Art director Gil Parrondo, who won Academy Awards for his work on Patton and Nicholas and Alexandra, and was a set decorator on Orson Welles’ Confidential Report (aka Mr. Arkadin), died on Christmas Eve in Madrid. He was 95.
Confidential Report, based on an original story by Welles and co-starring his third wife Paola Mori, was recut by producers.
In a 2012 interview, Parrondo said of working with Welles, “They will ask me about it in all interviews until I die. But it is natural, because he was a very important person and a genius – That is not debatable. I was fortunate to work with him, although the film seemed very bad.”
He also expressed admiration for Welles’ ability to achieve large visual effects with very little money.
Parrondo appeared in Orson Welles: In the Land of Don Quixote.
Among his many credits, Parrondo worked as an art director/production designer for Richard Lester on Robin and Marian, Cuba and The Return of the Musketeers. Lester marveled at Parrondo’s encyclopedic knowledge of the landscapes of Spain, and his lack of ego.
“You need to have production designer who is thinking: ‘What do we want out of this? How can I provide it for the director?’ And I’ve never met anyone better than Gil at doing that and with less fuss,” Lester once said.
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