Oscar Profile #137: Cedric Gibbons

Born March 23, 1893 in Dublin, Ireland to an Irish architect and his wife, Cedric Gibbons became one of the most influential artisans in Hollywood history. Having emigrated to the U.S. with his parents as a child, he worked for his father after graduating New York’s prestigious Art Students League. From there he went to work for Samuel Goldwyn and eventually Louis B. Mayer. It was Gibbons who created the concept of art direction in films. Previously rooms were painted backdrops as they were on stage. Gibbons’ designs gave a lived in feel to the rooms he designed.

One of the thirty-six founding members of the Academy Awards, he was also the designer of the Oscar statuette in 1928. His model was Mexican actor Emilio Fernandez, a friend of Gibbons’ fiancé and soon to be wife, actress Dolores Del Rio. Fernandez, the most famous actor in Mexican history, is probably best known to today’s audiences as Gen. Mapache in Sam Peckinpah’s 1969 film, The Wild Bunch. Gibbons himself would go on to be nominated for an Oscar more times than any other art director.

Gibbons would be nominated thirty-nine times for films between 1929 and 1956 for such films as The Wizard of Oz; The Picture of Dorian Gray and Quo Vadis. He would win eleven times for such films as Pride and Prejudice; The Yearling and Somebody Up There Likes Me. His architectural designs for such films as Born to Dance and Rosalie inspired move place designs from the 1930s to the 1950s.

He is also credited as the director 1934’s Tarzan and His Mate, arguably the best Tarzan movie ever made, but legend has it that his assistant did most of the directing until Gibbons was replaced the more experienced Jack Conway. He ever directed another film.

Gibbons, who had no children of his own, was the sister-in-law of famed Hollywood costume designer Irene, the uncle of Rocky Cooper, Gary Cooper’s wife and the uncle as well of Barry F. Gibbons, the ZZ Top guitarist.

Gibbons was the subject of wagging tongues in 1941 when the legendary 48 year-old obtained a divorce from Del Rio and married 17 year-old starlet Hazel Brooks. The marriage wasn’t given much of a chance by the gossips, but it lasted until his death on July 26, 1960 at 67.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939), directed by Victor Fleming

The art direction was always a star of any film Gibbons worked on, perhaps none more so than The Wizard of Oz with everything from the Kansas farmhouse to the yellow brick road to the curtain hiding the wizard grabbing our attention. Gibbons’ work was nominated, but Lyle Wheeler, no slouch either, was the winner for Gone With the Wind, his first of five wins on his third of twenty-nine nominations overall. Gibbons, who had already won twice, had been nominated for the eighth time here.

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940), directed by George Cukor

The gorgeous designs of Katharine Hepburn’s estate accounted for one of three of Gibbons’ nominations for 1940. His design for Pride and Prejudice was deemed the winner over The Philadelphia Story in the black-and-white category, while Bitter Sweet lost the color art direction award to Vincent Korda’s eye-popping work on The Thief of Bagdad which he won on the first of his four nominations.

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951), directed by Vincente Minnelli

The gorgeous Parisian designs for An American in Paris brought Gibbons his seventh Oscar on his twenty-eighth nomination. It was again one of three nominations he received in the same year. He had also been nominated in the color category for Quo Vadis and in the black-and-white category for Too Young to Kiss. He lost that one to Richard Day and George James Hopkins. For Day, it was one of seven wins out of twenty nominations. For Hopkins, it was one of four wins out of thirteen nominations.

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952), directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen

A rare miss for Gibbons, his gorgeous studio sets and rain soaked boulevards didn’t strike the Academy’s fancy. They nominated him instead in the color category for the first color version of The Merry Widow. His black-and-white designs for the 1934 version resulted in a win that year. His win this year would come in the black-and-white category for The Bad and the Beautiful. The color award went to Paul Sheriff on the second of his two nominations and Marcel Vertes for Moulin Rouge. Vertes also won the color costume design award for Moulin Rouge.

LUST FOR LIFE (1956), Directed by Vincente Minnelli

Gibbons was nominated in the color category for the unforgettable design of Lust for Life but lost to Lyle Wheeler and company for The King and I. He did win, however, in the black-and-white category, along with three others, for Somebody Up There Likes Me, his eleventh win on his thirty-ninth nomination in his last year in the business,