ADG Awards: Art Directors Guild Honors Eight Luminaries

Eight distinguished individuals receive special recognition from the Art Directors Guild at the ADG Awards on Feb. 2 in Downtown L. A.

Marjo Bernay
Service Award
Trailblazer, feminist and labor activist Bernay is a veteran of three IATSE Locals; Illustrators and Matte Artists (Local 790); Set Designers and Model Makers (847); and Art Directors Guild (800). She was a business agent of 790 and 847 until they merged with ADG in 2008. Bernay retired from the Guild as manager of awards and events in 2013 and remains active on the ADG Board. A member of the California Film Commission, she was the first woman from the labor side to chair the health plan of the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans.

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Benjamin Carre
Hall of Fame Inductee
The French-born production designer is known for the catacomb set designs for “The Phantom of the Opera,” the Emerald City from “The Wizard of Oz,” the home of the Smith family in “Meet Me in St. Louis” and sets for “The Jazz Singer.” A classically trained artist, Carré designed sets for Cecil B. DeMille’s “The King of Kings” and worked on “Noah’s Ark,” “The Iron Mask” and “Dante’s Inferno.” He later stayed at MGM for 30 years, painting backgrounds for classic films including “Marie Antoinette,” “An American in Paris,” “North by Northwest” and “Singing in the Rain.”

James Fiorito
Life Achievement Award
Fiorito earned a B.A. in theater at UCLA where he’s taught scenic art and scenery construction, as well as at Santa Monica College. His work creating television and motion picture backdrops has appeared in such projects as the “Star Trek” films, “Patriot Games,” “The Right Stuff” and “Married With Children.” Fiorito’s work has also been featured in live theater for the Center Theater Group, the Civic Light Opera and other legit productions. In Paris, his art has been shown at Madam Volpe’s Galerie Des Ambassadeurs and exhibited at the Palais Luxembourg.

Rob Marshall (pictured above)
Cinematic Imagery Award
The director-producer seemed destined to direct the new Mary Poppins film; after all, his name has virtually become synonymous with the movie musical, and over the past two decades he’s done more than anyone else to revive the genre. Marshall made his feature directorial debut in 2002 with “Chicago,” which won the best picture Oscar and brought him a directing nom, and since then has brought hit Broadway musicals “Nine” and “Into the Woods” to film. Other credits: “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”

Anthony Masters
Hall of Fame Inductee
The British production designer, whose career spanned 45 years, received an Oscar nom for art direction in 1968 for his work in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” With more than two dozen credits as art director, his best-known films include such high-profile projects as “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Papillon,” “Tai-Pan,” “Dune,” “The Clan of the Cave Bear,” “The Deep,” “The Heroes of Telemark,” “The Cracksman,” “The Day the Earth Caught Fire,” “Faces in the Dark,” “The Story of Esther Costello” and the Oscar-winning short “The Bespoke Overcoat.” He died in France in 1990.

William F. Matthews
Life Achievement Award
The set designer and art director’s credits include “Cheaper by the Dozen,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” ABC’s “Lost,” “Poltergeist” and “ E.T.” For its last three seasons, Matthews was production designer for “Beverly Hills, 90210.” His theater designs include “Hamlet,” “The Tempest,” “Guys and Dolls,” and the recent Off Broadway show “Moonchildren.” Matthews received his master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon University and is a faculty member teaching scenic design. He continues to work on such shows as Netflix’s “Godless.”

Jeannine Oppewall
Life Achievement Award
Oppewall has received four Academy Award nominations — for “L.A. Confidential,” “Pleasantville,” “Seabiscuit” and “The Good Shepherd” — and has designed more than 40 films, including such diverse projects as “Wonder Boys,” “Rules Don’t Apply,” “Snow Falling on Cedars,” “Catch Me if You Can” and “Bridges of Madison County.” Her first film was Paul Schrader’s “Blue Collar.” “Tender Mercies” was her earliest movie as production designer. She began her career working for the design team of Charles and Ray Eames, best-known for their iconic furniture.

Ed Verreaux
Life Achievement Award
The illustrator and production designer began his career working for legendary animation director Chuck Jones after graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute and working on underground comics. After joining design firm Robert Abel & Associates, he worked on “Star Trek” and on many Steven Spielberg films. Other credits include “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,” “Honey I Blew Up the Kid,” “Back to the Future” Parts ll and lll, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “X-Men: The Last Stand” and “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.”

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