Richard Macdonald

Richard Macdonald
Born1 June 1919
Yeovil, Somerset, England
Died29 May 1993(1993-05-29) (aged 73)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
EducationUWE Bristol
Royal College of Art
OccupationProduction designer
Years active1954-1993

Richard Macdonald (1 June 1919 – 29 May 1993) was a British film production designer, best known for his work with director Joseph Losey. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design three times: for King and Country (1964), The Day of the Locust (1975), and The Addams Family (1991).

Life and career

Macdonald was born in Yeovil and studied painting at the West of England College of Art in Bristol from 1937, continuing his education at the Royal College of Art in 1939. He subsequently held teaching posts at Leeds College of Art and at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts from 1951 to 1955. Macdonald exhibited his artworks, both in solo shows and in group exhibitions with the London Group, the New English Art Club and at the Royal Academy. The Royal West of England Academy in Bristol holds examples of his paintings.

Production designer

From the mid-1950s he was involved in film production design. Beginning with 1954's The Sleeping Tiger, he had a fruitful collaboration with director Joseph Losey, which lasted until 1975's Galileo.

In the mid-1970s, he relocated to Hollywood, working on various American productions including The Day of the Locust (1975), Marathon Man (1976), The Rose (1979), Altered States (1980), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), Coming to America (1988), and The Addams Family (1991). His last film credit was Sydney Pollack's The Firm (1993).

Personal life

Macdonald was married to costume designer Ruth Myers (b. 1940). The couple had an adopted daughter.

Death

Aged 73, Macdonald died of cancer in Los Angeles on 29 May 1993. At the time, he was designing sets for a stage production of Scenes from an Execution at the Mark Taper Forum.

Macdonald was posthumously inducted into the Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame in 2013.

Partial filmography

Awards and nominations

Institution Year Category Work Result Ref.
British Academy Film Award 1965 Best British Art Direction (Black-and-White) King and Country Nominated
1976 Best Art Direction The Day of the Locust Nominated
1992 Best Production Design The Addams Family Nominated

References

  1. 1 2 Gardner p.263
  2. 1 2 3 4 David Buckman (2006). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 2, M to Z. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0-953260-95-X.
  3. 1 2 3 Staff, Variety (9 June 1993). "Richard MacDonald". Variety. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  4. ↑ Team, The Deadline (5 November 2012). "Art Directors To Enshrine Trio Into Hall Of Fame". Deadline. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  5. ↑ "Film in 1965". Bafta. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  6. ↑ "Film in 1976". Bafta. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  7. ↑ "Film in 1992". Bafta. Retrieved 10 June 2026.

Bibliography