William Ware Theiss (; November 20, 1931 – December 15, 1992), was an American

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...

for

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

. His film credits as costume designer include ''

Spartacus Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprisin ...

'', ''

Harold and Maude ''Harold and Maude'' is a 1971 American romantic black comedy–drama film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor and existentialist drama. The plot follows the exploits of Harold Chas ...

'', '' Bound for Glory'', '' Pete's Dragon'' (uncredited), ''

Who'll Stop the Rain ''Who'll Stop the Rain'' is a 1978 American crime film directed by Karel Reisz and starring Nick Nolte, Tuesday Weld, Michael Moriarty, and Anthony Zerbe. It was released by United Artists and produced by Herb Jaffe and Gabriel Katzka with Sh ...

'', '' Butch and Sundance: The Early Days'', '' The Man with One Red Shoe'', and ''

Heart Like a Wheel ''Heart Like a Wheel'' is the fifth solo studio album by Linda Ronstadt, released in November 1974. It was Ronstadt's last album to be released by Capitol Records. At the time of its recording, Ronstadt had already moved to Asylum Records and ...

''. His television credits include ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' and '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', for which he won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Best Costume Design."Emmy Winners Who Got Awards Saturday"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

''. August 29, 1988.COSTUME DESIGN FOR A SERIES "Outstanding Costume Design for a Series 1989"
"Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for 1989".

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...

. Retrieved June 14, 2013. 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."

Early life

Theiss was born in

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus al ...

, 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. He attended Lowell High School in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. He attended Art Center College of Design at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, minoring in sciences, biology and chemistry before a four-year stint in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. He eventually moved to Los Angeles. His first Hollywood job was as a personal secretary to

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of ...

, whose ex-wife, actress Dyan Cannon, Theiss cited as having considerable influence on his career.

Illness and death

Theiss died of complications from

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

on December 15, 1992, age 61.

Career

Following six months at Revue/Universal Studios as an apprentice artist in the Advertising Art Department, Theiss worked at CBS in the Wardrobe Department on two televised soap operas. The film ''

The Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film '' The Pi ...

'' (1963) was his first as a designer, although he is credited as "wardrobe consultant". He returned to television as a wardrobe man for shows including ''

Hollywood Palace ''The Hollywood Palace'' was an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly Saturday nights (except September 1967 to January 1968, when it was seen Monday nights) on ABC from January 4, 1964, to February 7, 1970. Title ...

'', ''

My Favorite Martian ''My Favorite Martian'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963, to May 1, 1966, for 107 episodes. The show stars Ray Walston as "Uncle Martin" (the Martian) and Bill Bixby as Tim O'Hara. The first two seasons, totalin ...

'', and '' The Farmer's Daughter''. In autumn 1964 he was costume designer for ''"The World of Ray Bradbury"'' on stage. In 1964, he was brought to the attention of

Gene Roddenberry Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Sr. (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter, producer, and creator of '' Star Trek: The Original Series'', its sequel spin-off series '' Star Trek: The Animated Series,'' and '' ...

by his friend

D. C. Fontana Dorothy Catherine Fontana (March 25, 1939 – December 2, 2019) was an American television script writer and story editor, best known for her work on the original ''Star Trek'' franchise and several Western television series. After a short ...

. Roddenberry then hired Theiss as costume designer for ''

''. 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. A key example of this idea in practice is the female android costume in the ''

'' 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? "Who Mourns for Adonais?" is the second episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series ''Star Trek''. Written by Gilbert Ralston and Gene L. Coon, and directed by Marc Daniels, it was first broadcast September 22, ...

": 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.Whitfield, Stephen, and Roddenberry, Gene. The Making of Star Trek (New York: Ballantine Books), 1970. ASIN: B0015HW8N4 In the 1970s and early 1980s, he designed costumes for at least a dozen TV movies, including '' Genesis II'' and ''The B.R.A.T. Patrol'', as well as for over a dozen motion pictures, including three

Academy Award for Best Costume Design The Academy Award for Best Costume Design is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for achievement in film costume design. The award was first given in 1949, for films made in 1948 ...

nominations for 1976's '' Bound for Glory'', 1979's '' Butch and Sundance: The Early Days'', and 1983's ''

''. His final credit was as costume designer for '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', for which he won an

for Outstanding Costume Design for a Series for the episode "

The Big Goodbye "The Big Goodbye" is the twelfth episode of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. The episode first aired in broadcast syndication on January 11, 1988. This was the second writing credit of the s ...

References

External links

*
A page with photographs of his designs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Theiss, William Ware 1931 births 1992 deaths American costume designers People from Medford, Massachusetts Primetime Emmy Award winners AIDS-related deaths in California