Born June 5, 1902 in Oakland, California to James and Frances Plunkett, Walter Plunkett studied law at the University of California but was more interested in acting. He moved to New York in 1923, where he worked as an actor as well as a costume and set designer for the stage. He moved to Hollywood where he made his film debut as a ballroom dancer opposite fellow costume designer Irene in Erich von Stroheim’s 1925 version of The Merry Widow. His first work as a costume designer for film was for 1926’s One Minute to Pray

Plunkett would eventually design costumes for 269 films, primarily for RKO and MGM, but for other studios as well. His films for RKO included The Animal Kingdom, King Kong, The Silver Cord,Morning Glory, Little Women, Flying Down to Rio, Of Human Bondage, The Gay Divorcée, The Informer, Mary of Scotland, Quality Street, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Plunkett’s first film for MGM was a big one, Gone with the Wind, where he designed perhaps his most famous costume of all, Scarlett’s green dress made from curtains. There were no Oscars for costume design in those days or Plunkett surely would have won. Subsequent award-worthy costume designs by Plunkett prior to Oscar recognizing the craft in 1948 included those for Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Ladies in Retirement, Forever and a Day and Green Dolphin Street.

Plunkett produced Oscar-worthy costumes for 1948’s The Three Musketeers and 1949’s Little Women and Madame Bovary but he wasn’t nominated until 1950’s The Magnificent Yankee and That Forsyte Woman earned him nominations in both the black-and-white and color categories. 1951’s Kind Lady earned him a nomination in the black-and-white category while An American in Paris won him an Oscar for best costume design-color, shared with Orry-Kelly and Irene Sharaff.

The costumes Plunkett produced for 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain were his most famous since Gone with the Wind but failed to earn him an Oscar nomination. He was, however, nominated the following year in both the black-and-white and color categories for The Actress and Young Bess respectively.

Plunkett’s later films included Kiss Me Kate, The Student Prince, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Lust for Life, Raintree County (his 7th Oscar nomination), Some Came Running (his 8th nomination), Home from the Hill, Pollyanna, Bells Are Ringing, Pocketful of Miracles (his 9th nomination), How the West Was Won (his 10th nomination) and 7 Women.

Walter Plunkett died in 1982 at 79, having adopted his long-time partner Lee so that he could inherit his estate.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

LITTLE WOMEN (1933), directed by George Cukor

An Oscar nominee for Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay, winner for the latter, there’s little doubt that had the category for costume design been around then, Plunkett’s mid-18th century costumes would have been nominated and perhaps even won. The costumes worn by the film’s actresses, including Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Frances Dee and Jean Parker as the sisters, Spring Byington as Marmee and Edna May Oliver s Aunt March were exquisite, as were those for the men, most memorably those worn by Paul Lukas as Professor Bhaer and Douglass Montgomery as Laurie.

GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), directed by Victor Fleming

One of Plunkett’s two most memorably costumed films, it contained beautifully detailed costumes he designed for Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara and Olivia de Havilland as Melanie, as well as those of the rest of the cast including Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes, Laura Hope Crews as Aunt Pittypat and Ona Munson as Belle Watling. Even Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen were as immaculately dressed house servants as their roles would permit. One dress in particular, Scarlett’s green one, made from curtains, is perhaps the most famous design of any costume in movie history.

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952), directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen

Plunkett had a field day designing costumes for an earlier era in film history, the one he had first made his mark in. His costumes are probably his best remembered aside from those he designed for Gone with the Wind. With four Oscar nominations in the previous two years and a win for An American in Paris already under his belt, it’s odd that he wasn’t nominated for this, although he was nominated for his next film for Stanley Donen, 1954’s Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in which his costumes are almost as memorable as the film’s celebrated choreography.

HOME FROM THE HILL (1960), directed by Vincente Minnelli

Having previously designed clothes for Minnelli’s An American in Paris, Lust for Life and Some Came Running, it was no surprise that he would be the designer on Minnelli’s two 1960 films, Home from the Hill, a modern Texas drama starring Robert Mitchum, Eleanor Parker, George Peppard and George Hamilton, and Bells Are Ringing, a lighthearted musical starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin. What was surprising in that in-between he designed the costumes for the turn-of-the-century Disney film, Pollyanna starring Hayley Mills and Jane Wyman.

7 WOMEN (1966), directed by John Ford

Plunkett had been the costume designer for Ford’ 1935 masterpiece, The Informer, for which the celebrated director had won his first Oscar. It is fitting that the last film he designed the costumes for, was also the director’s last film. Like The Informer, 7 Women was a film in which the characters were poor. Plunkett’s costumes for the film set in 1935 China were not elaborate but fitting in a way that all the costumes in all his films had been. In this one, you get Anne Bancroft as a doctor and Margaret Leighton, Flora Robson, Betty Field, Mildred Dunnock and Sue Lyon as appropriately dressed missionaries.

WALTER PLUNKETT AND OSCAR

• The Magnificent Yankee (1950) – nominated – Best Costume Design, Black-and-White
• That Forsyte Woman (1950) – nominated – Best Costume Design, Color
• Kind Lady (1951) – nominated – Best Costume Design, Black-and-White
• An American in Paris (1951) – Oscar – Best Costume Design, Color
• The Actress (1953) – nominated – Best Costume Design, Black-and-White
• Young Bess (1953) – nominated – Best Costume Design, Color
• Raintree County (1957) – nominated – Best Costume Design
• Some Came Running (1958) – nominated – Best Costume Design
• Pocketful of Miracles (1961) – nominated – Best Costume Design, Color
• How the West Was Won (1963) – nominated – Best Costume Design, Color