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Henry Bumstead papers
490
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Abstract: The collection contains production files, often with scripts and copies of storyboards, for more than three dozen films directed
by Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock, and others. FUNNY FARM, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, and UNFORGIVEN are well represented. Among
the unproduced films, of interest are photostats of storyboards for THE LEGEND OF KING KONG, a film in production at Universal
in mid-1970s. Other material includes personal files, five scrapbooks, and photographs. The Graphic Arts series contains production
design plans and elevations for VERTIGO (1958) and other films, and drawings.
Collector:
Bumstead, Henry
Dates: 1921-2007
Collection number: 490
Collection Size:
7.5 linear ft. of papers
7 linear ft. of photos
163 item(s) of artworks
Repository:
Margaret Herrick Library. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Available by appointment only.
Property rights to the physical object belong to the Margaret Herrick Library. Researchers are responsible for obtaining all
necessary rights, licenses, or permissions from the appropriate companies or individuals before quoting from or publishing
materials obtained from the library.
Henry Bumstead papers, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Gift of Henry Bumstead, 2001-2003, and Robert G. Bumstead, 2009
Lloyd Henry “Bummy” Bumstead was born in Ontario, California in 1915. He was remarkably successful in high school, serving
as student body president, valedictorian of his class, and captain of his high school football team. He also excelled in his
art classes and considered a career as a newspaper cartoonist. His athletic ability earned him a four-year scholarship to
the University of Southern California, where he enrolled in the School of Architecture. Unfortunately, he suffered major injuries
in his first two years and had to drop out of football and track, but USC honored his scholarship, and Bumstead focused his
energy on his architectural studies. He also continued to draw and created an ongoing cartoon for the “Daily Trojan.” In the
summer after his sophomore year, future art director and USC School of Architecture alumni Jack Martin Smith, then an assistant
to John Harkrider, recruited Bumstead for an internship with Harkrider as a set designer at RKO Radio Pictures. The following
summer, Harkrider and Smith were working for Universal Pictures, and they again enlisted Bumstead as a set designer. Universal
hoped to hire Bumstead immediately after his summer internship, but he chose to finish his degree instead.
During this time, Bumstead also worked for furniture designer Paul T. Frankl, who crafted furniture for films, created custom
pieces for Hollywood clientele, and taught at USC. When Bumstead graduated in 1937, Frankl offered him a job designing at
his studio and hoped Bumstead would eventually take over his business. Bumstead instead expressed his desire to work in film,
and Frankl insisted on introducing him to Hans Dreier, then Paramount’s supervising art director. Dreier found Bumstead a
job as a set designer, and he remained at Paramount until 1960. He spent his first decade with the studio as a set designer
which, at that time, was an uncredited position. In this capacity, he worked with and learned from Paramount’s art directors
on several notable films, including John Goodman on WELLS FARGO (1937), Robert Usher on ANGEL (1937), Roland Anderson on UNION
PACIFIC (1939), Ernst Fegte on THE LADY EVE (1941), Raul Pene DuBois on LOUISIANA PURCHASE (1941), and Hal Pereira on DOUBLE
INDEMNITY (1944), among many others. He was drafted into the United States Navy in 1945, and served for two years in a film
production facility in Washington D.C. Upon his return, Dreier promoted Bumstead to art director and assigned him to SAIGON
(1948).
