Ann Roth's design for living
"COSTUMES BY . . . " is a credit many moviegoers may overlook. Not the stars, though. They know better. Skilled costume designers help them to become the characters they play. And for years Ann Roth has been one of the best, as Rita Braver will now show us:
We've seen her work in more than 100 films and dozens of Broadway shows. She's dressed everyone from Robin Williams ("The Bird Cage") to Matt Damon ("The Talented Mr. Ripley") to Meryl Streep ("Mamma Mia!").
But though Ann Roth is considered one of America's top costume designers, she prefers that you don't pay much attention to her, or her work:
"What's the best thing someone could say about costumes that you've designed for a production? What's the biggest compliment?" asked Bravwer.
"Well, it depends," said Roth. "If it's an audience member, they just love the show, and that's good for me."
But actors like Glenn Close count on Roth to create the perfect costume. Just look at the detail on the robe worn by the upper-class country club-type Close plays in a new Broadway production of Edward Albee's "A Delicate Balance." John Lithgow co-stars.
Roth described the thinking behind Lithgow's outfit, which Braver described as "a little bit goofy."
"My father dressed like that, Rita!" Roth replied.
She said Lithgow's character was "a guy who is comfortable at 65 years old, probably, living where he does with his own club and his own gang, and nobody's ever said, 'Those are goofy pants' to him. And he likes them!"
Lithgow described his conversations with Roth in the fitting room as the first time the character comes together most vividly.
The first time Roth designed a costume for Lithgow was when he was seven or eight years old. "I was Mustardseed in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,'" he said.
In fact, "A Delicate Balance" is a reunion for Roth, Lithgow and Close, who all worked together on the 1982 film, "The World According to Garp," where Roth dressed Lithgow as a transgendered woman.
"She had to build my body even, the hips and the breasts," said Lithgow. "I thought, 'Ann, aren't these awfully big, these breasts?' And she said, 'I'm thinking Julia Child!'" he laughed.
At age 83, Roth is known for getting it right. Her New York studio is filled with posters, drawings, and costumes for productions like "The Book of Mormon."
Roth started out as an assistant in the 1950s. Soon she was a full-fledged costume designer on major films, like "Midnight Cowboy" in 1969. She created signature looks for Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman.
But one of the big problems was that Brenda Vaccaro didn't want to do her nude scene.
"And I bought this red fox coat for 200 bucks," Roth recalled. "And I told Brenda not to worry, that she wouldn't have to lie there naked. How could you not fall in love with a naked girl in fur coat?"
No surprise that the director gave Ann Roth her way.
Braver said, "I want to talk about your reputation for a minute."
"All by yourself you'll be talking about it," Roth responded.
But is "Formidable" a good word to describe her?
"That means bossy. No, it's not nice! Would you say it's nice?" Roth said.
"How do you see yourself?"
"I think I'm darling!" she laughed. I would say that I am very, very kind and understanding with actors. When they take their clothes off in the fitting room, they are at the most vulnerable anybody could possibly be."
Lithgow said, "Actors just tend to adore her. She's on their side."
Roth spends much of her time far from the bright lights of Hollywood and Broadway, at her home in Eastern Pennsylvania. It's where she and her late husband raised their daughter, and where Roth keeps her vast research library - such as the huge volumes for the military uniforms in the Civil War epic, "Cold Mountain." They contain information about where the jackets were made, where the wool was woven, where the wool was dyed, where it was washed.
"Why did you need to know that?" Braver asked.
"Because you do," she replied. "I mean, you just -- you can't not know it."
As the archive of her sketches shows, EVERY detail matters to Roth. She even convinced Nicole Kidman to wear a prosthetic nose so she'd look more like writer Virginia Woolf in "The Hours."
"When she didn't have that nose, she was this adorable person from Australia," Roth said.
"What do you think it says about her, that she so willingly did that?"
"She is an actress who will do just anything to find a character. She is good, she is really good."
There is, of course, a shelf of awards -- an Oscar for "The English Patient" in 1997; and a Tony in 2013 for "The Nance," starring Nathan Lane, one of her favorite actors -- who had the gall to turn down Roth's suggestion that he wear a corset during the show.
"He is a treasure, he's a national treasure, but he is not a piece of cake, I'll say that. In the fitting room . . . oh, God!"
These days Roth has more work than she can handle: a new film for Meryl Streep ("Ricki and the Flash"), and THREE new shows running on Broadway: "A Delicate Balance," "It's Only a Play," and "This Is Our Youth."
But Ann Roth has no interest in resting on her laurels.
Braver asked, "What's your view of this career you have had?"
"Well, it's not finished," she laughed. "That's the big thing. I want something overwhelming, something knock-you-out, something new."
And you just know, she's going to get it.
For more info:
- "The Designs of Ann Roth" by Holly Poe Durbin and Bonnie Kruger (USITT)
- Costume Designers Guild
- "A Delicate Balance" at the John Golden Theatre, New York
- "This Is Our Youth" at the Cort Theatre, New York
- "It's Only a Play" at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, New York
- "The Book of Mormon" at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, New York
A very abbreviated list of Ann Roth's credits:
Films/TV:
"The World of Henry Orient"
"Midnight Cowboy"
"The Owl and the Pussycat"
"Klute"
"They Might Be Giants"
"Mandingo"
"The Day of the Locust" [BAFTA Award Winner]
"Coming Home"
"Hair"
"Dressed to Kill"
"Nine to Five"
"The World According to Garp"
"Silkwood"
"Places in the Heart" [Academy Award nominee]
"Sweet Dreams"
"Roanoak" (TV Mini-Series) [Emmy Award nominee]
"The Unbearable Lightness of Being"
"Working Girl"
"Postcards from the Edge"
"The Mambo Kings"
"The Birdcage"
"The English Patient" [Academy Award Winner]
"In & Out"
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" [Academy Award, Costume Designers Guild Awards nominee]
"The Hours" [Academy Award nominee]
"Angels in America" (TV Mini-Series) [Emmy, Costume Designers Guild Awards nominee]
"Cold Mountain"
"Closer"
"The Good Shepherd"
"Margot at the Wedding"
"Mamma Mia!" [Costume Designers Guild Awards nominee]
"The Reader"
"Doubt"
"Julie & Julia" [Costume Designers Guild Awards nominee]
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"Mildred Pierce" (TV Mini-Series) [Emmy, Costume Designers Guild Awards nominee]
"The Way Way Back"
Broadway:
"The Disenchanted"
"Slow Dance on the Killing Ground" [Tony Award nominee]
"The Odd Couple"
"The Star-Spangled Girl"
"Play It Again, Sam"
"6 Rms Riv Vu"
"Design for Living"
"The Royal Family" [Tony Award nominee]
"The Crucifer of Blood"
"Purlie"
"They're Playing Our Song"
"The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"
"Hurlyburly"
"Biloxi Blues"
"Death and the Maiden"
"Born Yesterday"
"Singin' in the Rain"
"The House of Blue Leaves" [Tony Award nominee]
"The Book of Mormon" [Tony Award nominee]
"Death of a Salesman"
"The Nance" [Tony Award Winner]
"The Testament of Mary"
"A Raisin in the Sun"
"This Is Our Youth"
"It's Only a Play"
"A Delicate Balance"