George James Hopkins

{{Short description|American set designer (1896–1985)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = George Hopkins | image = | image_size = | birth_name = George James Hopkins | birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|3|23}} | birth_place = [[Pasadena, California]], US | death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|02|11|1896|3|23}} | death_place = [[Los Angeles, California]] | occupation = Set designer, [[playwright]] and production designer | years_active = 1917-1975 | parents = [[Una Nixson Hopkins]] }}

'''George James Hopkins''' (March 23, 1896 – February 11, 1985) was an American set designer, [[playwright]] and production designer.

[[File:1917 Jan 5 display ad for Los Angeles premiere of The Play of Everyman by George Sterling.png|thumb|left|1917 Jan 5 ''Los Angeles Evening Express'' ad for world premiere of ''The Play of Everyman'' with sets and costumes designed by 20-year-old Hopkins]]Hopkins was a native of [[Pasadena, California]]; his mother [[Una Nixson Hopkins]] was a magazine writer and an art director on at least a dozen silent films. Hopkins got his start designing scenery on stage after studying design in college. He moved to films in 1917, working as an [[Art director#In film|art director]] for various studios. During his long career, Hopkins was nominated for thirteen [[Academy Awards]] and won four.

==Connection to the murder of William Desmond Taylor== Hopkins had a professional and intimate relationship with silent film director [[William Desmond Taylor]], whose unsolved murder was one of early Hollywood's biggest scandals.

On the 1922 morning that Taylor's body was found, [[Charles Eyton]] instructed Hopkins to remove a basket of documents from the murder scene, and Hopkins obeyed. Hopkins' unpublished 1981 autobiography, ''Caught in the Act'', was used as a major source for [[Charles Higham (biographer)|Charles Higham]]'s book on the Taylor murder.<ref>{{Citation|last=Higham|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Higham (biographer)|year=2004|title=Murder in Hollywood: solving a silent screen mystery|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=0-299-20360-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/murderinhollywoo00high}}</ref>

==Filmography as Art Director== {{div col|colwidth=22em}} * ''[[The Day of the Locust (film)|The Day of the Locust]]'' (1975) * ''40 Carats'' (1973) * ''Dirty Little Billy'' (1972) * '' [[1776 (film)|1776]]'' (1972) * ''[[The Love Machine (film)|The Love Machine]]'' (1971) * ''R.P.M.'' (1970) * ''[[On a Clear Day You Can See Forever]]'' (1970) * ''[[The Cheyenne Social Club]]'' (1970) * ''[[Hello, Dolly! (film)|Hello, Dolly!]]'' (1969) * ''[[Wait Until Dark]]'' (1967) * ''[[Hotel (1967 film)|Hotel]]'' (1967) * ''[[Not with My Wife, You Don't!]]'' (1966) * ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?#Film|Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' (1966) * ''Inside Daisy Clover'' (1965) * ''[[The Great Race]]'' (1965) * ''None But the Brave'' (1965) * ''[[My Fair Lady (film)|My Fair Lady]]'' (1964) * ''[[Palm Springs Weekend]]'' (1963)<ref>{{AFI film|19354|Palm Springs Weekend}}</ref> * ''Rampage'' (1963) * ''Island of Love'' (1963) * ''[[Days of Wine and Roses (film)|Days of Wine and Roses]]'' (1962) * ''[[The Chapman Report]]'' (1962) * ''[[The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man]]'' (1962) * ''Portrait of a Mobster'' (1961) * ''A Fever in the Blood'' (1961) * ''[[Sunrise at Campobello]]'' (1960) * ''The Dark at the Top of the Stairs'' (1960) * ''Cash McCall'' (1960) * ''[[Auntie Mame (film)|Auntie Mame]]'' (1958) * ''Too Much, Too Soon'' (1958) * ''Sincerely Yours'' (1955) * ''East of Eden'' (1955) * ''[[A Star Is Born (1954 film)|A Star Is Born]]'' (1954) * ''[[Dial M for Murder]]'' (1954) * ''So Big'' (1953) * ''I Confess'' (1953) * ''The Iron Mistress'' (1952) * ''The Story of Will Rogers'' (1952) * ''This Woman Is Dangerous'' (1952) * ''I'll See You in My Dreams'' (1951) * ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' (1951) * ''Strangers on a Train'' (1951) * ''Dallas'' (1950) * ''The Breaking Point'' (1950) * ''This Side of the Law'' (1950) * ''Perfect Strangers'' (1950) * ''The Lady Takes a Sailor'' (1949) * ''Task Force'' (1949) * ''[[Life with Father (film)|Life with Father]]'' (1947) * ''Deception'' (1946) * ''Of Human Bondage'' (1946) * ''Suspense'' (1946) * ''One More Tomorrow'' (1946) * ''[[My Reputation]]'' (1946) * ''[[Mildred Pierce (film)|Mildred Pierce]]'' (1945) * ''Roughly Speaking'' (1945) * ''Janie'' (1944) * ''Passage to Marseille'' (1944) * ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943) * ''[[This Is the Army]]'' (1943) * ''[[Mission to Moscow]]'' (1943) * ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' (1942) * ''The Hidden Hand'' (1942) * ''The Soul of Youth'' (1920) * ''[[Salomé (1918 film)|Salomé]]'' (1918) * ''[[Cleopatra (1917 film)|Cleopatra]]'' (1917) {{div col end}}

==[[Academy Awards]]== Over the course of his career, Hopkins was nominated 13 times for an Academy Award, all in the category of Art Direction. Today, the award is named [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Production Design]], but during the 1940s and 1950s, this award recognized both Art Directors and Set Decorators with the same award. Also, prior to 1967, the Art Direction category was typically separated into different categories, one containing only Color films and the other with only [[Black-and-White]] films (the exceptions being 1957 and 1958).

;Wins * [[24th Academy Awards|1951]] - ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' (Black-and-White) * [[37th Academy Awards|1964]] - ''[[My Fair Lady (film)|My Fair Lady]]'' (Color) * [[39th Academy Awards|1966]] - ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film)|Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' (Black-and-White) * [[42nd Academy Awards|1969]] - ''[[Hello, Dolly! (film)|Hello, Dolly!]]'' (Color)

;Nominations * [[16th Academy Awards|1943]] - ''[[Mission to Moscow]]'' (Black-and-White) * [[20th Academy Awards|1943]] - ''[[This Is the Army]]'' (Color) * [[20th Academy Awards|1947]] - ''[[Life with Father (film)|Life With Father]]'' (Color) * [[27th Academy Awards|1954]] - ''[[A Star Is Born (1954 film)|A Star Is Born]]'' (Color) * [[31st Academy Awards|1958]] - ''[[Auntie Mame (film)|Auntie Mame]]'' (Color) * [[33rd Academy Awards|1960]] - ''[[Sunrise at Campobello]]'' (Color) * [[35th Academy Awards|1962]] - ''[[Days of Wine and Roses (film)|Days of Wine and Roses]]'' (Black-and-White) * [[35th Academy Awards|1962]] - ''[[The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man]]'' (Color) * [[38th Academy Awards|1965]] - ''[[Inside Daisy Clover]]'' (Color)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0394166}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, George James}} [[Category:1896 births]] [[Category:1985 deaths]] [[Category:American art directors]] [[Category:Best Production Design Academy Award winners]] [[Category:Artists from Pasadena, California]] [[Category:20th-century American people]]