Gile Steele
Gile Steele (* September 24 1908 in Ohio; † January 16, 1952 in Culver City, California ) was an American costume designer, who won the Oscar for Best Costume Design twice.
Life
Gile Steele began in the late 1930s as a costume designer for film productions and acted for the first time in 1938 at The Toy Wife by Richard Thorpe and Yellow Jack by George B. Seitz in the creation of movies. Throughout his career, he was involved as a costume designer on over 80 films.
At the Academy Awards in 1949 he was nominated for the first time together with the legendary Edith Head for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, and indeed in the ink film I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (1948 ) by Billy Wilder. Together with Edith Head, he received the Oscar in this category in 1950 for the costumes in the black and white film The Heiress ( 1949) by William Wyler. A second Academy Award for Best Costume Design at the Academy Awards he won in 1951 along with Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins, Eloise Jensson and Gwen Wakeling for they had designed costumes in the color film Samson and Delilah ( 1949) by Cecil B. DeMille. At the Academy Awards in 1952, he was equal nominated twice namely, first with Walter Plunkett for the black and white film child Lady ( 1951) by John Sturges and on the other hand, together with Helen Rose for the costumes in the color film The Great Caruso ( 1951) by Richard Thorpe. Gile Steele was eventually nominated posthumously in 1953 again with Helen Rose for the Oscar in the category Best Costume Design in the color film The Merry Widow (1952 ) by Curtis Bernhardt.
Other well-known films with which he designed costumes were Her first husband (1940 ) by Mervyn LeRoy, mystery of the Mother (1948 ) by George Stevens and Scaramouche, the gallant Marquis (1952 ) by George Sidney.