Gil Parrondo, a Spanish art director who won Academy Awards for Patton (1970) and Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), died on Saturday in Madrid. He was 95.
"He had no other illness than his age," according to his nephew, Oscar Parrondo.
Parrondo worked on more than 200 movies, shifting from Spanish to Hollywood productions in a career that spanned close to 80 years.
He was working on 33 Days, Carlos Saura's upcoming movie on Picasso's painting Guernica, at the time of his death.
Among his best-known works are Battle of Britain, The Boys from Brazil and Travels with My Aunt, which also earned him an Oscar nomination.
Born in Luarca, Spain on June 17, 1921, he began as a film crew member in Spain's thriving 1930s cinema. He worked for 10 years with set decorator Sigfrido Burmann, assisting creation of a number of nationalistic historical epics.
Hollywood comes to Spain
In the 1960s and 1970s, Hollywood brought big budget productions to Spain, attracted by low prices and the Spanish scenery. Stars such as Orson Welles and Ava Gardner lived in Spain and helped draw co-productions to the country.
Parrondo was one of hundreds of Spanish crew members who saw new opportunities as the film business revived.
He first worked as artistic director on 1958's The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and later took on TV series Rat Patrol. He worked on Stanley Kramer's 1957 The Pride and the Passion, David Lean's 1962 Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago in 1965, all shot in Spain.
Then he teamed with Franklin J. Shaffner, the director behind Nicholas and Alexander and Patton. Patton, starring George C. Scott, is the story of the controversial American Second World War general, while Nicholas and Alexandra is also a historical epic, telling how Tsar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia, is overthrown after years of inept reign.
Parrondo also was a great favourite of director Richard Lester, with whom he made Robin and Marian (1976), Cuba (1979) and The Return of the Musketeers (1989). Lester was said to admire Parrondo's encyclopedic knowledge of Spanish locations.
Oscar-winning art director Gil Parrondo dies at 95
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