Anthony John Walton (24 October 1934 – 2 March 2022) was a British costume designer and set designer. He won three Tony Awards, an Academy Award, and an Emmy Award. He received three Tony Awards for Pippin (1973), House of Blue Leaves (1986), and Guys and Dolls (1992). For his work in movies, he won an Academy Award for Best Production Design, for All That Jazz (1979), and nominations for Mary Poppins (1964), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and The Wiz (1978). For his work in television, he won a Primetime Emmy Award, for Death of a Salesman (1985).
Early life Walton was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, on 24 October 1934. His father, Lancelot, was an orthopedic surgeon and his mother, Hilda, was a homemaker. He fell in love with the theatre as child when on a family trip to a pantomime. At the age of 12, he met Julie Andrews after he had watched her in a performance of Humpty Dumpty in the West End. She was 11 at the time. He found her number in the telephone book and asked for her address so he could send her some pictures. The two became good friends from this point.
Walton attended Radley College in Oxfordshire where he studied Greek and Latin. Here he put on some ambitious marionette shows, one of which was attended by the English artist John Piper. He came to find Walton at the end of the show, and told him he should go into stage design. Walton followed his advice and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. He spent two years of mandatory military training with the Royal Air Force, as a trainee pilot in Ontario, Canada. After completing his National Service, he headed to New York to join Julie Andrews, who was making a name for herself on Broadway.
Career He began his career in 1957 with the stage design for Noël Coward's off-Broadway production of Conversation Piece. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, he designed for the New York and London stage.
Walton entered the motion pictures business through Walt Disney, after Disney met him back stage after a performance of Camelot. Julie Andrews, who was now his fiancé, was already in line to play the part of Mary Poppins in the classic film. Disney offered to look at his portfolio and later ended up hiring Walton as a costume designer, set designer, and visual consultant for Mary Poppins. He was not allowed to make any reference to the famous illustrations that Mary Shepard had done for the original book in 1934, as the rights to the story did not include this. The Sherman brothers, who were working on the songs for the movie, suggested that he transposed the era of the story from the 1930s to the Edwardian era, to ensure he avoided any accidental replications. He made the set realistic, paying attention to detail, as he was always annoyed by sets that didn't look real. He also alluded to Mary Poppins' "secret life", by making her clothes grey or black on the outside, but with brightly coloured linings and flashes of crimson. For this he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design (Color).
Walton continued to work in the film industry as a costume designer and set designer working on films such as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), The Boy Friend (1971), and Equus (1977). Walton received further Academy Award nominations for his work on Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and The Wiz (1978). He won his only Academy Award for his work as an Art Director on Bob Fosse's musical film All That Jazz (1979).
In 1983, Diana Ross, the star of the film The Wiz, chose Walton to design the stage set for her 1983 Central Park concert, "For One & For All". Broadcast worldwide on the Showtime cable network, the concert special, over the course of two days, featured an on-site audience of over 1,200,000 on the park's Great Lawn.
In 1989, the American Museum of the Moving Image showcased over 30 years of his work for films, television, and theatre in the exhibit Tony Walton: Designing for Stage and Screen, including drawings, models, and photographs from his early plays including the Regency-style Conversation Piece from 1957 and "his evocation of a London street" for the 1964 film Mary Poppins.
In December 2005, for their annual birthday celebration to 'The Master', The Noël Coward Society invited Walton as the guest celebrity to lay flowers in front of Coward's statue at New York's Gershwin Theatre, thereby commemorating the 106th birthday of Sir Noël.
Inspiration for Disney's Winnie the Pooh
Walton gave the Sherman Brothers the insight and inspiration for songs in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, as the Brothers explained in their joint autobiography, Walt's Time:
Personal life and death Walton married his childhood sweetheart Julie Andrews in 1959, and together they had a daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton. Walton said that he fell in love with Andrews when they were children and he saw her playing the egg in a theatre production of Humpty Dumpty. They divorced in 1968 but remained close friends. Walton, Andrews, and their daughter worked together professionally several times, with Walton illustrating several children's books written by Andrews and their daughter.
