View source for Alvin Colt

{{short description|American costume designer}}
[[Image:Portrait of Alvin Colt LCCN2004662728.jpg|thumb|Alvin Colt (1952) <br/>Photo by [[Carl Van Vechten]] ]]
'''Alvin Colt''' (July 5, 1916 – May 4, 2008) was an American [[costume designer]]. Colt worked on over 50 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] shows.

His first job was in a theatrical fabric house, he also worked on painting scenery during the summer. ''[[On the Town (musical)|On the Town]]'' was the first Broadway show he worked on in 1944.  His major Broadway credits include  ''[[Guys and Dolls (musical)|Guys and Dolls]]'', ''[[Top Banana (musical)|Top Banana]]'', ''[[Fanny (musical)|Fanny]]'', ''[[Finian's Rainbow]]'', ''[[Six Characters in Search of an Author]]'', ''[[Destry Rides Again (musical)|Destry Rides Again]]'', ''[[Wildcat (musical)|Wildcat]]'', ''[[Here's Love]]'', ''[[The Crucible]]'', ''[[The Goodbye People]]'', ''[[Sugar (musical)|Sugar]]'', ''[[Lorelei (musical)|Lorelei]]'', ''[[Jerome Robbins' Broadway]]'' and ''[[Waiting in the Wings (play)|Waiting in the Wings]]'' for producer [[Alexander H. Cohen]], with whom he had a long working relationship.  Alvin won a Tony Award in 1955 for ''[[Pipe Dream (musical)|Pipe Dream]]''. He did the costumes for the 1957 show, [[Rumple (musical)|Rumple]].  The last official show he worked on was in 2001 for ''If you ever leave me...I'm going with you!''

Colt also designed for TV and film.  Among his screen credits are costume designs for the films ''[[Top Banana (film)|Top Banana]]'', ''Stiletto'' and ''[[Li'l Abner (1959 film)|Li'l Abner]]'' and for the TV productions of ''The Enchanted Nutcracker'', ''[[Kiss Me Kate (TV series)|Kiss Me Kate]]'', ''The Adams Chronicles'', ''CBS: On the Air'', ''Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood'' and many years of the [[Tony Awards]].   Alvin also designed the children's musical ''Treehouse Trolls Birthday Day'' for [[Goodtimes Entertainment]].

He was inducted into the [[American Theatre Hall of Fame]] in 2002.<ref>[http://www.broadwaybeat.com/ridge/TheaterHallOfFame.htm ''Broadway Beat - The Theatre Hall of Fame Awards'' by Richard Ridge] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061117224845/http://www.broadwaybeat.com/ridge/TheaterHallOfFame.htm |date=2006-11-17 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://old.post-gazette.com/ae/20020130hallfame0130fnp4.asp|title=Hall of Fame inducts ensemble of stage pioneers among friends|publisher=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|accessdate=May 4, 2014}}</ref>

In 2007 the Museum of the City of New York offered the exhibition "Costumes and Characters: The Designs of Alvin Colt," and the museum is now the home of many of his costume sketches.

Colt died of natural causes on May 4, 2008, in [[New York City]].

==Awards and nominations==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Award 
!Category
!Work
!Result
|-
|rowspan=3|1956
|rowspan=6|[[Tony Award]]
|rowspan=6|[[Tony Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]]
|''[[Pipe Dream (musical)|Pipe Dream]]''
|{{won}}
|-
|''[[The Lark (play)|The Lark]]''
|{{nom}}
|-
|Phoenix '55
|{{nom}}
|-
|rowspan=2|1957
|''[[Li'l Abner (musical)|Li'l Abner]]''
|{{nom}}
|-
|''[[The Sleeping Prince (play)|The Sleeping Prince]]''
|{{nom}}
|-
|1960
|''[[Greenwillow]]''
|{{nom}}
|-
|1976
|rowspan=4|[[Primetime Emmy Award]]
|rowspan=2|Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design for a Drama or Comedy Series
|rowspan=2|''[[The Adams Chronicles]]''
|{{nom}}
|-
|1977
|{{nom}}
|-
|1986
|rowspan=2|Outstanding Costume Design for a Variety or Music Program
|''[[NBC 60th Anniversary Celebration]]''
|{{nom}}
|-
|1987
|''Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood''
|{{nom}}
|-
|1999
|[[Drama Desk Award]]
|[[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design|Outstanding Costume Design]]
|''[[Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act]]''
| {{nom}}
|-
|}

==References==
 {{Reflist}}

*{{cite news | author=Andrew Gans | author-link1=Robert Simonson  | author2=Robert Simonson | title=Alvin Colt, Tony-Winning Costume Designer, Dead at 92 | url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/117420.html| work=Playbill | date=May 4, 2008 | accessdate=2008-05-09 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508183730/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/117420.html | archive-date=2008-05-08 | url-status=dead }}
*{{cite news|author=Michael Kuchwara |title=Alvin Colt, Broadway costume designer, dies at 92 |url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iIqEH62yzvEQ93QlsDORrZe4CWBwD90FOKVO2 |work=The Associated Press |date=May 4, 2008 |accessdate=2008-05-09 }}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

==External links==
*{{IBDB name}}
*{{IMDb name|0173260}}
* [http://archives.nypl.org/the/21629 Alvin Colt designs, 1935-1990], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]

{{TonyAward CostumeDesign 1947-1975}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colt, Alvin}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:American costume designers]]
[[Category:Tony Award winners]]


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