The British set decorator and actor Ian Whittaker passed away this October 16 at age 94, due to prostate cancer. His passing was confirmed this week by the media. He is survived by his long time partner Mick Hickman. Whittaker won an Academy Award for best art direction in 1992 for James Ivory’s Howard’s End and was nominated for the same award on three other occasions. His first nomination was for Ridley Scott’s Alien, where he dressed the interior of the Nostromo Spaceship.
Whittaker was versatile in his craft, being a set decorator for different styles, from sci-fi to period dramas, he stated- “Council houses, stately homes, spaceships, I’ve done them all”-.
His other two Oscar nominations were for The remains of the day (1993, starring Anthony Hopkins) and Anna and the King (1999). Among other of his credits are Charlie Chaplin’s A countess from Hong Kong (1967), the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility (1995).
Whittaker was originally an actor. He studied acting at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and started his career in film acting for director Lewis Gilbert. He made four films with him between 1953 and 1960. A few years later he was hired for an art department gig for Having a Wild Weekend (1965), with this his career as a set decorator began and he barely worked as an actor again after. Whittaker last credit was From time to Time (2009) directed by Julian Fellowes, he was 81 years old then.
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