Russian art director
Boris Leven
Born (1908-08-13 ) 13 August 1908Moscow, Russian Empire
Died 11 October 1986(1986-10-11) (aged 78)Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s) Art director, production designer Years active 1938−1986
Boris Leven was the production designer of West Side Story (1961). He and Victor A. Gangelin won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction – Set Decoration (Color) for the film.
Boris Leven (in early film credits – Boris Levin ; August 13, 1908 – October 11, 1986) was a Russian -born Academy Award -winning art director and production designer whose Hollywood career spanned fifty-three years.
Born in Moscow to the family of Israel Levin and Zinaida Narkirier,[ 1] Leven emigrated to the United States in 1927 and became a naturalized citizen in 1938. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of Southern California , he attended the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York City .[ 2]
A film crew at work on the set of Giant (1956). The Victorian home Leven designed became an iconic image for the film.
Leven began his film career as a sketch artist at the Paramount Pictures in 1933 and joined the 20th Century Fox three years later. His first screen credit was as the art director for Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), for which he received the first of nine Oscar nominations.
The designs Leven created ranged from realistic to highly stylised. For Giant (1956), he constructed the Victorian home that sits isolated in a wide expanse of open field, which became an iconic image for the film. His work for the West Side Story (1961), which won him the Academy Award for Best Color Art Direction , included actual New York City locations combined with a tenement rooftop and fire escape , inspired by the more abstract stage production, that were built on a soundstage . For New York, New York (1977), he created a fantasized version of Manhattan set in the 1940s.
As an art director, Leven contributed to The Flying Deuces (1939), Hello Frisco, Hello (1943), Invaders from Mars (1953), The Silver Chalice (1954), and Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973), among others. His credits as production designer included Donovan's Brain (1953), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Two for the Seesaw (1962), The Sand Pebbles (1966), The Sound of Music (1965), Star! (1968), The Andromeda Strain (1971), Mandingo (1975), The Last Waltz (1978), The King of Comedy (1982), Fletch (1985) and The Color of Money (1986).[ 3]
Leven married Vera Glooshkoff on February 8, 1946. He died in Los Angeles, California . Vera Leven died at the age of 101 in June 2011. Prior to her death, she had donated several of Boris Leven's paintings and film drawings to the University of Southern California and New York City's Museum of Modern Art .
1927–1939 Interior Decoration 1940–1946 Black & White / Color separate
1940 (bw): Cedric Gibbons , Paul Groesse / (c): Vincent Korda
1941 (bw): Richard Day , Nathan Juran , Thomas Little / (c): Cedric Gibbons , Urie McCleary , Edwin B. Willis
1942 (bw): Richard Day , Joseph C. Wright , Thomas Little / (c): Richard Day , Joseph C. Wright , Thomas Little
1943 (bw): James Basevi , William S. Darling , Thomas Little / (c): Alexander Golitzen , John B. Goodman , Russell A. Gausman , Ira S. Webb
1944 (bw): Cedric Gibbons , William Ferrari , Paul Huldschinsky , Edwin B. Willis / (c): Wiard Ihnen , Thomas Little
1945 (bw): Wiard Ihnen , A. Roland Fields / (c): Hans Dreier , Ernst Fegté , Samuel M. Comer
1946 (bw): William S. Darling , Lyle R. Wheeler , Thomas Little , Frank E. Hughes / (c): Cedric Gibbons , Paul Groesse , Edwin B. Willis
1947–1956 renamed Art Direction - Set Decoration Black & White / Color separate
1947 (bw): John Bryan , Wilfred Shingleton / (c): Alfred Junge
1948 (bw): Roger K. Furse , Carmen Dillon / (c): Hein Heckroth , Arthur Lawson
1949 (bw): Harry Horner , John Meehan , Emile Kuri / (c): Cedric Gibbons , Paul Groesse , Edwin B. Willis , Jack D. Moore
1950 (bw): Hans Dreier , John Meehan , Samuel M. Comer , Ray Moyer / (c): Hans Dreier , Walter Tyler , Samuel M. Comer , Ray Moyer
1951 (bw): Richard Day , George James Hopkins / (c): Cedric Gibbons , E. Preston Ames , Edwin B. Willis , F. Keogh Gleason
1952 (bw): Cedric Gibbons , Edward Carfagno , Edwin B. Willis , F. Keogh Gleason /(c): Paul Sheriff , Marcel Vertès
1953 (bw): Cedric Gibbons , Edward Carfagno , Edwin B. Willis , Hugh Hunt / (c): Lyle R. Wheeler , George Davis , Walter M. Scott , Paul S. Fox
1954 (bw): Richard Day / (c): John Meehan , Emile Kuri
1955 (bw): Hal Pereira , Tambi Larsen , Samuel M. Comer , Arthur Krams / (c): William Flannery , Jo Mielziner , Robert Priestley
1956 (bw): Cedric Gibbons , Malcolm F. Brown , Edwin B. Willis , F. Keogh Gleason / (c): Lyle R. Wheeler , John DeCuir , Walter M. Scott , Paul S. Fox
1957–1958 1959–1966 Black & White / Color separate
1959 (bw): Lyle R. Wheeler , George Davis , Walter M. Scott , Stuart A. Reiss / (c): William A. Horning (posthumous award ), Edward Carfagno , Hugh Hunt
1960 (bw): Alexandre Trauner , Edward G. Boyle /(c): Alexander Golitzen , Eric Orbom (posthumous award ), Russell A. Gausman , Julia Heron
1961 (bw): Harry Horner , Gene Callahan / (c): Boris Leven , Victor A. Gangelin
1962 (bw): Alexander Golitzen , Henry Bumstead , Oliver Emert /(c): John Box , John Stoll , Dario Simoni
1963 (bw): Gene Callahan / (c): John DeCuir , Jack Martin Smith , Hilyard M. Brown , Herman A. Blumenthal , Elven Webb , Maurice Pelling , Boris Juraga , Walter M. Scott , Paul S. Fox , Ray Moyer
1964 (bw): Vassilis Photopoulos /(c): Gene Allen , Cecil Beaton , George James Hopkins
1965 (bw): Robert Clatworthy , Joseph Kish /(c): John Box , Terence Marsh , Dario Simoni
1966 (bw): Richard Sylbert , George James Hopkins / (c): Jack Martin Smith , Dale Hennesy , Walter M. Scott , Stuart A. Reiss
1967–1980
1967: John Truscott , Edward Carrere , John W. Brown
1968: John Box , Terence Marsh , Vernon Dixon , Ken Muggleston
1969: John DeCuir , Jack Martin Smith , Herman A. Blumenthal , Walter M. Scott , George James Hopkins , Raphaël Bretton
1970: Urie McCleary , Gil Parrondo , Antonio Mateos , Pierre-Louis Thévenet
1971: John Box , Ernest Archer , Jack Maxsted , Gil Parrondo , Vernon Dixon
1972: Rolf Zehetbauer , Jurgen Kiebach , Herbert Strabel
1973: Henry Bumstead , James W. Payne
1974: Dean Tavoularis , Angelo P. Graham , George R. Nelson
1975: Ken Adam , Roy Walker , Vernon Dixon
1976: George C. Jenkins , George Gaines
1977: John Barry , Norman Reynolds , Leslie Dilley , Roger Christian
1978: Paul Sylbert , Edwin O'Donovan , George Gaines
1979: Philip Rosenberg , Tony Walton , Edward Stewart , Gary J. Brink
1980: Pierre Guffroy , Jack Stephens
1981–2000 2001–present
International National People Other