William Ware Theiss
William Ware Theiss | |
|---|---|
Los Angeles, California | |
| Occupation | Costume designer |
| Years active | 1960–1988 |
William Ware Theiss (/θaɪs/; November 20, 1931 – December 15, 1992),[1] was an American costume designer for television and film.
His film credits as costume designer include
In the course of his career, Theiss was most famous for creating alluring female costuming that censors typically could not credibly forbid, employing what came to be called the "Theiss Titillation Theory": "The sexiness of an outfit is directly proportional to the perceived possibility that a vital piece of it might fall off."[4]
Early life
Theiss was born in Medford, Massachusetts, the son of Harold Hetherington Theiss and Helen Theiss, and was named for his paternal great-grandfather, William Hodgson, and his paternal great-grandmother's family, Ellen (Ware) Hodgson.[citation needed] He attended Lowell High School in San Francisco.[5] He attended Art Center College of Design at Stanford University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts,[6] minoring in sciences, biology and chemistry before a four-year stint in the United States Navy. He eventually moved to Los Angeles.[7] His first Hollywood job was as a personal secretary to Cary Grant,[6] whose ex-wife, actress Dyan Cannon, Theiss cited as having considerable influence on his career.[8]
Illness and death
Theiss died of complications from
Career
Following six months at
In 1964, he was brought to the attention of Gene Roddenberry by his friend D. C. Fontana. Roddenberry then hired Theiss as costume designer for Star Trek. The "Theiss Titillation Theory"—which claims that "the degree to which a costume is considered sexy is directly proportional to how accident-prone it appears to be"—is named after him.[9] A key example of this idea in practice is the female android costume in the Star Trek episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" in which the revealing top portion consists only of two crossing straps of material that connect in one piece to trousers, and—Theiss's personal favorite—the pink gown featured in the episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?": a backless dress in which the front of the dress was held up by the weight of the train which fell over the shoulder to the floor.[10]
In the 1970s and early 1980s, he designed costumes for at least a dozen TV movies, including
References
- ^ US Social Security Death Index for W Thiess
- ^ a b "Emmy Winners Who Got Awards Saturday". Los Angeles Times. August 29, 1988.
- ^ a b COSTUME DESIGN FOR A SERIES "Outstanding Costume Design for a Series 1989". "Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for 1989". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved June 14, 2013.
- ISBN 9781439108550. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ^ e-yearbook.com (tm). "Lowell High School - Red and White Yearbook (San Francisco, CA), Class of 1956, Page 193 of 294 | E-Yearbook.com has the largest online yearbook collection of college yearbooks, university yearbooks, high school yearbooks, middle school yearbooks, military yearbooks, and naval cruise books | Yearbook pictures | Yearbook photographs | Yearbook photos | Yearbook images". e-yearbook.com. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
- ^ a b c "Theis, William Ware "Bill"". StarTrek.com official website. CBS Studios Inc. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
- ^ "William Ware Theiss: In & Out of Uniform". www.startrek.com. 2023-07-24. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
- ISBN 0-671-00219-8.
- ISBN 978-0-345-23401-8.
- ^ Whitfield, Stephen, and Roddenberry, Gene. The Making of Star Trek (New York: Ballantine Books), 1970. ASIN: B0015HW8N4
External links
- William Ware Theiss at IMDb
- William Ware Theiss at Memory Alpha
- A page with photographs of his designs
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