Robert F. Boyle, Hitchcock’s Art Director & Distinguised AFI Conservatory Lecturer, Dies at 100

Bob Boyle passed away on Sunday, August 1, 2010. He was 100.

Boyle received an Honorable Academy Award in 2008 “in recognition of one of the great careers in art direction.”  A pioneer in the AFI’s Production Design faculty since 1982, Bob Boyle entered the film profession in 1933.  Seven years later, he began his long association with Alfred Hitchcock, designing such films as SABOTEUR, THE BIRDS and MARNIE.  In 2000, AFI Conservatory alumnus Daniel Raim (PD ‘99) co-wrote and directed an Oscar-nominated documentary on Boyle’s work, entitled THE MAN ON LINCOLN’S NOSE–the original working title for a classic Hitchcock/Boyle collaboration, NORTH BY NORTHWEST.

AFI CEO Bob Gazzale said of Boyle, “Bob was one of the great men of American film – a legendary production designer who held the title of Distinguished Lecturer at AFI for nearly 30 years.  But as was his gift in the movies – Bob created a world for those who knew him that lived and breathed far beyond what a title could ever tell us.”

AFI has set up a tribute web page for Robert Boyle here. The page includes video and an audio podcast.