In his long and distinguished career, designing in every style and scale, Mr. Boyle has been the production designer on numerous films directed by Alfred Hitchcock and Norman Jewison. He has also served as production designer on films for such directors as Penny Marshall, Joe Dante, Sylvester Stallone, Hal Ashby, and Arthur Hiller.
Mr. Boyle grew up in California. After graduating from the University of Southern California's School of Architecture, he found work in the art department at Paramount Pictures in the mid-1930s. Not long afterward he moved to Universal Studios, where, in 1941, he was chosen by Alfred Hitchcock to be the art director on Saboteur. Due to wartime shortages, Mr. Boyle was faced with the difficult challenge of making everything on the studio lot, including the Statue of Liberty for the spine-tingling end of the film. He developed a close working relationship with Mr. Hitchcock and went on to design Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt," "North By Northwest," "The Birds," and "Marnie."
Mr. Boyle has also worked frequently with director Norman Jewison on such films as "Fiddler on the Roof," "Gaily, Gaily," "The Thomas Crown Affair" (the first version in 1968), "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming," and "The Thrill of It All."
Some of the other films Mr. Boyle has designed include "Dragnet," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Explorers," "No Small Affair," "Rhinestone," "Table for Five," "Private Benjamin," "Winter Kills," "The Big Fix," "Bite the Bullet," "Mame," "Portnoy's Complaint," "The Landlord," "In Cold Blood," "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," "Cape Fear" (the first version in 1962), "Operation Mad Ball," "The Private War of Major Benson," "East of Sumatra," and "Ride the Pink Horse."
In 1997, Mr. Boyle was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Art Directors Guild (ADG), which was presented to him during the Guild's First Annual ADG Awards. In 2000, in tribute to his legacy and artistry as a production designer, Mr. Boyle was the subject of "The Man on Lincoln's Nose," the Academy Award nominated documentary about him by filmmaker Daniel Raim.
Today, Mr. Boyle devotes a great deal of his time to sharing his wealth of knowledge with Fellows at the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles, where he is Chair of the Production Design department, guiding the next generation of production designers.