From the start, the quality of his work as well as his affability led filmmakers to request Bumstead’s services time and again,
as with SAIGON’S director, Leslie Fenton, who reunited with Bumstead for STREETS OF LAREDO (1949) and THE RED HEAD AND THE
COWBOY (1951). While at Paramount he worked with Mitchell Leisen on SONG OF SURRENDER (1949) and NO MAN OF HER OWN (1950),
and with Michael Curtiz on THE VAGABOND KING (1956) and THE HANGMAN (1959). He had a long association with Jerry Lewis that
began when Bumstead did the art direction on the first Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis film, MY FRIEND IRMA (1949). He ultimately
worked on eight films starring Lewis, including SAILOR BEWARE (1952), CINDERFELLA (1960), and THE BELLBOY (1960), Lewis’ directorial
debut. During this time, he also designed his first films for Alfred Hitchcock and George Seaton, two filmmakers he would
work with intermittently over the next two decades. His work with Seaton began at Paramount with LITTLE BOY LOST (1953) and
later included WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT FEELING GOOD? (1968) and ended with SHOWDOWN (1973), Seaton’s final film, while Bumstead
was under contract at Universal. He worked with Hitchcock at Paramount on THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956) and VERTIGO (1958)
and later, at Universal, as production designer on TOPAZ (1969) and FAMILY PLOT (1976), Hitchcock’s final film. For his work
on VERTIGO, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White or Color, shared
with Hal Pereira, Sam Comer, Frank R. McKelvy.
In 1960, the Writers Guild of America strike brought film production to a halt, and Bumstead left Paramount for Universal,
the first studio to sign an agreement with the WGA. His first four films at Universal were for Robert Mulligan, and their
fourth collaboration, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962), earned Bumstead his first Academy Award, for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration,
Black-and-White, shared with Alexander Golitzen and Oliver Emert. Apart from this achievement, Bumstead’s credits at Universal
during the 1960s are rather unremarkable, though he ended the decade with TOPAZ (1969) and TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE (1969).
The 1970s found him establishing partnerships with the two filmmakers who would define the remainder of his career: George
Roy Hill and Clint Eastwood.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE (1972) marked the first of an eight-film collaboration between Bumstead and Hill that would include THE
STING (1973), THE GREAT WALDO PEPPER (1975), SLAP SHOT (1977), and THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP (1982). For THE STING, Bumstead
earned his second Academy Award, for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, shared with James W. Payne. Bumstead’s first encounter
with Eastwood came when Bumstead served as art director on JOE KIDD (1972), starring Eastwood, and soon after the actor enlisted
Bumstead as the art director for HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER (1973), Eastwood’s second film as a director and his first Western. Though
the film was a success, the two would not work together again for nearly twenty years. Bumstead’s other notable credits from
this time include Billy Wilder’s remake of THE FRONT PAGE (1974) and Robert Mulligan’s SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR (1978).
In 1981, Universal fired their entire art department, including Bumstead. However, Bumstead didn’t mind ending his tenure
there, largely due to his disappointing experience on SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT II (1980) and the studio’s mismanagement of THE
BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS (1982), on which he had originally been assigned. He became a freelance art director and subsequently
worked far less frequently, mainly because of recurring health issues related to his college sports injuries. His sporadic
work during this period includes his continued association with George Roy Hill on THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL (1984) and FUNNY
FARM (1988), Gregory Nava’s A TIME OF DESTINY (1988), and Martin Scorsese’s remake of CAPE FEAR (1991). In 1992, he was hired
by Clint Eastwood as production designer for UNFORGIVEN (1992), a Western shot on location just as HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER had
been. For the film, Bumstead earned his final Academy Award nomination, for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, shared with
Janice Blackie-Goodine. With the exception of THE STARS FELL ON HENRIETTA (1995), which was produced by Eastwood, and HOME
ALONE 3 (1997), the remainder of Bumstead’s credits were for films directed by Eastwood, including MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN
OF GOOD AND EVIL (1997), MYSTIC RIVER (2003), and MILLION DOLLAR BABY (2004). His final two films were FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
(2006) and LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (2006), and he passed away before either film was released. Bumstead was a member of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and served two terms on the Academy's Board of Governors, representing the Art
Directors Branch. He was also a member of the Art Directors Guild and received their Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. He
was posthumously inducted into the Guild’s Hall of Fame in 2007.
1. Production files, subseries A-B as follows: A. Produced ; B. Unproduced; 2. Subject files; 3. Oversize; 4. Scrapbooks;
5. Graphic Arts, subseries A-B as follows: A. Production files – Produced ; B. Subject files.
Bumstead, Henry
Art directors