Rosanna Norton obit

Rosanna Norton, Oscar-Nominated Costume Designer of ‘Tron,’ ‘Carrie,’ Dies at 80

 She was not on the list.

Rosanna Norton, who was Oscar-nominated for costume design for 1982’s “Tron” and designed Sissy Spacek’s iconic prom dress for “Carrie,” died of cancer May 7 in Los Angeles. She was 80.

Her early costume design credits include Terrence Malick’s “Badlands” and Brian de Palma’s “Carrie” and “Phantom of the Paradise.”

“We had no money,” she recalled in a video interview about “Carrie.” She found many of the prom outfits in a store in the Valley that was going out of business, she said. But she had Carrie’s simple pale pink satin dress custom-made by a seamstress after changing the color from the original red in the book to create a more striking contrast with the blood that is splashed on Spacek.

“At the time, prom dresses and bridesmaid dresses and things were very fussy. They had all these ruffles and detail and I wanted to do….a bias cut dress and I wanted it to be really simple and look as if she could have made it herself,” she told Birth Movies Death. “It didn’t have a lot of ruffles or detail work. It’s sort of a classic 1930s bias cut dress. I wanted her to look different from everybody else but beautiful at the same time, and all the other girls, they looked like teenage girls wearing these sort of ruffly, fancy, gathered dresses.”

Norton was a lifelong Angeleno and while attending UCLA, she met her husband-to-be Bill Norton. Norton was the writer and director of “Cisco Pike,” for which she served as production designer and costume designer.

She joined the Costume Directors Guild in 1975 and went on to mentor many members of the guild.

Norton explained her luck in connecting with directors in a statement from the guild, saying, “I would have been a painter, but was really lucky to get on some really good pictures through my friendships with directors Brian de Palma and Terry Malick.”

Among her more than 50 film credits, highlights included “The Stuntman” and “Tron,” for which she shared credit with Elois Jenssen and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1983, and the live action version of “The Flintstones.”

Norton’s credits also include “The Brady Bunch Movie,” “Innerspace,” “Airplane!” and “Airplane II,” “RoboCop 2,” “Casper,” “The Patriot” and “The ‘Burbs.”

After retiring as a costume designer, Norton returned to painting.

She is survived by two children and five grandchildren.

Costume Designer

Matthew Lillard, Rachelle Lefevre, Efren Ramirez, and Brett Davern in The Pool Boys (2009)

The Pool Boys

4.6

Costume Designer

2009

 

Ascension Day

8.2

Video

Costume Designer

2007

 

Steven Seagal in Out for a Kill (2003)

Out for a Kill

3.4

Video

Costume Designer

2003

 

Barry Williams in Growing Up Brady (2000)

Growing Up Brady

6.0

TV Movie

Costume Designer

2000

 

Gene Simmons in Detroit Rock City (1999)

Detroit Rock City

6.8

Costume Designer

1999

 

Raven-Symoné and Kirsten Storms in Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century (1999)

Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century

6.3

TV Movie

Costume Designer (uncredited)

1999

 

Steven Seagal in The Patriot (1998)

The Patriot

4.2

Costume Designer

1998

 

Steven Seagal and Marg Helgenberger in Fire Down Below (1997)

Fire Down Below

5.1

Costume Designer

1997

 

The Maker (1997)

The Maker

5.5

Costume Designer

1997

 

Desert Breeze (1996)

Desert Breeze

5.6

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1996

 

Bone Chillers (1996)

Bone Chillers

7.2

TV Series

Costume Designer

1996

 

Shelley Long, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Gary Cole, Jennifer Elise Cox, Olivia Hack, Jesse Lee Soffer, Henriette Mantel, Paul Sutera, and Christine Taylor in A Very Brady Sequel (1996)

A Very Brady Sequel

5.9

Costume Designer

1996

 

Pamela Anderson in Barb Wire (1996)

Barb Wire

3.6

Costume Designer

1996

 

Operation Dumbo Drop (1995)

Operation Dumbo Drop

5.2

Costume Designer

1995

 

Brad Garrett, Joe Alaskey, Joe Nipote, and Malachi Pearson in Casper (1995)

Casper

6.2

Costume Designer

1995

 

The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)

The Brady Bunch Movie

6.2

Costume Designer

1995

 

Angels in the Outfield (1994)

Angels in the Outfield

6.2

Costume Designer

1994

 

