George James Hopkins (March 23, 1896 – February 11, 1985) was an American set designer,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and production designer. Hopkins was a native of

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

; his mother

Una Nixson Hopkins Una Nixson Hopkins (November 17, 1869 – September 8, 1956) was an American writer and designer, and an art director who worked in silent films. Early life Una B. Nixson was born in Denison, Iowa, the daughter of William H. Nixson (or Nixon ...

was a magazine writer and an art director on at least a dozen silent films. Hopkins got his start designing scenery on stage after studying design in college. He moved to films in 1917, working as an

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

for various studios. During his long career, Hopkins was nominated for thirteen

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

and won four.

Connection to the murder of William Desmond Taylor

Hopkins had a professional and intimate relationship with silent film director William Desmond Taylor '' itation?', whose unsolved murder was one of early Hollywood's biggest scandals. On the 1922 morning that Taylor's body was found, Charles Eyton instructed Hopkins to remove a basket of documents from the murder scene, and Hopkins obeyed. Hopkins' unpublished 1981 autobiography, ''Caught in the Act'', was used as a major source for Charles Higham's book on the Taylor murder.

Filmography as Art Director

* ''

The Day of the Locust ''The Day of the Locust'' is a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West set in Hollywood, California. The novel follows a young artist from the Yale School of Fine Arts named Tod Hackett, who has been hired by a Hollywood studio to do scene ...

'' (1975) * ''40 Carats'' (1973) * ''Dirty Little Billy'' (1972) * ''

1776 Events January–February * January 1 – American Revolutionary War – Burning of Norfolk: The town of Norfolk, Virginia is destroyed, by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces. * January 1 ...

'' (1972) * '' The Love Machine'' (1971) * ''R.P.M.'' (1970) * '' On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' (1970) * ''

The Cheyenne Social Club ''The Cheyenne Social Club'' is a 1970 American Western comedy film written by James Lee Barrett, directed and produced by Gene Kelly, and starring James Stewart, Henry Fonda and Shirley Jones. The film is about an aging cowboy who inherits a b ...

'' (1970) * '' Hello, Dolly!'' (1969) * '' Wait Until Dark'' (1967) * ''

Hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

'' (1967) * ''

Not with My Wife, You Don't! ''Not with My Wife, You Don't!'' (stylized as ''Not with MY Wife, You Don't!'') is a 1966 American comedy film starred by Tony Curtis, Virna Lisi and George C. Scott. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical ...

'' (1966) * '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1966) * ''Inside Daisy Clover'' (1965) * ''

The Great Race ''The Great Race'' is a 1965 American Technicolor slapstick comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood, directed by Blake Edwards, written by Arthur A. Ross (from a story by Edwards and Ross), and with music by Henry Mancin ...

'' (1965) * ''None But the Brave'' (1965) * '' My Fair Lady'' (1964) * '' Palm Springs Weekend'' (1963) * ''Rampage'' (1963) * ''Island of Love'' (1963) * '' Days of Wine and Roses'' (1962) * ''

The Chapman Report ''The Chapman Report'' is a 1962 American Technicolor drama film starring Shelley Winters, Jane Fonda, Claire Bloom and Glynis Johns. It was made by DFZ Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. It was directed by George Cukor and produced by ...

'' (1962) * ''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and ...

'' (1962) * ''Portrait of a Mobster'' (1961) * ''A Fever in the Blood'' (1961) * '' Sunrise at Campobello'' (1960) * ''The Dark at the Top of the Stairs'' (1960) * ''Cash McCall'' (1960) * ''

Auntie Mame ''Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade'' is a 1955 novel by American author Patrick Dennis chronicling the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his Aunt Mame Dennis, the sister of his dead father. The book is often desc ...

'' (1958) * ''Too Much, Too Soon'' (1958) * ''Sincerely Yours'' (1955) * ''East of Eden'' (1955) * '' A Star Is Born'' (1954) * '' Dial M for Murder'' (1954) * ''So Big'' (1953) * ''I Confess'' (1953) * ''The Iron Mistress'' (1952) * ''The Story of Will Rogers'' (1952) * ''This Woman Is Dangerous'' (1952) * ''I'll See You in My Dreams'' (1951) * ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of person ...

'' (1951) * ''Strangers on a Train'' (1951) * ''Dallas'' (1950) * ''The Breaking Point'' (1950) * ''This Side of the Law'' (1950) * ''Perfect Strangers'' (1950) * ''The Lady Takes a Sailor'' (1949) * ''Task Force'' (1949) * '' Life with Father'' (1947) * ''Deception'' (1946) * ''Of Human Bondage'' (1946) * ''Suspense'' (1946) * ''One More Tomorrow'' (1946) * '' My Reputation'' (1946) * ''

Mildred Pierce ''Mildred Pierce'' is a psychological drama by James M. Cain published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1941. A story of “social inequity and opportunity in America" set during the Great Depression, ''Mildred Pierce'' follows the trajectory of a lower- ...

'' (1945) * ''Roughly Speaking'' (1945) * ''Janie'' (1944) * ''Passage to Marseille'' (1944) * ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943) * '' This Is the Army'' (1943) * '' Mission to Moscow'' (1943) * ''

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

'' (1942) * ''The Hidden Hand'' (1942) * ''The Soul of Youth'' (1920) * '' Salomé'' (1918) * ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...

'' (1917)

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Over the course of his career, Hopkins was nominated 13 times for an Academy Award, all in the category of Art Direction. Today, the award is named Best Production Design, but during the 1940s and 1950s, this award recognized both Art Directors and Set Decorators with the same award. Also, prior to 1967, the Art Direction category was typically separated into different categories, one containing only Color films and the other with only

Black-and-White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

films (the exceptions being 1957 and 1958). ;Wins *

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

- ''

'' (Black-and-White) *

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

- '' My Fair Lady'' (Color) *

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

- '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (Black-and-White) *

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

- '' Hello, Dolly!'' (Color) ;Nominations *

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

- '' Mission to Moscow'' (Black-and-White) *

- '' This Is the Army'' (Color) *

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

- '' Life With Father'' (Color) *

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

- '' A Star Is Born'' (Color) *

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

- ''

'' (Black-and-White) *

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

- '' Sunrise at Campobello'' (Color) *

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

- '' Days of Wine and Roses'' (Black-and-White) *

- ''

'' (Color) *

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

- '' Inside Daisy Clover'' (Color)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, George James 1896 births 1985 deaths American art directors Best Art Direction Academy Award winners Artists from Pasadena, California