William Travilla

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William Travilla (March 22, 1920 - November 2, 1990), who went by the professional name of Travilla, was an American costume designer in films. He is perhaps best-known for dressing Marilyn Monroe in eight of her films.

Travilla first came to Hollywood in 1941. After work on several B movies, he earned an Oscar in 1949 for the Errol Flynn swashbuckler Adventures of Don Juan. This led to better assignments. He worked mainly at Twentieth Century-Fox and his credits include Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata! in 1952, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953, The Seven Year Itch in 1955, The Rains of Ranchipur (1955), Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), The Tall Men (1955), Bus Stop (1956) and Valley of the Dolls in 1967. Travilla's other Academy Award nominations were for How to Marry a Millionaire in 1953, There's No Business Like Show Business in 1954 and The Stripper in 1963. One of his most widely seen latter day projects was the TV mini-series The Thorn Birds in 1983.

He died in Los Angeles, California, at age 69.

[edit] Posthumous controversy

In September 2007 Peaches Geldof was featured in the British Hello! Magazine wearing three different dresses (one was claimed to be the historic white 'blow-up dress' from The Seven Year Itch), which were claimed to have been the Marilyn Monroe worn movie costumes created by Travilla. An exhibition was connected to the Peaches Geldof photo shoot, named the 'Lost Collection' of William Travilla. The Hilton Hotel chain offered to host the exhibition.[1] In October 2007, the estate of William Travilla opened their 'Lost Collection,' in Brighton, UK. A second exhibition showing, scheduled for Bath, UK, was canceled before its opening. The Travilla estate and exhibit representatives maintained that the costumes were original pieces. Mark Bellinghaus, who was instrumental in closing down an unrelated previous bogus Monroe exhibition, has dubbed the exhibition a fraud.[2]

On March 17, 2008, the estate of William Travilla continued 'The Lost Collection' exhibition, this time in Leeds, UK. The Yorkshire Evening Post ran the headline:'Marilyn Monroe dresses labelled 'fake' [3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lancaster, James. "Bosses blow the chance to host Marilyn Monroe dress collection", TheArgus.co.uk, 2007-09-28. Retrieved on 2008-03-11. 
  2. ^ EXPRESS, DAILY. "'FAKE' CLAIM OVER MONROE SHOW", express.co.uk, 2007,October,9. Retrieved on 2008-03-11. 
  3. ^ McTaggart, Suzanne. "Marilyn Monroe dresses labelled 'fake'", [[1]], Yorkshire Evening Post, March 18, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.