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Collection Data
- Description
- The collection represents Hoover's professional work as a scenic designer for theater and as a production designer and art director for television and film. It contains designs, production binders, photographs, sketches, and video recordings related to his career from 1969 to 2015.
- Names
- Hoover, Richard (Creator)
- Dates / Origin
- Date Created: 1970 - 2011
- Library locations
- Billy Rose Theatre Division
- Shelf locator: *T-Mss 2006-024
- Topics
- Motion pictures -- Art direction
- Set designers -- United States
- Television -- Art direction
- Theaters -- Stage setting and scenery
- Genres
- Photographs
- Set design drawings
- Notes
- Biographical/historical: Richard Hoover (b. 1947) is an American scenic designer, production designer, and art director for theater, television, and film. He won a Tony Award for scenic design for the Broadway production of Not About Nightingales (1999), and is known for his work on the television show Twin Peaks.
Hoover received his undergraduate degree at Knox College, and his graduate degree from the University of Minnesota, where he was a McKnight fellow. While in Minnesota, Hoover apprenticed in set design at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater and began designing sets for various theater companies. In addition to the Guthrie Theater, Hoover has designed sets for The Actors' Gang, the Geva Theater, and the Mark Taper Forum. His other Broadway credit includes After the Fall (2004).
In 1982, Hoover began working on films, first as an art director and then later as a production director. His film credits include It Takes Two (1988); Prime Target (1989); Ed Wood (1994); Apt Pupil (1998); Girl, Interrupted (1999); Payback (1999); and The Mothman Prophesies (2002). Hoover developed a long-standing working relationship with actor and director Tim Robbins and was the production director for films Robbins directed including Bob Roberts (1992), Dead Man Walking (1995), and Cradle Will Rock (1999). He also worked on the cult television series Twin Peaks (1990-1991) and the television movie Live From Baghdad (2002). In addition to film and television series, Hoover has done commercial work for companies such as Acura, Barbie, British Gas, and Budweiser.
Hoover was affiliated with the Lester Polakov Design Studio, later known as the Studio and Forum of Stage Design, and also taught workshops at the Filmschule in Cologne, Germany. He is a member of the Art Directors Guild, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE), and Moving Picture Technicians. In addition to his Tony Award, he has won a London Critics Circle Theatre Award and Evening Standard Award for Best Designer and a Drama Desk Award for outstanding set design of a play. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for Live From Baghdad (2003).
Hoover is active professionally at the time of this writing (2014) and lives in Los Angeles, California.
- Physical Description
- Extent: 90.26 linear feet (67 boxes, 214 tubes), 117.78 mb (139 computer files)
- Type of Resource
- Still image
- Identifiers
- NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20319655
- MSS Unit ID: 22564
- Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): d9066440-6a81-0131-76ce-58d385a7b928
