Gwen Wakeling
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Gwen Wakeling (birth name Gwen Sewell; March 3, 1901 in Detroit, Michigan – June 16, 1982 in Los Angeles, California) was a Costume designer and a personal favourite of Cecil B. DeMille. Indeed, her first film was his 1927 epic "The King of Kings", and she earned an Academy Award for her work on his version of "Samson and Delilah" in 1950.
In a career spanning over 140 films, she also worked for director John Ford on such films as "The Prisoner of Shark Island" (1936), "Drums Along the Mohawk" (1939), "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940) and "How Green Was My Valley" (1941), and provided the costumes for most of the Shirley Temple films, such as Little Miss Broadway, in the 1930s. One of her last assignments was creating Barbara Eden's "Jeannie" costumes for I Dream Of Jeannie in 1965.
Wakeling was a member of the Baháʼí Faith, and her husband, Henry J. Staudigl, set up an arts endowment in her memory at Bosch Baháʼí School in Santa Cruz to promote artistic endeavors and included a research and resource library.[1]
She was the daughter of film editor and press agent Edith Wakeling.
References[]
- ^ Boyles, Ann (1995). The Baháʼí World, 1994-5 (Baháʼís and the Arts: Part II). Baháʼí International Community. pp. 243–272. Archived from the original on 2012-10-26. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
External links[]
- Gwen Wakeling costume design drawings, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- 1901 births
- 1982 deaths
- 20th-century Bahá'ís
- American Bahá'ís
- American costume designers
- Artists from Detroit
- Best Costume Design Academy Award winners
- California people in fashion
- Women costume designers
- American film biography stubs