RANDOM THOUGHTS
Journal ICONIX
William Travilla was born on Catalina Island, just off the coast of Southern California in March of 1920. At an early age he demonstrated genuine artistic talent and was enrolled in the prestigious Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles. Travilla’s skills proved so advanced that he was transferred into adult classes as an eight year old. By fourteen, Travilla’s interests had narrowed to include mostly art and water and he negotiated a deal with his parents. He would quit regular school and work with his uncle helping operate Catalina’s famous glass bottom boats in the summers and concentrate on his art studies in the school year. But this plan lasted only so long…
When Travilla was sixteen, he developed a fascination with the burlesque clubs he passed each day on his way to school. His artistic curiosity finally got the best of him and he began stopping in to see the shows. After all, this young man had been painting naked ladies in school since he was a child. It was here that Travilla became a professional artist and developed his first costumes. He set up shop selling pencil sketches to the showgirls for a flat rate of three costume designs for five dollars.
Soon after starting his first design business, Travilla inherited $5,000 from his grandfather and decided to experience the world. He and a cousin spent almost a year traveling through the South Seas. During an extended layover on the Island of Tahiti, Travilla painted what we think could be some of his most compelling work -- a breathtaking set of islander portraits. This idyllic time was cut short as the world geared up for war, and travel through the Pacific became restricted. Travilla (now draft age) returned to the US. He was declared 4F due to flat feet and went back to school (Woodbury University) and started looking for work in Hollywood.
Travilla landed his first film job at the already legendary Western Costume where he began ghost-sketching for studio designers. After a stint at Western where he learned the business, Travilla took a job at Jack’s of Hollywood another busy Hollywood costume shop. At Jack’s he gets his first big name client, Sonja Henie, as well as, assignments for United Artists and Columbia. With his success at Jack’s, Travilla set out on his own. And fails. Or, more accurately falls upward.
His new design venture didn’t fly. And Travilla, to make ends meet, began selling Tahiti inspired paintings at the hot spot Don The Beachcomber. A regular customer of the restaurant, the rising star Ann Sheridan, begins to collect Travilla’s work and eventually asked to meet the young artist. They hit it off and she brought Travilla on to the Warner lot as her personal costume designer.
In 1947, Travilla won respect from the Hollywood establishment when he styled Sheridan’s gowns for Nora Prentiss and then again in 1948 for her period drama Silver River. A true Hollywood legend was watching from the sidelines. Errol Flynn asked for Travilla on his next film The Adventures of Don Juan, which earned Travilla his first Oscar nomination and his only win for Best Costume Design. Travilla stayed at Warner for five years working on as many as nine films a year, including many classics.
In 1952 Travilla leaves Warner for Fox and a fateful encounter with a certain blonde. At Fox, Travilla first met Marilyn Monroe and over the course of a few short years they worked together on eight films, had an affair and styled some of the most famous gowns in film history. The persona of Marilyn Monroe and the glamorous style of Travilla combine to created a force that is still influencing fashion and costume design.
By 1956, the studio system was all but collapsed and Twentieth Century Fox declined to renew Travilla’s contract as they began to cut back their in-house departments. Travilla with his long time friend Bill Sarris decided the time was right to launch a new fashion label. With money borrowed from Sarris’s mother, Travilla, Inc. was formed and the award winning costume designer began styling couture quality gowns for many of his former movie star clients.
Travilla developed a signature style that used pleats to create a timeless look. The business grew and ready to wear lines were developed for major retailers throughout the US and Europe. He eventually burned out and in 1971 Travilla moved to Malegna, Spain a small coastal village where he could recapture his childhood days of swimming in the clear waters off Catalina Island. In the late ’70’s, Travilla resurfaced, taking on freelance assignments and re-launching the fashion label with Bill Sarris. They worked together for another twenty years until Travilla died of Lung Cancer in 1990.
Travilla was married to starlet Dona Drake in 1944 (they were introduced by Joan Blondell). Although separated after twelve years, they remained married until her death in 1989. The couple had one daughter; Nia who became a veterinarian after Travilla wouldn’t let her screen test.
Travilla was nominated for an Emmy six years running from 1980 through 1986 and won twice (Moviola - The Scarlett O’hara War and Dallas). He was nominated for the Oscar four times and won once.