William Travilla

William Travilla (March 22, 1920 – November 2, 1990), who went by the professional name of Travilla, was an American costume designer for theatre, film, and television. He is perhaps best known for dressing Marilyn Monroe in eight of her films.

Life and work

William Travilla was born on March 22, 1920 in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Woodbury University and began to work in Hollywood in 1941. He married actress Dona Drake on August 19, 1944.

After work on several B movies, he worked his way upward through the studio until he earned an Oscar in 1949 for the Errol Flynn swashbuckler Adventures of Don Juan, and in 1951 designed the costumes in the now classic sci-fi tale of morality The Day the Earth Stood Still. He then worked mainly at Twentieth Century-Fox, where his credits included Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata!.

In 1951, he had daughter Nia with his wife Dona Drake. By 1952, he was close friends with Marilyn Monroe and created the costumes for Don't Bother to Knock and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. He went on to design the costumes for several more of her films. Travilla created one of the most famous costumes in all of film – the pleated ivory cocktail dress Monroe wore in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch. Monroe is wearing it while standing on a New York City Subway ventilation grate; the dress rises up around her as a train passes below ground. Photographs of this scene have become synonymous with Monroe herself. The iconic dress, which was later purchased by actress Debbie Reynolds, was sold for $4,600,000 (USD) during a 2011 auction. Monroe once wrote to Travilla, "Billy Dear, please dress me forever. I love you, Marilyn."