Jim Mees

Jim Mees (August 10, 1955 – March 29, 2013), was an American set designer who worked on a variety of television series as well as music tours and films. He was awarded an Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Series in 1990 for his work on the '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode " Sins of the Father", and was nominated on four other occasions.

Biography

Mees was born in Mahopac, New York on August 10, 1955. He became friends with designer Vera Neumann, whom he later credited as being the inspiration behind his design career. He first met her at the age of 12 and later gained a job with her, drawing images which were turned into designs for clothing. He gained a bachelor's degree in theatre and lighting design from Carnegie Mellon University in 1977. During his final year, he was selected by the Seattle Repertory Theater to work on George Abbott's final Broadway production ''Music Is''.

After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in design. In 1982, he gained his first job on a television series with the CBS series ''Gloria''. He went on to work with a dozen more television series including three ''Star Trek'' series, '' The Next Generation'', ''Voyager'' and ''Enterprise''. Patrick Stewart said of Mees' 14 years working on the ''Star Trek'' franchise, "He made you feel hopeful about the future because you could see that good taste was still present in features of design 400 years from now and hadn't been completely overwhelmed by technology." Mees complained of Ronald D. Moore writing scenes in which characters would pull open wall panels on the ''Enterprise'': because the ''Enterprise'' was a stage set instead of a real ship, anything shown behind a panel would have to be designed and built separately. As a result of these complaints, these removable panels were subsequently referred to in scripts as "Mees panels".

Outside of ''Star Trek'', he also worked on shows such as ''Who's the Boss?'', ''Gilmore Girls'', ''Cold Case'' and ''Bones''. Mees also created the stage designs for music artists such as Diana Ross and The Beach Boys. He worked on two films, ''Second Serve'' and Maniac.

Mees was awarded an Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Series, alongside Richard D. James, in 1990 for ''The Next Generation'' episode " Sins of the Father". He was nominated on four other occasions, in 1989 for "Elementary, Dear Data", in 1991 for " The Best of Both Worlds", in 1992 for "Unification" and in 1994 for " Thine Own Self". During the mid-1990s, he taught design at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film in Nashville, Tennessee.

Death

He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2012. Mees died on March 29, 2013, aged 57, at his home in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

References

External links

James Mees
at Memory Alpha
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mees, Jim
1955 births
2013 deaths
People from Mahopac, New York
American set decorators
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Pennsylvania
People from Putnam County, New York
American LGBTQ artists