Tony Walton, Famed Costume, Set Designer for Broadway and the Big Screen, Dies at 87
His résumé included an Oscar, three Tonys, an Emmy and work on 'Mary Poppins,' 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,' 'The Wiz,' 'Pippin' and 'Death of a Salesman.'
He was not on the list.
Tony Walton, the legendary British costume designer, set/scenic designer and production designer who won an Oscar for his work on All That Jazz and Tony Awards for Pippin, The House of Blue Leaves and a revival of Guys and Dolls, has died. He was 87.
Walton died Wednesday evening in New York in his Upper West Side apartment of complications from a stroke, Emma Walton Hamilton, his daughter with Julie Andrews, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Walton also collected Oscar noms for his costume work on Mary Poppins (1964) — he was married to the star of the film, his childhood sweetheart Andrews, from 1959 until their 1968 divorce — and Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and for his costume and design contributions to the Diana Ross-starring The Wiz (1978).
Plus, Walton received an Emmy for his art direction on the 1985 telefilm Death of a Salesman, starring Dustin Hoffman.
He was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1991 and received a lifetime achievement award from the Art Directors Guild in 2012.
Walton, who also worked on Broadway in Golden Boy, Chicago, A Day in Hollywood /A Night in the Ukraine, Woman of the Year, Sophisticated Ladies, Anything Goes, I’m Not Rappaport, Grand Hotel, The Will Rogers Follies and Uncle Vanya, among others, received 16 Tony noms during his spectacular career.
Born on Oct. 24, 1934, in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, Walton was the son of a surgeon. He trained at the Slade School of Art in London in the mid-’50s and served as a Royal Air Force pilot in Canada. His first design project was an off-Broadway revival of Noël Coward’s Conversation Piece in 1957.
Walton made his Broadway debut in 1961 as a costume and scenic designer on Once There Was a Russian, starring Walter Matthau. It opened and closed on the same night, but his fortunes improved the next year when he landed on Stephen Sondheim‘s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
His film résumé also included the big-screen version of that play as well as Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Petulia (1968), Equus (1977), Deathtrap (1982) and Regarding Henry (1991).
He described his work process during a 2008 interview with Playbill.
“I try to read the script or listen to the score as if it were a radio show and not allow myself to have a rush of imagery,” he said. “Then, after meeting with the director — and if I’m lucky the writer — and whatever input they may want to give, I try to imagine what I see as if it were slowly being revealed by a pool of light.
“I try to get the palette — and the feel of it — whether it’s crispy or soft, whatever the flavor may be, before I get into any of the essential nuts and bolts. Generally, of course, it’s about how best to tell the tale.”
In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife, Genevieve LeRoy Walton, stepdaughter Bridget LeRoy and five grandchildren
Broadway productions and others
Year Production Notes
1961 Once There Was a Russian
1962 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1963 The Rehearsal
1964 Golden Boy
1967 The Apple Tree Nominated, Tony Award for Best Costume Design
1972 Pippin Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1973 Shelter Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1975 Chicago
1980 A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine
1981 Sophisticated Ladies
1984 The Real Thing
1984 Hurlyburly
1985 I'm Not Rappaport
1986 House of Blue Leaves Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1986 The Front Page
1986 Social Security Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1987 Anything Goes
1989 Grand Hotel
1990 Six Degrees of Separation
1991 The Will Rogers Follies
1992 Death and the Maiden
1992 Conversations with My Father
1992 Four Baboons Adoring the Sun
1992 Guys and Dolls Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1992 Tommy Tune Tonight
1993 She Loves Me
1993 A Grand Night for Singing
1993 Laughter on the 23rd Floor
1994 Picnic
1994 A Christmas Carol
1995 Busker Alley as Designer (Walton directed this show as well in 2006)
1995 Company
1995 Moonlight
1996 A Fair Country
1996 A Fair Country
1996 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1996 The Shawl
1996 The Shawl
1997 Steel Pier Nominated, Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1997 King David
1997 1776
1998 The Cripple of Inishmaan
1999 Annie Get Your Gun
2000 On Raftery's Hill
2000 Uncle Vanya Nominated, Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
2000 The Man Who Came to Dinner
2000 Taller Than a Dwarf
2002 Our Town
2003 Nobody Don't Like Yogi
2003 The Boy Friend
2005 The Boy Friend National Tour
2006 Well
2007 The Sleeping Beauty ABT, Metropolitan Opera
2007 A Tale of Two Cities Sets directly transferred for Broadway premiere 2008
Walton later diversified into directing, with productions of:
Orson Welles' Moby Dick—Rehearsed, 2005
Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, 1996
Noël Coward In Two Keys, 1996
George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara, 1997
Missing Footage, 1999
Ooops! The Big Apple Circus Stage Show, 1999
Where's Charley?, 2004
After the Ball, 2004
Busker Alley, 2006
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