John Michael Stringer (26 July 1924 – 7 March 2004) was a film

production designer In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...

, art director, painter and illustrator. Stringer's work as art director on ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 190 ...

'' (1971), involving much shooting in Yugoslavia, earned him an Academy Award nomination shared with the Hollywood production designer Robert Boyle and set decorator Peter Lamont, but they lost to Nicholas and Alexandra. His later assignments included ''

The Greek Tycoon ''The Greek Tycoon'' is a 1978 American biographical romantic drama film, of the ''roman à clef'' type, directed by J. Lee Thompson. The screenplay by Morton S. Fine is based on a story by Fine, Nico Mastorakis, and Win Wells, who loosely b ...

'' (1978), '' The Awakening'' (1980), ''

The Mirror Crack'd ''The Mirror Crack'd'' is a 1980 British mystery film directed by Guy Hamilton from a screenplay by Jonathan Hales and Barry Sandler, based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel ''The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side'' (1962). It stars Ange ...

'' (1980), and '' The Jigsaw Man'' (1983) before he moved into television with excellent sets for the Ian Richardson version of ''

The Hound of the Baskervilles ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in '' The Strand Magazine'' from August 1901 to April 1902, it is se ...

'' (1983). He designed the TV series Paradise Postponed (1986) and, as in the earlier Inspector Clouseau, his resemblance to Harold Wilson led to his making a cameo appearance as the former prime minister. Stringer explained much about art direction generally and his own approach, in contributing to a textbook, Film Design (1974), when he was President of the Guild of Film Art Directors (Now known as the British Film Designers Guild

British Film Designers Guild ''(Also known as Designer's Guild or B.F.D.G. and can be seen after a member's name as a professional certification abbreviation)'' A society of British Film Directors and Designers was founded in 1946, for the betterment of the Design in British F ...

Selected filmography

Production Designer

* ''

An Alligator Named Daisy ''An Alligator Named Daisy'' is a 1955 British comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Donald Sinden, Jeannie Carson, James Robertson Justice, Diana Dors, Roland Culver and Stanley Holloway. Plot Returning from a cricket match in I ...

'' (1955) * '' The Secret Place'' (1957) * ''

Windom's Way ''Windom's Way'' is a 1957 British thriller film directed by Ronald Neame and starring Peter Finch and Mary Ure. Made in Eastman Color, it is set during the Malayan Emergency. Premise Dr Alec Windom is a British doctor who works in a village i ...

'' (1957) * '' The Sundowners'' (1960) * ''

633 Squadron ''633 Squadron'' is a 1964 British / American war film directed by Walter Grauman and starring Cliff Robertson, George Chakiris, and Maria Perschy. The plot, which involves the exploits of a fictional World War II British bomber squadron, w ...

'' (1964) * '' A Shot in the Dark'' (1964) * '' Return from the Ashes'' (1965) * '' Cast a Giant Shadow'' (1966) * '' Casino Royale'' (1967) * ''

Inspector Clouseau Inspector Jacques Clouseau (), later granted the rank of Chief Inspector, is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' farcical '' The Pink Panther'' series. He is portrayed by Peter Sellers in the original series, and also by Alan Arkin in ...

'' (1968) * '' Alfred the Great'' (1969) * '' Toomorrow'' (1970) * '' Demons of the Mind'' (1972) * ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'' (1972) * ''

Robin and Marian ''Robin and Marian'' is a 1976 British-American romantic adventure film from Columbia Pictures, shot in Panavision and Technicolor, that was directed by Richard Lester and written by James Goldman after the legend of Robin Hood. The film stars Sea ...

'' (1976) * ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan ...

'' (1977) * ''

'' (1978) * '' The Awakening'' (1980) * ''

'' (1980) * '' The Jigsaw Man'' (1983) * ''

'' (1983) (TV) * '' From the Hip'' (1987) * '' Return from the River Kwai'' (1989) * '' Anything to Survive'' (1990)

Art Director

* '' The Brave Don't Cry'' (1952) * ''

Genevieve Genevieve (french: link=no, Sainte Geneviève; la, Sancta Genovefa, Genoveva; 419/422 AD – 502/512 AD) is the patroness saint of Paris in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Her feast is on 3 January. Genevieve was born in Nanterre and ...

'' (1953) * '' Background'' (1953) * '' Devil on Horseback'' (1954) * '' For Better, for Worse'' (1954) * ''

As Long as They're Happy ''As Long as They're Happy'' is a 1955 British musical comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Jack Buchanan, Susan Stephen and Diana Dors. It is based on the 1953 play of the same name by Vernon Sylvaine. It was shot at Pinewood St ...

'' (1955) * ''

Jumping for Joy ''Jumping for Joy'' is a 1956 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Frankie Howerd, Stanley Holloway, Joan Hickson and Lionel Jeffries. Plot Willie Joy (Frankie Howerd) works at a greyhound track as a cleaner, wh ...

'' (1956) * '' Sea Fury'' (1958) * '' The Captain's Table'' (1959) * ''

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure ''Tarzan's Greatest Adventure'' is a 1959 Eastmancolor adventure film directed by John Guillermin, produced by Sy Weintraub and Harvey Hayutin, and written by Les Crutchfield, based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. With a st ...

'' (1959) * ''

Greyfriars Bobby Greyfriars Bobby (4 May 1855 – 14 January 1872) was a Skye Terrier or Dandie Dinmont Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he died on 14 January 1872. The story conti ...

'' (1961) * '' In Search of the Castaways'' (1962) * '' The Three Lives of Thomasina'' (1963) * '' Young Cassidy'' (1965) * ''

'' (1971) * ''

One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing ''One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing'' is a 1975 comedy film set in the early 1920s, about the theft of a dinosaur skeleton from the Natural History Museum. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution ...

'' (1975)

References

External links

British Film Designers Guild
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stringer, Michael 1924 births 2004 deaths English art directors British film designers English illustrators 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters British people in British Malaya 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists