Stephenie Lesley McMillan (née Gardner; 20 July 1942 – 19 August 2013) was an internationally recognised British set decorator.

Biography

Born in Ilford,

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

but raised in

Chigwell Chigwell is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It is part of the urban and metropolitan area of London, and is adjacent to the northern boundary of Greater London. It is on the Central line of the Lon ...

, she graduated from the Woodford County High School for Girls. She worked as a secretary in offices of Stillman & Eastwick-Field, a London-based architecture firm. She was best known for working on all the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at ...

'' films. She received three

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nominations for the first, fourth, and seventh films, as well as a BAFTA and

Critics Choice Award The Critics' Choice Movie Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American-Canadian Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Writ ...

nomination for the eighth in the series, which went on to win the American Art Directors Guild's Contribution to Cinematic Imagery in 2012. Between 1984 and 2012, she worked as set decorator on 28 films. 16 of these were in collaboration with noted production designer Stuart Craig, including ''

A Fish Called Wanda ''A Fish Called Wanda'' is a 1988 heist comedy film directed by Charles Crichton and written by Crichton and John Cleese. It stars Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin. The film follows a gang of diamond thieves who double- ...

'' (1988), '' Shadowlands'' (1993), ''

The English Patient ''The English Patient'' is a 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje. The book follows four dissimilar people brought together at an Italian villa during the Italian Campaign of the Second World War. The four main characters are: an unrecognisably burn ...

'' (1996), for which she won an Oscar, '' Chocolat'' (2000) and all of the eight ''Harry Potter'' films. Her last film was the Coen brothers-scripted ''

Gambit A gambit (from Italian , the act of tripping someone with the leg to make them fall) is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices with the aim of achieving a subsequent advantage. The word '' gambit'' is also sometimes used to describe sim ...

'' (2012). McMillan excelled at handling the decoration of large sets. In a February 2011 interview, she said: "I have been so lucky to have had the opportunity to dress these brilliant and huge sets or the Harry Potter serieswith enough time and money to do it properly, so I feel I don't really have any excuse for not getting it right. To have a set that is right for the director and makes the actors feel comfortable, that's really what I strive for.""Oscars 2011: Will the Brits win big in the technical categories?"
''The Guardian'', 27 February 2011. After completing the Harry Potter film series, McMillan and Craig collaborated on the designs for the Harry Potter theme park in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

, and 'The Magical World of Harry Potter', which Warner built at its studios at

Leavesden, Hertfordshire Leavesden is a residential and commercial area in the northern part of Watford, England. It lies within the M25 Motorway. On its eastern side it is bounded by the M1 Motorway. Leavesden is split into two councils which are Watford Borough Counc ...

, which opened in April 2012. Thomas Welsh, a former President of the Art Director's Guild, told the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'': "An eye for even the smallest details—and an understanding of how they swayed the story line — set her body of work apart." McMillan likened winning her Oscar "to being elevated to the peerage".

Death

She died at her home in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

from complications of

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different ...

, on 19 August 2013, aged 71.

References

External links

*
21 November 2012 Interview
with the

British Academy of Film and Television Arts British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMillan, Stephenie 1942 births 2013 deaths Best Art Direction Academy Award winners English set decorators People from Chigwell Deaths from ovarian cancer Deaths from cancer in England