Tony Walton

John Walton
Born Anthony John Walton
(1934-10-24) 24 October 1934
Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, UK
Occupation Art director, set designer, costume designer
Spouse(s) Julie Andrews
(m. 1959; div. 1967)[1]
Children Emma Walton Hamilton

Anthony John "Tony" Walton (born 24 October 1934) is an English set and costume designer.

Walton was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England. He began his career in 1957 with the stage design for Noël Coward's Broadway production of Conversation Piece. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s he designed for the New York and London stage. He entered motion pictures as costume designer and visual consultant for Mary Poppins in 1964, for which he received an Oscar nomination.

His awards include an Oscar for All That Jazz in 1980 and an Emmy for the acclaimed 1985 TV version of Death of a Salesman. He has received many Oscar, Emmy and other nominations, including BAFTA nominations for costume and set design for Murder on the Orient Express in 1975 and Oscar nominations for both costume design and set direction/art direction for the motion picture version of The Wiz in 1979. The film's star, Diana Ross chose Walton to design the stage set for her landmark 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 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.

Broadway productions and others

Year Production Notes
1961 Once There Was a Russian
1962 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1963 The Rehearsal
1964 Golden Boy
1967 The Apple Tree' Nominated, Tony Award for Best Costume Design
1972 Pippin Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1973 Shelter Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1975 Chicago
1980 A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine
1981 Sophisticated Ladies
1984 The Real Thing
1984 Hurlyburly
1985 I'm Not Rappaport
1986 House of Blue Leaves Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1986 The Front Page
1986 Social Security Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1987 Anything Goes
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 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1992 Tommy Tune Tonight
1993 She Loves Me Nominated, Tony Award for Best Scenic Design
1993 A Grand Night for Singing
1993 Laughter on the 23rd Floor
1994 Picnic
1994 A Christmas Carol
1995 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 Pier Nominated, Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
1997 King David
1997 1776
1998 The Cripple of Inishmaan
1999 Annie Get Your Gun
2000 On Raftery's Hill
2000 Uncle Vanya Nominated, Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design
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 Tour
2006 Well
2007 The Sleeping Beauty ABT, Metropolitan Opera
2007 A Tale of Two Cities Sets directly transferred for Broadway premiere 2008

More recently, Walton has diversified into directing, with productions of:

Inspiration for Disney's Winnie the Pooh

Walton gave the Sherman Brothers the insight and inspiration for the Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree songs as is explained in the Sherman Brothers' joint autobiography, Walt's Time:

“ Walt (Disney) said 'Read the Pooh stories and let me know what you think.' We tried, but the stories just weren't coming through to us. At that time designer Tony Walton was working on Poppins. He was English-born, and he was about our age, so we asked him to give us some insight on the Pooh character. His eyes lit up. 'Winnie the Pooh?', he said. 'I love Winnie the Pooh! Of course I'll help you!' Three hours later, he was still talking about Pooh, inspiring us no end. He explained how he had been a chubby little boy, and had felt very insecure. But Winnie the Pooh was his buddy, because Pooh was pudgy and proud of it. Pooh was probably the only character in the world who exercised to gain weight! Pooh was a wonderful, lovable friend who would never let you down or turn his back on you. Soon, we started to fall in love with Pooh ourselves. Our songs for Winnie the Pooh were truly a love affair, thanks to A.A. Milne and to Tony Walton.[2] ”

Personal life

Walton married his childhood sweetheart Julie Andrews in 1959, and the two had a daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton. Walton has said that he fell in love with Andrews when they were in their early teens and he saw her playing the egg in a theatre production of Humpty Dumpty. They divorced in 1967 but still remain close friends. Walton married Gen LeRoy in 1991. Walton, Andrews and their daughter have worked several times together professionally. He has illustrated several children's books written by Andrews and their daughter.

References

  1. ↑ Stevens Gen LeRoy (1991–present), Christopher (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams. John Murray. p. 372. ISBN 1-84854-195-3. line feed character in |last= at position 8 (help)
  2. ↑ Sherman, Robert B., Walt's Time: from before to beyond, 1998, p 68.
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