Margaret Furse

Margaret Furse (born Alice Margaret Watts, 18 February 1911 – 8 July 1974) was an English costume designer. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design six times, winning for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969).

Personal life

She was born to Punch magazine illustrator Arthur G. Watts and his wife, Phyllis Gordon Watts. She married art director Roger K. Furse on 4 December 1936 at Chelsea Old Church.[1]

Career

She trained at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (now the Central School of Art and Design) and then joined Motley Theatre Design Group.[2] She became a costume designer in films, her first film was Laurence Olivier's Henry V as assistant designer to Roger Kemble Furse.[3] She had her own costumier business called New Sheridan House.[2] In 1970, she was awarded an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and had five other nominations for The Mudlark (1951), Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), Scrooge (1970) and Mary, Queen of Scots (1971).[4] She was also posthumously awarded an Emmy in 1975 for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design for "Love Among the Ruins" (ABC Theatre, 6 March 1975) (her only nomination).[5]

Later years

Roger and Margaret Furse divorced in 1953.[2] She remarried and remained with her second husband, the Scottish author, film and drama critic Stephen G. Watts (no relation to her parents),[2][6] until her death from breast cancer on 8 July 1974, in Kensington, London.

A portrait is in the permanent collection of London's National Portrait Gallery. She was also painted by Gluck.

Awards and nominations

Award Year Category Work Result Ref.
Academy Awards 1951 Best Costume Design – Black and White The Mudlark Nominated [7]
1964 Best Costume Design – Color Becket Nominated [8]
1968 Best Costume Design The Lion in Winter Nominated [9]
1969 Anne of the Thousand Days Won [10]
1970 Scrooge Nominated [11]
1971 Mary, Queen of Scots Nominated [12]
British Academy Film Awards 1964 Best British Costume Design – Colour Becket Won [13]
1965 A Shot in the Dark Nominated [14]
Young Cassidy Nominated
1968 Best Costume Design The Lion in Winter Nominated [15]
1970 Anne of the Thousand Days Nominated [16]
Primetime Emmy Awards 1975 Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design Love Among the Ruins Won[a] [17]

Notes

  1. ^ Tied with Guy Verhille for The Legend of Lizzie Borden

References

  1. ^ Margaret Furse personal life info. at Yasni.co.uk
  2. ^ a b c d Carter, Ernestine (15 February 1970). "Article about Margaret Furse by Ernestine Carter". The Sunday Times. p. 61.
  3. ^ "IMDB Entry for Margaret Furse". IMDb. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  4. ^ "The Official Academy Awards Database". Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Entry for Margaret Furse on Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Database". Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  6. ^ Entry for Stephen Watts (1977). Who's Who in the Theatre (16th ed.). London: Pitman Publishing Ltd. pp. 1232–1233.
  7. ^ "24th Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 5 October 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  8. ^ "37th Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 5 October 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  9. ^ "41st Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 4 October 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  10. ^ "42nd Academy Awards". Oscars.org. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  11. ^ "43rd Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 4 October 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  12. ^ "44th Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 5 October 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  13. ^ "18th BAFTA Film Awards". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  14. ^ "19th BAFTA Film Awards". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  15. ^ "22nd BAFTA Film Awards". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  16. ^ "24th BAFTA Film Awards". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  17. ^ "Margaret Furse - Emmy Awards, Nominations, and Wins". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). Retrieved 4 February 2023.


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