Walton married Gen LeRoy in 1991. He died from complications of a stroke at his apartment in New York City on 2 March 2022, at the age of 87.
Credits Film Year Title Set Designer Costume Designer Note 1964 Mary Poppins 1966 Fahrenheit 451 1966 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 1968 Petulia 1968 The Sea Gull 1971 The Boy Friend 1974 Murder on the Orient Express 1977 Equus 1978 The Wiz 1980 Just Tell Me What You Want 1981 Prince of the City 1982 Deathtrap 1984 The Goodbye People 1986 Heartburn 1987 The Glass Menagerie 1991 Regarding Henry
Television Year Title Set Designer Costume Designer Note 1959 Theatre Night Episode: "Fool's Paradise"1959 The Julie Andrews Show 3 episodes1981 Pippin: His Life and Times Television movie1983 Diana Ross Live in Central Park Television concert 1985 Death of a Salesman Television movie1987 American Playhouse Episode: "House of Blue Leaves"2000 The Man Who Came to Dinner Television movie2003 Our Town Television movie
Theatre Year Production Notes1961 Once There Was a Russian 1962 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum1963 The Rehearsal1964 Golden Boy1967 The Apple Tree 1972 Pippin1973 Shelter1975 Chicago1980 A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine 1981 Sophisticated Ladies1984 The Real Thing 1984 Hurlyburly1985 I'm Not Rappaport1986 House of Blue Leaves 1986 The Front Page 1986 Social Security1987 Anything Goes1989 Lend Me a Tenor 1989 Grand Hotel 1990 Six Degrees of Separation 1991 The Will Rogers Follies 1992 Death and the Maiden 1992 Conversations with My Father 1992 Four Baboons Adoring the Sun 1992 Guys and Dolls 1992 Tommy Tune Tonight 1993 She Loves Me 1993 A Grand Night for Singing 1993 Laughter on the 23rd Floor 1994 Picnic1994 A Christmas Carol 1995 Busker Alley Also director in 20061995 Company 1995 Moonlight 1996 A Fair Country 1996 A Fair Country 1996 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 1996 The Shawl 1996 The Shawl 1997 Steel Pier1997 King David 1997 1776 1998 The Cripple of Inishmaan1999 Annie Get Your Gun2000 On Raftery's Hill2000 Uncle Vanya 2000 The Man Who Came to Dinner 2000 Taller Than a Dwarf 2002 Our Town 2003 Nobody Don't Like Yogi 2003 The Boy Friend 2005 The Boy Friend National Tour2006 Well 2007 The Sleeping Beauty ABT, Metropolitan Opera2007 A Tale of Two Cities
Walton later diversified into directing, with productions of: Orson Welles' Moby Dick—Rehearsed, 2005 Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, 1996 Noël Coward In Two Keys, 1996 George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara, 1997 Missing Footage, 1999 Ooops! The Big Apple Circus Stage Show, 1999 Where's Charley?, 2004 After the Ball, 2004 Busker Alley, 2006
Awards and nominations
Academy Awards YearAwardNominated workResult1964Best Costume Design Mary Poppins 1974 Murder on the Orient Express 1978The WizBest Art Direction1979 All That Jazz
Emmy Awards Year Category Nominated work Result1985Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or MovieDeath of a Salesman
Tony Awards Year Category Nominated work Result 1967 Best Costume Design The Apple Tree 1973Best Scenic DesignPippin1976 Chicago1980 A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine1984The Real Thing1986The House of Blue Leaves1987The Front Page1988Anything GoesBest Costume Design1989 Best Scenic DesignLend Me a Tenor1990Grand Hotel1991The Will Rogers Follies1992Guys and Dolls1994She Loves Me1997Steel Pier2000Uncle Vanya
References
External links
Yahoo! Movies profile of Tony Walton A Tale of Two Cities Profile for A Tale of Two Cities Tony Walton costume design reproductions for The Wiz, 1978., held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts