Occupation Art director Movies The Mysterious Island Role Film Art Director | Name James Basevi Years active 1925-1956 | |
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Spouse Louisa G. Merriman (m. ?–1962) Awards Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White Nominations Academy Award for Best Production Design Similar People William S Darling, Edwin B Willis, Richard Day, Lyle R Wheeler, Cedric Gibbons | ||
James Basevi (born 21 September 1890, Plymouth, Devon, England – d. 27 March 1962, Bellflower, California) was a British born art director and special effects expert.
After his military service during World War I Basevi emigrated to Canada and later on to the United States. He began his career in 1924 with MGM, designing sets for silent films. After the advent of talkies, Basevi became the head of MGM's special effects department, helping to create the earthquake scene in San Francisco (1936). He also worked on the storm sequence in John Ford's The Hurricane for 20th Century Fox.
In 1943 he shared an Oscar for art direction with William Darling for The Song of Bernadette. He was nominated for Oscars for Wuthering Heights (1939), The Westerner (1940), The Gang's All Here (1943) and The Keys of the Kingdom (1944).