Acheson, James

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Acheson, James

(Jim Acheson)

PERSONAL

Born March 13, in Leicester, England; son of Alexander Mayfield (a supplies officer) and Christine Mary (a homemaker; maiden name, O'Brien) Acheson; married Julia Anne Mansford (a wardrobe mistress), January 10, 1992; children: Grace Christina. Education: Wimbledon School of Art, B.A., 1968. Religion: Tibetan Buddhism. Politics: Socialist. Avocational Interests: Rugby, magic.

Addresses: Manager—Sandra Marsh Management, 9150 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 220, Beverly Hills, CA 90212-3429.

Career: Costume designer, production designer, and art director. Worked as a designer for television commercials.

Member: Costume Designers Guild.

Awards, Honors: Academy Award, best costume design, 1988, David Award (with Ugo Pericoli), best costume design, David di Donatello awards, 1988, and Film Award (with Pericoli), best costume design, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1989, all for The Last Emperor; Academy Award, best costume design, 1989, and Film Award nomination, best costume design, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1990, both for Dangerous Liaisons; Academy Award, best costume design, and Film Award nomination, best costume design, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, both 1996, for Restoration; Costume Designers Guild Award nomination, excellence in costume design for film, 1999, for The Man in the Iron Mask; Career Achievement Award, Costume Designers Guild awards, 2004.

CREDITS

Film Costume Designer:

(As Jim Acheson) Time Bandits, Avco-Embassy, 1981.

Bullshot (also known as Bullshot Crummond), Island Alive, 1983.

(As Jim Acheson) Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life" (also known as The Meaning of Life), Universal, 1983.

Water, Atlantic Releasing, 1984.

Brazil, Universal, 1985.

Biggles (also known as Biggles: Adventures in Time), New Century/Vista Film Company, 1986.

(With Gilly Hebden) Highlander, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1986.

The Last Emperor (also known as Le dernier empereur and L'ultimo imperatore), Columbia, 1987.

Dangerous Liaisons, Warner Bros., 1988.

The Sheltering Sky (also known as Il te nel deserto), Warner Bros., 1990.

Le nozze di Figaro (opera; also known as The Marriage of Figaro), 1991.

Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" (also known as Wuthering Heights), Paramount, 1992.

Little Buddha, Miramax, 1992.

Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" (also known as Frankenstein), TriStar, 1994.

Restoration, Miramax, 1995.

The Wind in the Willows (animated; also known as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride), Good Times, 1995, Columbia, 1997.

The Man in the Iron Mask, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1998.

The Little Vampire (also known as De Kleine vampier and Der Kleine Vampir), New Line Cinema, 2000.

Daredevil, Twentieth Century-Fox, 2002.

Spider-Man (also known as Spiderman and Spider-Man: The Motion Picture), Columbia, 2002.

Spider-Man 2, Columbia, 2004, IMAX version released as Spider-Man 2: The IMAX Experience.

Spider-Man 3, Sony Pictures Releasing, 2007.

Film Production Designer:

Little Buddha, Miramax, 1992.

The Wind in the Willows (animated; also known as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride), Good Times, 1995, Columbia, 1997.

Film Art Director:

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, Charisma Films, 1980.

Film Creature Fabricator:

The Dark Crystal, Universal, 1982.

Film Appearances:

(Uncredited) Man lifting up a horn, Time Bandits, Avco-Embassy, 1981.

Television Costume Designer; Series:

War and Peace, BBC-2, 1972–73.

Doctor Who (also known as Dr. Who), BBC, 1972–76, 1978–89.

The Prince and the Pauper, BBC, 1976.

Television Designer; Series:

Robot designer, Doctor Who (also known as Dr. Who), BBC, 1974–75.

Concept designer, Maddigan's Quest (also known as Maddigan's Fantasia), BBC and TV3 (New Zealand), beginning c. 2005.

Television Production Designer and Costume Designer; Miniseries:

The Mists of Avalon (also known as Die Nebel von Avalon), TNT, 2001.

Television Costume Designer; Specials:

"Just Another Saturday," Play for Today, BBC, 1975.

Le nozze di Figaro (opera; also known as The Marriage of Figaro), 1999.

Television Costume Designer; Episodic:

"The Chicago Conspiracy Trial," On Trial (also known as On Trial: The Chicago Conspiracy Trial), BBC, 1970.

Full House, BBC-2, 1973.

"Jessica's First Christmas," Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, BBC, 1974.

Television Work; Other:

Worked on the program Mary Kingsley—An African Adventure.

Television Appearances; Specials:

(As Jim Acheson) Himself, Adventures in Space and Time (documentary), BBC Manchester, 1999.

(As Jim Acheson) Himself, Carnival of Monsters (documentary), BBC, 1999.

Stage Costume Designer:

Hamlet, Almeida Theatre Company, Hackney Empire Theatre, London, and Belasco Theatre, New York City, both 1995.

Worked on other productions, including Le nozze di Figaro (opera; also known as The Marriage of Figaro), Vienna State Opera, Vienna, Austria.

RECORDINGS

Videos:

Beyond Hell's Kitchen: Making "Daredevil," Twentieth Century-Fox Home Entertainment, 2003.

Making the Amazing (also known as Making the Amazing: Spider-Man 2 and Making the Amazing: The Making of "Spider-Man 2"), Columbia/TriStar Home Entertainment/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2004.

OTHER SOURCES

Periodicals:

Premiere, October, 1992, pp. 60, 65.