In Remembrance: Donfeld

     Donfeld, the costume designer who was nominated for four Academy Awards has passed away on February 2, 2007 in Temple City, CA. He was 72.

     Born Donald Lee Feld on July 3, 1934 in Los Angeles, CA, briefle attended Chouinard Art Institute before taking a job with Capitol records designing album covers at the age of 19. After spending several years at Capitol, he left to work in Hollywood. One of his first jobs was designing the costumes for Academy Award ceremony production numbers.

     In 1961 he began working at Twentieth Century Fox, designing costumes for such films as Sanctuary, Return To Peyton Place (both 1961) and State Fair (1962).

     Donfeld earned his first Oscar nomination in 1962 for the downbeat romance Days Of Wine And Roses, which starred Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick as an alcoholic couple. His second Academy Award nomination came for his work for They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969), which was set in the world of marathon dance competitions during the Depression. Always stressing clothing that suited each character and historical accuracy, Donfeld received a third Academy Award nomination for Tom Sawyer (1973) and his final nomination for Prizzi’s Honor (1985).

     Other films that Donfeld designed for include Viva Las Vegas, Robin And The Seven Hoods (both 1964), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Fun With Dick And Jane (1977), Who Is Killing The Great Chefs Of Europe? (1978), The China Syndrome (1979), Brainstorm (1983), Spaceballs (1987) and Next Of Kin (1989). He also served as Jacqueline Bisset’s personal designer for the films Inchon (1981), Class (1983) and the 1986 television film Choices. He also designed the costumes for Jill St. John for the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever.

     His final film work was for the 1993 Patrick Swayze comedy Father Hood.