On Sunday March 14th 2010, costume designers, celebrities, costumers and friends joined together to pay homage and celebrate the life of Costume Designer Robert Turturice at The Hollywood Museum.
To honor him an installation displaying some of his costumes, decorated the top floor of the museum. Robert Turturice was an Emmy- Winner and a two term president of the Costume Designers Guild from 1992 to 1996.
It was very inspiring to see Robert’s work and to learn about his many achievements, some of which I already knew of, but some were really surprisingly new. For example, that he started as a set designer at the Pasadena Playhouse, that he was a mentor to many costume designers, that he enjoyed creating greeting cards..
Hearing from his dearest friends how lovely he was and how much he was loved and learning about Robert, the human being was a privilege.
Robert was honored with the Hall of Fame Award by the Costume Designers Guild on their award ceremony last February.
In his 40 years as a costume designer, he created costumes for many featured films, such as:”The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas”, “Batman and Robin” , “Clean and Sober”, “Big Top Pee-wee
“, “Beaches”.
In Television he designed numerous, movies of the week, series, specials and pilots. His credits include : “Moonlighting”, “Cybill”, “Jag”, “Arliss” and many more.
In 1987 he was awarded the Emmy for his work on ABC’s “Moonlighting“, starring Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis.
Through his career Robert was honored with 10 Emmy nominations. Among his nominations are: HBO’s “Gia” starring Angelina Jolie, and “Cybill”.
For the Red Carpet, Robert designed many couture gowns (known as – “Turturice” -gowns) that were worn by celebrities such as Demi Moore, Loni Anderson, Cybill Shepherd, Bette Midler, and many more. Having a “Turturice” is like having a piece of Hollywood.
I met Robert briefly in 1993 when he was the president of the Costume Designers Guild, and I was just entering the industry. Later I ran into him several times, at Western Costumes, where I was working as a costume illustrator. He was very nice and always smiled, always a gentleman. Now I wish I had gotten to know him more. I hold dear the image of him smiling and waving at me from his office.
Thank You for that smile Robert. Hollywood misses you .
{ 0 comments… add one now }