Designing Hollywood
By Kristen Hoverman
The Collegian
Roy Christopher, one of the most respected and honored production designers in Hollywood and a graduate of Fresno State is returning to campus today to share his experiences with the community.
Christopher will give a lecture entitled “Designing Hollywood - My First Forty Years!” in the Arena Theatre inside the Speech Arts Building.
Christopher and his wife Dorothy Joyal (a gifted set decorator), graduated from the Theatre Arts program. He then taught, directed and produced at Fresno State before moving to Hollywood and making his name in designing for theatre and television.
In 1993 Christopher received the Fresno State Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus Award, given annually to graduates who have achieved high recognition in their chosen professions.
It paid tribute to Christopher’s lecturing activities at schools, colleges, universities and design conferences in the United States and abroad, plus his ongoing support of those striving to make their way in the entertainment field. In 1996, Roy and Dorothy Christopher inaugurated a theatre scholarship at Fresno State for motivated Theatre Arts students with potential and in need of financial assistance.
Christopher will be designing this year’s Academy Awards, his record-breaking 16th Oscar-cast. He’s received eight Emmy Awards, four Art Directors Guild Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Directors Guild in Feb. 2003.
Christopher has received 33 Emmy nominations to date for his work on popular shows such as “Frasier,” “Becker,” “Wings” and “Murphy Brown,” as well as primetime telecoms, award shows and specials.
Christopher has worked with such legendary figures as Carol Burnett, Lily Tomlin, Mary Tyler Moore, Shirley MacLaine and Baryshnikov, among others. He won one of his eight Emmys for a Richard Pryor comedy special. His other seven Emmys were a tribute to his Academy Award Show designs.
Today, Christopher’s plans, renderings, slides, sketches and working drawings for the Oscarcasts he designed are housed in the Margaret Herrick Library of the Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills, where they will be kept and preserved for future generations’ reference and review.
The event starts at 2 p.m. and will be followed by an informal reception in the Lyles Gallery, adjacent to the Arena Theatre. The events are free and open to the public but reservations are required.
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