the Wide Missouri'' (1951) * ''My Man and I'' (1952) * ''Just This Once (film), Just This Once'' (1952) * ''Island in the Sky (1953 film), Island in the Sky'' (1952) * ''Battle Circus (film), Battle Circus'' (1953) * ''East of Eden (film), East of Eden'' (1954) * ''The Searchers'' (1956)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Basevi, James 20th Century Studios people British art directors Best Art Direction Academy Award winners 1890 births 1962 deaths Special effects people Artists' Rifles soldiers British emigrants to the United States