Carmen Dillon and More to Be Inducted into Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame This Winter

Four legendary women -- Production Designer Carmen Dillon, Production and Costume Designer Patricia Norris, Art Director and Set Designer Dorothea Holt Redmond and Illustrator Dianne Wager -- will be inducted into the Art Directors Guild (ADG) Hall of Fame at the Guild's 20th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards, it was announced today by ADG Council Chairwoman Marcia Hinds and Awards Executive Producer James Pearse Connelly. The ceremony will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 31, 2016.

In making the announcement, Hinds said, "These women made great strides in their craft achieving prominence despite designing in a field dominated by men. Acknowledgement of their efforts leads to a more balanced and open Guild. They will be most welcomed into our prestigious Hall of Fame."

Last year's ADG Hall of Fame inductees, which are only given posthumously, were Production Designer John Gabriel Beckman (Monsieur Verdoux), Emmy-winning Production Designer Charles Lisanby (The Lives of Benjamin Franklin) and Oscar-winning Art Director Walter H. Tyler (Samson and Delilah. There are presently 44 Production Designers in ADG?s Hall of Fame. Bios and the complete list of inductees can be found at www.adg.org/?art=hall_of_fame.

CARMEN DILLON (1908 - 2000) - As the first female Art Director in the British film industry, Carmen Dillon made history in 1949 when she became the first woman to win an Oscar for set decoration. As with so many Art Directors, Dillon trained for six years as an architect before joining the art department at London?s 20th Century Fox. She later went on to work with great British Art Directors Paul Sheriff (Henry V) and Roger Furse (Hamlet), creating two films considered landmarks in the history of film design. Her work on Sir Laurence Olivier?s Hamlet (1948) earned her an Academy Award. Her film credits include Richard III (1955), The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), The Browning Version (1951), The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), The Go-Between (1971) and The Omen (1976). Dillon also earned an Emmy for the British TV movie Love Among the Ruins (1975). Dillon died on April 12, 2000 in Hove, England.

PATRICIA NORRIS (1931 - 2015) - Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Patricia Norris is one of only a very few American designers who have been able to successfully combine the dual practices of production and costume design for film and television. In 2011, she made history when she became the only artist to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from both the Art Directors Guild and the Costume Designers Guild (in 2007). Starting in the stock room of MGM's costume department in the mid-1960s, Norris soon graduated to designing. Throughout her career, she has received six Academy Award nominations for Best Costume Design and an Emmy Award for David Lynch's "Twin Peaks." Her film credits as costume designer include 12 Years a Slave (2013), Wild at Heart (1990), Sunset (1988), 2010 (1984), Scarface (1983), The Elephant Man (1980) and Days of Heaven (1978). She served as Production Designer on 22 films and TV shows, including Killing Them Softly (2012), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), The Singing Detective (2003) and the CBS mini-series Return to Lonesome Dove (1993). Norris died on February 20, 2015 in Van Nuys, CA.

DOROTHEA HOLT REDMOND (1910 - 2009) - Illustrator and Production Designer Dorothea Holt Redmond broke ground in 1938 when she became the first woman to break into the male-dominated field of production design. Best known for helping visually conceptualize Alfred Hitchcock?s films, she worked on over thirty films spanning her 20-year career, including Gone with the Wind (1939) and The Ten Commandments (1956). After studying architecture at USC, Redmond was hired by David O. Selznick's studio, making her the first female Production Designer. She later went on to illustrate seven of Hitchcock's films including Rebecca (1940), Rear Window (1954) and To Catch a Thief (1955). After a decade with distinguished architects William Pereira and Charles Luckman, she was hired by Walt Disney to help envision several elements of Disneyland and Disney World, including the Disneyland Dream Suite, New Orleans Square and the mosaic murals at Cinderella Castle. Redmond died on February 27, 2009 in Hollywood.

DIANNE WAGER (1937 - 2011) - Set Designer and Art Director Dianne Wagner has worked on over forty award-winning and blockbuster films including THE HUNT for Red October (1990), Crimson Tide (1995), The Green Mile (1999) and Jurassic Park III (2001). She received ADG Award nominations for her set design work on Changeling (2008) and her art direction work on Pleasantville (1999). After graduating from Chouinard Art Institute, Wager began her Hollywood career as a set designer on Woody Allen's sci-fi comedy Sleeper (1973). Her film and TV credits include HBO's John Adams, The Parent Trap (1998), Heat (1995), Star Trek Generations (1994), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Scrooged (1988) and Annie (1982). She died on August 23, 2011 in Duarte, California.

Co-Producers of this year's ADG Awards are Judy Cosgrove and Tom Wilkins. Submissions for the 20th Annual ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards will open on October 6, 2015, and nominations will be announced on January 5, 2016. Final balloting will begin on January 7, 2016 and end on January 28, 2016. Winners will be announced at the dinner ceremony in 11 competitive categories for theatrical films, television productions, commercials and music videos. A recipient of the Guild?s Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award and new Lifetime Achievement Award honoree will also be announced in upcoming months. ADG Awards are open only to productions made within the U.S. by producers? signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.

The Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800) represents 2,300 members who work throughout the United States, Canada and the rest of the world in film, television and theater as Production Designers, Art Directors, Assistant Art Directors; Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; Set Designers and Model Makers; and Previs Artists. Established in 1937, the ADG?s ongoing activities include a Film Society, an annual Awards Banquet, a creative/technology community (5D: The Future of Immersive Design), a bimonthly craft magazine (Perspective); and extensive technology-training programs, figure drawing and other creative workshops and year-round Gallery 800 art exhibitions. The Guild?s Online Directory/Website Resource is at www.adg.org.

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