Diana Julie Harris was born on the 26th of March, 1921, in London.
She was an award winning costume designer, best known for her designs for some of the biggest stars in the industry.
Despite not studying costume design, Julie was offered an opportunity to work as an assistant dressmaker during the late 1930’s and this marked the beginning of her career in the world of costumes. In 1946, she achieved her first film industry opportunity with Gainsborough Pictures, and the following February was involved with the drama “The Root of All Evil” as a wardrobe assistant. Her first official credit came in her very next film “Holiday Camp” (1947) starring Flora Robson, where she was the principal dress designer. This was followed by further Gainsborough films with “Broken Journey” (1948), “My Brother’s Keeper” (1948), “Quartet” (1948) and “So Long at the Fair” (1950), the latter of which was filmed at Pinewood Studios. Following the folding of Gainsborough Pictures, Julie briefly joined with the Rank Organisation before becoming a freelance artist, achieving further notable credits on “The Red Beret” (1953), “Reach for the Sky” (1956), “The Fast Lady” (1962), as well as creating pieces for Lauren Bacall in “North West Frontier” (1959).
During the 1960’s, Harris became one of the most in-demand designer in the industry. She notably excelled at handling some of the industry’s most notoriously difficult stars with her skillful negotiations, working with major names like Laurence Olivier, Diana Dors, Jayne Mansfield, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. She designed costumes for all four members of The Beatles in their feature films “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964) and “Help!” (1965), before winning an Academy Award for her iconic designs in John Schlesinger’s “Darling” in 1965. The following year she won a BAFTA Award for her work on the comedy “The Wrong Box”, and then went on to work with Ursula Andress and Peter Sellers on the James Bond spoof “Casino Royale” (1967), where she was further nominated for another BAFTA, her fourth in just a few years. Further major credits followed in the 1970’s including “Rollerball” (1975), “Dracula” (1979) and Roger Moore’s first 007 adventure “Live & Let Die” (1973).
By the start of the 1980’s, Harris decided to focus much of her work on television movies, designing for several productions including “The Kingfisher” (1982), “The Hound of the Baskervilles” (1983), “A Hazard of Hearts” (1987) and her final credit “A Perfect Hero” in 1991, after which she retired from the industry and focused on her love of painting.
Julie Harris passed away on the 30th of May, 2015, aged 94.
In "Live & Let Die", Julie Harris was hired as the costume designer for the production.
She was responsible for designing costumes for some of the leading actors including Roger Moore, Jane Seymour, Yaphet Kotto and Geoffrey Holder.
Julie donated all of her James Bond sketches to the British Film Institute.
This is her second time working on a James Bond film, having previously been the costume designer in the spoof "Casino Royale" in 1967.
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