Tony Walton

Anthony John Walton (born 24 October 1934) is an English set and costume designer.

Tony Walton
Born
Anthony John Walton

(1934-10-24) 24 October 1934
NationalityEnglish
EducationRadley College
Slade School of Fine Art
OccupationArt director, set designer, costume designer
Years active1957-2007
Spouse(s)
(m. 1959; div. 1967)

Gen LeRoy
(m. 1991)
ChildrenEmma Walton Hamilton

He has received many Tony, Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA nominations for his work as both a costume designer and as a set designer. For his work in the theatre he has won 3 Tony Awards for Pippin (1973), House of Blue Leaves (1986), and Guys and Dolls (1992). He received Academy Award nominations for his work in film for Mary Poppins (1964), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and The Wiz (1978), winning for All That Jazz (1979). He won an Emmy for his work in television for the acclaimed 1985 TV version of Death of a Salesman.[1]

Early life

Walton was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England on 24 October 1934. His father was a surgeon.[2]

Walton attended Radley College in Oxford where he studied Greek and Latin before attending the Slade School of Fine Art in London. He spent two years of mandatory military training with the Royal Air Force,[3] as a trainee pilot in Ontario, Canada.[2]

Career

He began his career in 1957 with the stage design for Noël Coward's Broadway production of Conversation Piece. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, he designed for the New York and London stage.

In 2019, on The Graham Norton Show, Julie Andrews mentioned how Walton, her first husband, entered the motion pictures business through Walt Disney, after Disney met her back stage after a performance of Camelot. Disney offered to look at his portfolio and later ended up hiring Walton as a costume designer, set designer, and visual consultant for Mary Poppins, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Production Design.

In 1979, Walton won his first and only Academy Award for his work as a Production Designer on Bob Fosse's acclaimed musical film All That Jazz.

In 1983, Diana Ross, the star of the film The Wiz, chose Walton to design the stage set for her landmark 1983 Central Park concert, "For One & For All". Broadcast worldwide on the Showtime cable network, the concert special, over the course of two days, featured an on-site audience of over 1,200,000 on the park's Great Lawn.

In 1989, the American Museum of the Moving Image showcased over 30 years of his work for films, television and theater in an exhibit entitled: Tony Walton: Designing for Stage and Screen, including drawings, models and photographs from his early plays including the Regency-style Conversation Piece from 1957 and "his evocation of a London street" for the 1964 film Mary Poppins.[4]

In December 2005, for their annual birthday celebration to 'The Master', The Noël Coward Society invited Walton as the guest celebrity to lay flowers in front of Coward's statue at New York's Gershwin Theatre, thereby commemorating the 106th birthday of Sir Noël.

Inspiration for Disney's Winnie the Pooh

Walton gave the Sherman Brothers the insight and inspiration for the Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree songs as is explained in the Sherman Brothers' joint autobiography, Walt's Time:

Walt (Disney) said 'Read the Pooh stories and let me know what you think.' We tried, but the stories just weren't coming through to us. At that time designer Tony Walton was working on Poppins. He was English-born, and he was about our age, so we asked him to give us some insight on the Pooh character. His eyes lit up. 'Winnie the Pooh?', he said. 'I love Winnie the Pooh! Of course I'll help you!' Three hours later, he was still talking about Pooh, inspiring us no end. He explained how he had been a chubby little boy, and had felt very insecure. But Winnie the Pooh was his buddy, because Pooh was pudgy and proud of it. Pooh was probably the only character in the world who exercised to gain weight! Pooh was a wonderful, lovable friend who would never let you down or turn his back on you. Soon, we started to fall in love with Pooh ourselves. Our songs for Winnie the Pooh were truly a love affair, thanks to A.A. Milne and to Tony Walton.[5]

Personal life

Walton married his childhood sweetheart Julie Andrews in 1959, and the two had a daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton.[6] Walton has said that he fell in love with Andrews when they were in their early teens and he saw her playing the egg in a theatre production of Humpty Dumpty. They divorced in 1967 but still remain close friends.

Walton married Gen LeRoy in 1991. Walton, Andrews and their daughter have worked several times together professionally. He has illustrated several children's books written by Andrews and their daughter.

