Julie Harris, Beatles Costume Designer, Dead at 94
Julie Harris, a Academy Award-winning costume designer who outfitted the Beatles for both A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, passed away Saturday at a London hospital after a brief illness from a chest infection. Harris was 94. In addition to the Fab Four features, Harris also worked on the James Bond film Live and Let Die (as well as 1967’s 007 spoof Casino Royale), Goodbye Mr. Chips and 1975’s futuristic Rollerball, The Independent reports.
Speaking about working on A Hard Day’s Night at the peak of Beatlemania, Harris once said, “I must be one of the few people who can claim they have seen John, Paul, George and Ringo naked.” In the documentary You Can’t Do That! – The Making of A Hard Day’s Night, Harris also joked about the Beatles‘ lack of comprehension about the magic of moviemaking.
“They did not understand about continuity, so they didn’t know why they couldn’t walk into the wardrobe in the morning and say ‘Oh, I’m going to wear that today,’ because yesterday they’d worn another suit and they had to wear the same thing,” Harris said. The costume designer also shared a story about how production had to halt after Lennon – who demanded that he wear his own cap during filming – lost the hat, which forced the crew to find it since there was no replacements on set.
A year after creating the costumes for that film, Harris won an Academy Award for her interpretation of the “Swingin’ London” styles in the 1965 film Darling. Harris also talked about her experience working on the Beatles’ 1965 film Help!
Harris’ last film credit was 1981’s The Great Muppet Caper. “In a career that embraced more than 80 films and television productions, as well as several stage plays, Julie worked with some of the greatest international stars in the history of cinema, and for some of its most legendary directors and producers,” Jo Botting, Harris’ close friend and senior curator at the British Film Institute National Archive, said in a statement. “Her outstanding work was constantly nominated for awards. She was an amazing woman.”