RIP Julie Harris

Designer Julie Harris dies at 94

Belfast Telegraph

31 May 2015

Tributes have been paid to Oscar-winning British costume designer Julie Harris, who has died at the age of 94.

Ms Harris designed clothes worn by The Beatles in the films A Hard Day's Night and Help! and by Roger Moore in the James Bond film Live and Let Die.

She died yesterday at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London after a brief illness from a chest infection, her close friend Jo Botting confirmed.

Ms Botting, senior curator at the British Film Institute National Archive, said: "In a career that embraced more than 80 films and television productions, as well as several stage plays, Julie worked with some of the greatest international stars in the history of the cinema, and for some of its most legendary directors and producers.

"Her outstanding work was constantly nominated for awards. She was an amazing woman."

Ms Harris, of Kensington, west London, won the Academy Award for her "Swingin' London" designs in the 1965 film, Darling, starring Julie Christie and Dirk Bogarde.

She was also awarded the Bafta for best costume design in 1967 for the film The Wrong Box, starring Michael Caine.

In 1965, after working with the Beatles, she said: "I must be one of the few people who can claim they have seen John, Paul, George and Ringo naked."

Ms Harris also designed costumes for the 1967 film Casino Royale starring David Niven and Peter Sellers, Goodbye Mr Chips (1969), Dracula (1979) starring Laurence Olivier and for the Muppets in The Great Muppet Caper (1981).

Ms Harris, who never married or had children, retired at the age of 70. She is survived by her god-daughter, Serena Dilnot.

HARRIS, Julie (Diana Julie Harris)

Born: 3/26/1921, London, England, U.K.

Died: 5/30/2015, London, England, U.K.

Julie Harris’ western – costume designer:

The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw – 1958