Commentary: Henry Bumstead's life passion and work is to be celebrated

By April MacIntyre May 26, 2006, 17:31 GMT

Henry "Bummy" Bumstead, Clint Eastwood's longtime production designer, has passed-away at the age of 91.

Recently completing 'Flags of our Fathers,' and 'Red Sun, Black Sand' for Clint Eastwood, Bummie was known for his fictional yet wholly believable worlds he created. He was an accomplished artist, and dearly loved by many legendary stars, directors and crew.

Eastwood's said of his friend upon receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998 from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Art Directors, "Dear Bummy, You take the BS out of filmmaking!"

Bummie was born 17 March 1915 in Ontario, California.  His last known interview was with reporter Jack Egan for Below the Line, (www.btlnews.com), an entertainment industry trade that celebrated his 90th Birthday last March 2005.

As a production designer and art director, his career has spanned nearly seventy years. He has worked on more than one hundred movies and television films.

His many honors include Academy Awards for Art Direction for 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and 'The Sting,' as well as nominations for 'Vertigo' and 'The Unforgiven.'

Another colleague, director Robert Mulligan (‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ 1962) said of Bummy, "Making a movie with Bummy was always a pleasure because it was like going to work with a good friend who also had a fine, artistic eye, who shared your vision, and who knew infinitely more about the practical nuts-and-bolts business of putting a story on camera than you did.... Everything he designed served the movie. He knew how to visually bring it to life."

Henry Bumstead's life passion and work is to be celebrated.