James Basevi
James Basevi | |
---|---|
Born |
Plymouth, Devon, England | September 21, 1890
Died |
March 27, 1962 71) Bellflower, California | (aged
Occupation | Art director |
Years active | 1925-1956 |
James Basevi (born 21 September 1890, Plymouth, Devon, England – d. 27 March 1962, Bellflower, California) was a British born art director and special effects expert.
After his military service during World War I Basevi emigrated to Canada and later on to the United States. He began his career in 1924 with MGM, designing sets for silent films. After the advent of talkies, Basevi became the head of MGM's special effects department, helping to create the earthquake scene in San Francisco (1936). He also worked on the storm sequence in John Ford's The Hurricane for 20th Century Fox.
In 1943 he shared an Oscar for art direction with William Darling for The Song of Bernadette. He was nominated for Oscars for Wuthering Heights (1939), The Westerner (1940), The Gang's All Here (1943) and The Keys of the Kingdom (1944).
Selected filmography
- The Big Parade (1925)
- San Francisco (1936) special effects
- Dead End (1937)
- The Hurricane (1937) special effects
- The Real Glory (1939)
- Wuthering Heights (1939)
- The Westerner (1940)
- China Girl (1942)
- The Black Swan (1942)
- Guadalcanal Diary (1943)
- Paris After Dark (1943)
- Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943)
- Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
- The Gang's All Here (1943)
- Heaven Can Wait (1943)
- The Moon is Down (1943)
- The Song of Bernadette (1943)
- Home in Indiana (1944)
- Wilson (1944)
- Jane Eyre (1944)
- The Eve of St. Mark (1944)
- Lifeboat (1944)
- Casanova Brown (1944)
- The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
- Spellbound (1945)
- The Dark Corner (1946)
- My Darling Clementine (1946)
- Claudia and David (1946)
- Duel in the Sun (1946)
- 13 Rue Madeleine (1947)
- The Late George Apley (1947)
- The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947)
- Captain from Castile (1947)
- Three Godfathers (1948)
- Fort Apache (1948)
- Strange Triangle (1948)
- Somewhere in the Night (1948)
- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
- To Please a Lady (1950)
- Wagonmaster (1950)
- Across the Wide Missouri (1951)
- Island in the Sky (1952)
- Battle Circus (1952)
- East of Eden (1954)
- The Searchers (1956)