Cedric Gibbons

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Cedric Gibbons
Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
Occupations
  • Art director
  • set decorator
Years active1919–1956
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1930; div. 1941)​
​
​
(m. 1944)​
Relatives

Austin Cedric Gibbons (March 23, 1890[1] – July 26, 1960) was an American art director for the film industry. He also made a significant contribution to motion picture theater architecture from the 1930s to 1950s. Gibbons designed the Oscar statuette in 1928, but tasked the sculpting to George Stanley, a Los Angeles artist.[2][3] He was nominated 39 times for the Academy Award for Best Production Design and won the Oscar 11 times, both of which are records.[4]

Early life

In addition to his credits as set decorator and art director, Cedric Gibbons is credited for directing one feature film, Tarzan and His Mate (1934)

Cedric Gibbons was born in New York City in 1890[1] to Irish architect Austin P. Gibbons and American Veronica Fitzpatrick Simmons. The family moved to Manhattan after the birth of their third child.[5] Cedric studied at the Art Students League of New York in 1911.[6] He began working in his father's office as a junior draftsman, then in the art department at Edison Studios under Hugo Ballin in New Jersey in 1915. He was drafted and served in the US Navy Reserves during World War I at Pelham Bay in New York.[7]

Career

Gibbons joined Goldwyn Studios,[when?] and began a long career with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924, when the studio was founded.[8]

In 1925, when he was first working in the art department at MGM, he was in competition with

art deco) to advance in the MGM art department.[9]

Gibbons was one of the original 36 founding members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and designed the Academy Awards statuette in 1928,[3] a trophy for which he himself would be nominated 39 times, winning 11,[10] the last time for Best Art Direction for Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956).

He retired from MGM as art director and the head of the art department on April 26, 1956, due to ill health with over 1,500 films credited to him; however, other designers did major work on these films, some credited, some not, during Gibbons' tenure as head of the art department.[9] Even so, his actual hands-on art direction is considerable and his contributions lasting.[11][12]

Personal life and death

Gibbons married 22 year old, Texas born, Gwendolyn Weller in New York City on January 16 1926 after having known her for one week. (On the marriage certificate he stated that he had been born in Dublin, Ireland.) They divorced shortly thereafter on the grounds of "desertion." Gibbons at first failed to pay the promised $6,000 per year alimony. [13][14]

In 1930, Gibbons married actress Dolores del Río and co-designed their house with Douglas Honnold[15] in Santa Monica, an intricate Art Deco residence influenced by Rudolf Schindler.[16][17] The couple divorced in 1941. In October 1944, he married actress Hazel Brooks,[18] with whom he remained until his death.[19]

Gibbons' niece Veronica "Rocky" Balfe was Gary Cooper's wife and briefly an actress known as Sandra Shaw.[20][21]

Gibbons' second cousin[citation needed] Frederick "Royal" Gibbons—a musician, orchestra conductor, and entertainer[22] who worked with him at MGM—was the father of Billy Gibbons of the rock band ZZ Top.[23][24]

Despite holding a US birth certificate,[25] Gibbons claimed on census forms that he was born in Ireland and that his family emigrated to the US during his early childhood.[26][27] His press marriage announcement also stated that he was a native of Ireland.[28] The reasons for this misstatement are unknown.

Gibbons died in Los Angeles on July 26, 1960, after a long illness at age 70 and was buried under a modest marker at the

Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles.[29] Dorothy Kilgallen
, journalist and gossip columnist, a friend of his second wife, reported his age as 65 at the time of his death.

Legacy

Gibbons' set designs, particularly those in such films as Born to Dance (1936) and Rosalie (1937), heavily inspired motion picture theater architecture in the late 1930s through 1950s.

Among the classic examples are the Loma Theater in San Diego, the Crest theaters in Long Beach, California and Fresno, California, and the Culver Theater in Culver City, California, some of which are still extant. The style sometimes is referred to as Art Deco or as Art Moderne. The style is found in the theaters that were managed by the Skouras brothers, whose designer Carl G. Moeller used the sweeping scroll-like details in his creations.[30]

The iconic Oscar statuettes that Gibbons designed, which were first awarded in 1929, still are being presented to winners at Academy Awards ceremonies each year.

Gibbons was inducted into the Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame in February 2005.[31]

Academy Awards

Awards for Art Direction

Nominations for Art Direction

See also

Bibliography

  • "Cedric Gibbons Architect of Style", LA Modernism catalog, May 2006, pp. 16–17 by Jeffrey Head

Notes

References

  1. ^ a b "B-M-1893-0022033 - Historical Vital Records of NYC". Retrieved September 8, 2023.
  2. ^ Nichols, Chris (February 25, 2016). "Meet George Stanley, Sculptor of the Academy Award Los Angeles Magazine". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Oscar Statuette". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. July 25, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  4. ^ "Nominee Facts – Most Nominations and Awards" Archived April 2, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; retrieved November 29, 2015.
  5. ISBN 978-1-60598-216-8
    .
  6. ISBN 978-1-4803-9720-0
    .
  7. ISBN 978-1-4930-3858-9
    .
  8. ^ "Cedric Gibbons, M-G-M Artist, 65". The New York Times. July 27, 1960. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4930-3858-9
    .
  10. ^ "Cedric Gibbons and Hazel Brooks papers". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  11. ISBN 978-1-4766-1128-0
    .
  12. ^ "The Architectural Digest Greenroom at the 2013 Oscars". Architectural Digest. January 31, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  13. ^ "Gibbons-Weller Marriage Certificate". New York City Vital Records. 1926. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  14. ^ ""Delores Del Rio's New Husband May Have to Support 2 Wives "". New York Daily News. October 9, 1930. p. 3. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  15. ISBN 978-1-59580-893-6
    .
  16. ^ "Inside Oscar Statuette Designer Cedric Gibbons' Restored Art Deco Home (Exclusive Photos)". The Hollywood Reporter. May 16, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  17. ^ "Cedric Gibbons Crafts a California Home That Evokes Hollywood Glamour". Architectural Digest. February 29, 2008. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  18. ^ "Hazel Brooks". Los Angeles Times. October 27, 1944. p. 13. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  19. ^ "Cedric Gibbons and Hazel Brooks papers". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  20. ISBN 978-1-4616-6098-9
    .
  21. ISBN 978-1-62040-950-3
    .
  22. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions. Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 1944.
  23. ISBN 978-0-292-77398-1
    .
  24. ISBN 978-0-87611-297-7
    .
  25. ^ "B-M-1893-0022033 - Historical Vital Records of NYC". a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
  26. ^ "Cedric Gibbons discovered in 1930 United States Federal Census". Ancestry.com.
  27. ^ "Adrie Gibbons discovered in 1920 United States Federal Census". Ancestry.com.
  28. ^ "Clipped from Santa Maria Times". Santa Maria Times. August 2, 1930. p. 1.
  29. ISBN 978-0-7864-7992-4
    .
  30. ISBN 978-0-7385-3100-7
    .
  31. ^ McNary, Dave (October 26, 2005). "Art Directors paint quintet with honors". Variety. Retrieved July 11, 2019.

External links

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