Maurice Ransford
Maurice Ransford ( born August 3, 1896 in Terre Haute, Indiana; † August 25, 1968 in San Diego, California ) was an American art director and production designer, who was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Production Design.
Life
Ransford graduated after school to study architecture and then worked as an architect before he began his career in 1940 as a production designer in the film industry in Hollywood. During his tenure there, he lasted until 1961, was continuously employed by the film production company 20th Century Fox, where he worked together especially with colleagues such as Richard Day and Lyle R. Wheeler. His first work as a production designer was in 1940 for the biopic trek to Utah by Henry Hathaway with Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell and Dean Jagger in the title role as Brigham Young instead.
At the Academy Awards in 1946 Ransford was first nominated by Lyle R. Wheeler and Thomas Little for an Academy Award for Best Production Design, and indeed for the color film mortal sin ( Leave Her to Heaven, 1945) by John M. Stahl with Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde and Jeanne Crain in the lead roles. Another nomination for the Academy Award for Best Production Design he got with Lyle R. Wheeler, Thomas Little and Paul S. Fox 1948 for the black and white film A World at Your Feet ( The Foxes of Harrow, 1947) by John M. Stahl with Rex Harrison, Maureen O'Hara and Richard Haydn.
His third and final Oscar nomination for Best Production Design received Ransford at the Oscar ceremony in 1954 again with Lyle R. Wheeler and Stuart A. Reiss for the black and white film The Sinking of the Titanic ( Titanic, 1953) by Jean Negulesco with Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Wagner as the main character. Ransford created until his retirement in 1961 screenshots for 53 films.