View source for John Box

{{Short description|British film production designer}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2020}}
{{About|the British film designer|the U.S. congressman from Texas|John C. Box}}
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[[File:John Box Oliver scene.jpg|thumb|right|John Box working on a design for ''[[Oliver! (film)|Oliver!]]'' (1968)]]
'''John Allan Hyatt Box [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]''' (27 January 1920{{spaced ndash}}7 March 2005) was a British film [[production designer]] and [[Art director#In film|art director]]. He won the [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Academy Award for Best Art Direction]] on four occasions and won the equivalent [[BAFTA]] three times, a record for both awards. Throughout his career he gained a reputation for recreating exotic locations in rather more mundane surroundings; he once created a walled Chinese city in [[Snowdonia]].<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/359301 "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness"], Turner Classic Movies</ref>

==Early life==
Box was born in London, and attended [[Highgate School]] from 1934 to 1938.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hughes|first1=Patrick|last2=Davies|first2=Ian F (Eds)|title=Highgate School Register 1833–1988|date=1988|page=245|edition=7th}}</ref> Due to his father's job as a civil engineer, he spent much of his childhood in [[Sri Lanka]], then the British colony of Ceylon. After studying architecture at [[University of North London|North London Polytechnic]]. He served with the [[British Army]] during [[World War II]], being [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] into the Hampshire Regiment (later the [[Royal Hampshire Regiment]]) on 21 December 1940,<ref name="Officers of the British Army">{{cite web|url=https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_B04.html#Box_JAH|title=British Army officer histories|publisher=Unit Histories|access-date=2022-03-11}}</ref> but then transferred to the [[Royal Armoured Corps]] (RAC) on 1 June 1942.<ref name="Officers of the British Army" />

==Career==
After the war Box served his apprenticeship an assistant to the art director [[Carmen Dillon]], herself an [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] winner. During this period he worked with her on [[Anthony Asquith]]'s adaptation of ''[[The Browning Version (1951 film)|The Browning Version]]'' (1951) and ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest (1952 film)|The Importance of Being Earnest]]'' (1952).<ref name="Christie">Ian Christie [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/mar/26/guardianobituaries Obituary: John Box], ''The Guardian'', 26 March 2005</ref>

Box's first films as an art director were low budget affairs, the first being the science fiction [[B-movie]] ''[[The Gamma People]]'' (1956). His first big break came when director [[Mark Robson (film director)|Mark Robson]] asked him to work on the [[Historical drama film|period film]] ''[[The Inn of the Sixth Happiness]]'' (1957), which starred [[Ingrid Bergman]]. After this Box worked on [[Carol Reed]]'s adaptation of [[Graham Greene]]'s novel ''[[Our Man in Havana]]'' (1959) and [[Richard Quine]]'s ''[[The World of Suzie Wong (film)|The World of Suzie Wong]]'' (1960).

As production designer of ''[[Lawrence of Arabia (film)|Lawrence of Arabia]]'' (1962), he first worked for the British director [[David Lean]], as well as winning his first Oscar. Box got the job working on this film after [[John Bryan (art director)|John Bryan]] fell ill. Box designed ''[[Of Human Bondage (1964 film)|Of Human Bondage]]'' (1964) and worked with Lean again on the adaptation of ''[[Doctor Zhivago (film)|Doctor Zhivago]]'' (1965), for which he again won an Oscar for his set designs.

The following year Box won his first BAFTA award for his reproduction of [[Tudor period|Tudor]] England in [[Fred Zinnemann]]'s version of ''[[A Man for All Seasons (1966 film)|A Man for All Seasons]]'' (1966). In his next production he recreated [[Victorian era]] London for the [[musical theater|musical]] ''[[Oliver! (film)|Oliver!]]'' (1968). He won an Oscar for ''Oliver!'', a feat he repeated in his next film three years later, ''[[Nicholas and Alexandra]]'' (1971), which provided Box with his final Academy Award for his detailed reproduction of pre-[[October Revolution|revolution]] Russia.

In 1972, Box worked on ''[[Travels with My Aunt (film)|Travels with My Aunt]]'', for which he received another Oscar nomination. He won a BAFTA or his role on [[Jack Clayton]]'s version of ''[[The Great Gatsby (1974 film)|The Great Gatsby]]'' (1974), and won the award again the following year for ''[[Rollerball (1975 film)|Rollerball]]''.

Box's next two projects were 1977's ''[[Sorcerer (film)|Sorcerer]]'' (1977) and ''[[The Keep (film)|The Keep]]'' (1983), both of which were expensive and unsuccessful.  He reunited with David Lean for the film ''[[A Passage to India (film)|A Passage to India]]'' (1984), for which Box received Oscar and BAFTA nominations.  He retired after this film, but returned in the mid-90s to work on an adaptation of ''[[Black Beauty]]'', as well as ''[[First Knight]]'', his first foray into computer assisted set design and his final film.

He was awarded the OBE in 1998.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}

==See also==
* [[Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_B04.html#Box_JAH British Army Officers 1939−1945]
*{{IMDb name|id=0101501|name=John Box}}

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{{AcademyAwardBestArtDirection 1961–1980}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Production Design}}
{{Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame (2000s)}}
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[[Category:English art directors]]
[[Category:Best Art Direction Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Best Production Design BAFTA Award winners]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of North London]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People educated at Highgate School]]
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:British film designers]]
[[Category:Royal Hampshire Regiment officers]]
[[Category:Royal Armoured Corps officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from London]]