Dorothy Jeakins (January 11, 1914 – November 21, 1995) was an American

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costum ...

Biography

Born in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, she went to public school in Los Angeles from first grade through high school. When she was a senior at Fairfax High School, she was offered a scholarship to study at the Otis Art Institute (now known as

Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aero ...

). She also attended the Art Students League of Los Angeles, under Stanton Macdonald-Wright. She was later awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Otis College in 1987. Jeakins got her start working on WPA projects and as a

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

artist in the 1930s. Her fashion career began as a designer at I. Magnin's, where she was spotted by director

Victor Fleming Victor Lonzo Fleming (February 23, 1889 – January 6, 1949) was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were the historical drama ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'', for which he won an A ...

. Hired as a sketch artist for ''

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

'' (1948), Jeakins worked on the costumes along with

Barbara Karinska Varvara Jmoudsky, better known as Barbara Karinska or simply Karinska (October 3, 1886 – October 18, 1983), was the Oscar-winning costumier of cinema, ballet, musical and dramatic theatre, lyric opera and ice spectacles. Over her 50-year care ...

and shared an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

with her in the color category. This was the first Oscar ever awarded for costumes, besides the black and white category. Jeakins was unusual in that she freelanced, never signing a long-term contract with any one studio. She worked steadily for the next thirty-nine years, winning another two Oscars, for '' Samson and Delilah'' (1949, shared with

Edith Head Edith Claire Head (née Posener, October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American film costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973, making he ...

and others), and ''

The Night of the Iguana ''The Night of the Iguana'' is a stage play written by American author Tennessee Williams. It is based on his 1948 short story. In 1959, Williams staged it as a one-act play, and over the next two years he developed it into a full-length play, p ...

'' (1964), and another 12 nominations. She designed period costumes for '' The Ten Commandments'' (1956), ''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical theatre, musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns a confidence trick, con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and ...

'' (1962), ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

'' (1965), '' Little Big Man'' (1970), ''

The Way We Were ''The Way We Were'' is a 1973 American romantic drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. Arthur Laurents adapted the screenplay from his own 1972 novel of the same name, which was based on his ...

'' (1973), ''

Young Frankenstein ''Young Frankenstein'' is a 1974 American comedy horror film directed by Mel Brooks. The screenplay was co-written by Brooks and Gene Wilder. Wilder also starred in the lead role as the title character, a descendant of the infamous Victor Fra ...

'' (1974) and '' The Dead'' (1987). Her modern-dress excursions included '' Niagara'' (1953), '' Three Coins in the Fountain'' (1954), ''

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

'' (1958) and '' On Golden Pond'' (1981). Jeakins also worked on stage productions, including ''

'' (in which

Motley Motley is the traditional costume of the court jester, the motley fool, or the arlecchino character in ''commedia dell'arte''. The harlequin wears a patchwork of red, green and blue diamonds that is still a fashion motif. The word ''motley'' is ...

was the principal costume designer), ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

'', ''

Winesburg, Ohio ''Winesburg, Ohio'' (full title: ''Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small-Town Life'') is a 1919 short story cycle by the American author Sherwood Anderson. The work is structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from t ...

'' and '' The World of Suzie Wong'' (for which she received her third Tony nomination), and such television productions as the 1957 production of ''

Annie Get Your Gun Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (Malayalam actress) (born 1975), Indian actress who works in Malayalam-language films * ...

'', and ''

Mayerling Mayerling is a small village (pop. 200) in Lower Austria belonging to the municipality of Alland in the district of Baden (district of Austria), Baden. It is situated on the Schwechat river, in the Vienna Woods, Wienerwald (''Vienna woods''), so ...

''. For ten years beginning in 1953, she served as designer for the

Los Angeles Civic Light Opera The Los Angeles Civic Light Opera (LACLO) was an American theatre/opera company in Los Angeles, California. Founded under the motto "Light Opera in the Grand Opera manner" in 1938 by impresario Edwin Lester, the organization presented fifty season ...

. In 1961 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study in Japan. She spent a year there, studying theater costume. From 1967 to 1970, Ms. Jeakins was Curator of Costumes and Textiles at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 1987, she was awarded the

Women in Film Women are involved in the film industry in all roles, including as film directors, actor, actresses, cinematographers, film producers, film criticism, film critics, and other film industry professions, though women have been underrepresented in ...

Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry. Jeakins, who retired in 1990, once summed up her designing: "I can put my world down to two words: Make beauty. It's my cue and my private passion."

Filmography

Sources

*
Oral History Interview
with Dorothy Jeakins from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, 1964.

References

External links

* *
Dorothy Jeakins costume designs, 1956-1964
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

Dorothy Jeakins Papers
at the

Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research The Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research (WCFTR) is a major archive of motion picture, television, radio, and theater research materials. Located in the headquarters building of the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, Wisconsin, th ...

Dorothy Jeakins costume design drawings
Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeakins, Dorothy 1914 births 1995 deaths American costume designers American women costume designers Best Costume Design Academy Award winners California people in fashion Otis College of Art and Design alumni Fairfax High School (Los Angeles) alumni