Mel Blanc, John Goodman, Rick Moranis, Elizabeth Perkins, Rosie O'Donnell, Elizabeth Daily, Harvey Korman, Hlynur Sigurðsson, Marinó Sigurðsson, Elaine Silver, and Melanie Silver in The Flintstones (1994)

The Flintstones

5.0

Costume Designer

1994

 

Maria Pitillo, Glenn Frey, and Aries Spears in South of Sunset (1993)

South of Sunset

7.9

TV Series

Costume Designer

1993

 

Homewrecker (1992)

Homewrecker

5.0

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1992

 

Perfect Family (1992)

Perfect Family

5.9

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1992

 

The Secret Passion of Robert Clayton (1992)

The Secret Passion of Robert Clayton

4.8

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1992

 

Treacherous Crossing (1992)

Treacherous Crossing

5.3

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1992

 

Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer in Frankie and Johnny (1991)

Frankie and Johnny

6.7

Costume Designer

1991

 

Peter Weller in RoboCop 2 (1990)

RoboCop 2

5.8

Costume Designer

1990

 

Howie Mandel and Tony Randall in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

6.4

Costume Designer

1990

 

Patrick Dempsey in Loverboy (1989)

Loverboy

6.1

Costume Designer

1989

 

Tom Hanks in The 'Burbs (1989)

The 'Burbs

6.8

Costume Designer

1989

 

John Travolta and Arye Gross in The Experts (1989)

The Experts

4.9

Costume Designer

1989

 

Dennis Quaid in Innerspace (1987)

Innerspace

6.8

Costume Designer

1987

 

Tom Hanks, Sela Ward, Bess Armstrong, Hector Elizondo, Jackie Gleason, and Eva Marie Saint in Nothing in Common (1986)

Nothing in Common

5.9

Costume Designer

1986

 

Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, and Helen Slater in Ruthless People (1986)

Ruthless People

6.9

Costume Designer

1986

 

Explorers (1985)

Explorers

6.4

Costume Designer

1985

 

River Phoenix and Molly Ringwald in Surviving (1985)

Surviving

7.4

TV Movie

Costume Designer (uncredited)

1985

 

Hard to Hold (1984)

Hard to Hold

4.8

Costume Designer (costumes designed by)

1984

 

Get Crazy (1983)

Get Crazy

6.6

Costume Designer

1983

 

Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)

Airplane II: The Sequel

6.2

Costume Designer

1982

 

Tron (1982)

Tron

6.7

Costume Designer (costumes designed by)

1982

 

Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (1982)

Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn

6.1

TV Movie

Costume Designer

1982

 

Airplane! (1980)

Airplane!

7.7

Costume Designer

1980

 

The Stunt Man (1980)

The Stunt Man

6.9

Costume Designer

1980

 

Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)

Chilly Scenes of Winter

7.0

Costume Designer

1979

 

Nancy Allen, Eddie Deezen, Theresa Saldana, and Wendie Jo Sperber in I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

6.8

Costume Designer (as Roseanna Norton)

1978

 

Outlaw Blues (1977)

Outlaw Blues

6.0

Costume Designer

1977

 

Boogievision (1977)

Boogievision

4.1

Costume Designer (as Belladonna Ace)

1977

 

Sissy Spacek in Carrie (1976)

Carrie

7.4

Costume Designer

1976

 

William Finley in Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Phantom of the Paradise

7.3

Costume Designer

1974

 

Badlands (1973)

Badlands

7.7

Costume Designer (uncredited)

1973

 

Lesley Taplin in Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1973)

Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural

6.1

Costume Designer

1973

 

The Explorers

TV Series

Costume Designer

1972–1973

 

Gene Hackman, Karen Black, and Kris Kristofferson in Cisco Pike (1971)

Cisco Pike

6.5

Costume Designer (as Rosanna White)

1971

 

Costume Department

Erik Estrada and James Mitchum in Trackdown (1976)

Trackdown

6.1

wardrober

1976

 

Marianna Hill in Messiah of Evil (1974)

Messiah of Evil

6.3

wardrobe

1974

Self

Jim Morrison in Before the End: Searching for Jim Morrison (2025)

Before the End: Searching for Jim Morrison

4.6

Self

2025

 

Phantom of the Paradise: Costume Designer Rosanna Norton

Video

Self

2014

 

Don't Go in the Woods: Cast & Crew (2006)

Don't Go in the Woods: Cast & Crew

6.8

Video

Self

2006