Broadway productions and others

Year Production Notes
1961 Once There Was a Russian
1962 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum[7]
1963 The Rehearsal
1964 Golden Boy
1967 The Apple Tree Nominated, Tony Award for Best Costume Design
1972 Pippin Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1973 Shelter Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1975 Chicago
1980 A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine
1981 Sophisticated Ladies
1984 The Real Thing
1984 Hurlyburly
1985 I'm Not Rappaport
1986 House of Blue Leaves Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1986 The Front Page
1986 Social Security Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1987 Anything Goes
1989 Grand Hotel
1990 Six Degrees of Separation
1991 The Will Rogers Follies
1992 Death and the Maiden
1992 Conversations with My Father
1992 Four Baboons Adoring the Sun
1992 Guys and Dolls Tony Award for Best Scenic Design,[8] Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1992 Tommy Tune Tonight
1993 She Loves Me
1993 A Grand Night for Singing
1993 Laughter on the 23rd Floor
1994 Picnic
1994 A Christmas Carol
1995 Busker Alley as Designer (Walton directed this show as well in 2006)
1995 Company
1995 Moonlight
1996 A Fair Country
1996 A Fair Country
1996 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1996 The Shawl
1996 The Shawl
1997 Steel Pier Nominated, Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1997 King David
1997 1776
1998 The Cripple of Inishmaan
1999 Annie Get Your Gun
2000 On Raftery's Hill
2000 Uncle Vanya Nominated, Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
2000 The Man Who Came to Dinner
2000 Taller Than a Dwarf
2002 Our Town
2003 Nobody Don't Like Yogi
2003 The Boy Friend
2005 The Boy Friend National Tour
2006 Well
2007 The Sleeping Beauty ABT, Metropolitan Opera
2007 A Tale of Two Cities Sets directly transferred for Broadway premiere 2008

More recently, Walton has diversified into directing, with productions of:

Awards and Nominations

Academy Awards

Year Award Nominated work Result
1964 Best Costume Design Mary Poppins Nominated
1974 Best Costume Design Murder on the Orient Express Nominated
1978 Best Costume Design The Wiz Nominated
1978 Best Production Design The Wiz Nominated
1979 Best Production Design All That Jazz Won

Emmy Awards

Year Category Nominated work Result
1985 Best Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie Death of a Salesman Won

Tony Awards

Year Category Nominated work Result
1967 Best Costume Design The Apple Tree Nominated
1973 Best Scenic Design Pippin Won
1976 Best Scenic Design Chicago Nominated
1980 Best Scenic Design A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine Nominated
1984 Best Scenic Design The Real Thing Nominated
1986 Best Scenic Design The House of Blue Leaves Won
1987 Best Scenic Design The Front Page Nominated
1988 Best Scenic Design Anything Goes Nominated
1988 Best Costume Design Anything Goes Nominated
1989 Best Scenic Design Lend Me a Tenor Nominated
1990 Best Scenic Design Grand Hotel Nominated
1991 Best Scenic Design The Will Rogers Follies Nominated
1992 Best Scenic Design Guys and Dolls Won
1994 Best Scenic Design She Loves Me Nominated
1997 Best Scenic Design Steel Pier Nominated
2000 Best Scenic Design Uncle Vanya Nominated

References

  1. Liebenson, Bess (29 December 1991). "Spinning Visual Style From Writers' Words". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  2. Rothstein, Mervyn (2008). "A Life in the Theatre: Tony Walton". Playbill. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  3. Grimes, William (9 June 1992). "For a Broadway Set Designer, Home Is Where the Stage Is". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  4. Stephens, Suzanne (5 October 1989). "Currents; The World According To Walton". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  5. Sherman, Robert B., Walt's Time: from before to beyond, 1998, p 68.
  6. Stevens, Christopher (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams. John Murray. p. 372. ISBN 978-1-84854-195-5.
  7. Rothstein, Mervyn (6 June 1989). "Tonys? Six. Profits? None Soon". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  8. Collins, Glenn (1 June 1992). "'Dancing at Lughnasa' And 'Crazy for You' Win Top Tony Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
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