Garrett Lewis, a four-time Academy Award nominated set decorator, dancer, and actor, passed away on January 29, 2013, at the age of 77. Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1935, he died at his home in Woodland Hills, California, due to natural causes.
A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Garrett Lewis had a distinguished career spanning over five decades as a dancer, actor, and set decorator. His career began while still in college, when he was offered the dance lead for a season at the Kansas City Starlight Theatre. After that one season of summer stock, he went to New York and immediately landed his first Broadway show, My Fair Lady.
Lewis played the role of Cornelius in Hello Dolly, starring opposite five different leading ladies. He went on national tour with Carol Channing, and reprised the role with Mary Martin in London. Hello Dolly made its premiere in the West End at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on December 2, 1965, with the Queen Mother in attendance.
Aside from his work on Broadway, Lewis was a featured performer on The Red Skelton Show and The Julie Andrews Hour. He appeared extensively in clubs across the country, supporting leading ladies such as Anna Maria Alberghetti, Arlene Dahl, Dorothy Provine, and others. He was a soloist in The Lido Show in Paris, and appeared as the male lead in Little Mary Sunshine in Paris.
By the time Lewis finished Funny Lady in 1975, musicals were becoming rare. Lewis' friends, agent Sue Mengers and her husband Jean-Claude Tramont, purchased a home in Bel Air in 1975. They admired the way Lewis had decorated his own home, and asked him to redesign their new one. This led Lewis to designing private homes for celebrities, including Barbra Streisand, Herbert Ross, Barry Diller, and many others.
In the late 1970s, when Herbert Ross was directing The Turning Point, he asked Lewis to decorate several sets. Later, while filming California Suite, Ross called him in again to assist with the art direction. This marked the beginning of Lewis' third career as a set decorator for films.
Lewis worked on 39 films as a set decorator, earning four Academy Award nominations for Art Direction - Beaches, Glory, Hook, and Bram Stoker's Dracula. He was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his work on Gepetto.
