Costume designer Rosanna Norton, who received an Oscar nomination for the sci-fi classic Tron and also worked on Badlands, Carrie, The Stunt Man and Frankie and Johnny during her four-decade career, has died. She was 80.
Norton died Wednesday at her home in Los Angeles of bladder cancer, her granddaughter Mira Gonzalez told The Hollywood Reporter.
Norton also collaborated with Joe Dante on Explorers (1985), Innerspace (1987), The ‘Burbs (1989) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) and with Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker on Airplane! (1980) and Ruthless People (1986).
She worked with Terrence Malick on Badlands (1973), with Brian De Palma on Phantom of the Paradise (1974) and Carrie (1976), with Richard Rush on The Stunt Man (1980) and with Garry Marshall on Frankie and Johnny (1991).
She shared her Oscar nom for Steven Lisberger’s Tron (1982) with Elois Jenssen.
The oldest of four kids, Rosanna White was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 1, 1944. Her mother, Ann Stanford, was an acclaimed poet and founding member of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, and her father, Roland, was an architect.
While attended UCLA as a painting major, she met future husband Bill Norton, then made her film debut as the costume designer on the 1971 film he co-wrote and directed, the Kris Kristofferson-starring Cisco Pike (1971).
“I would have been a painter,” she once said, “but was really lucky to get on some really good pictures through my friendships with directors Brian De Palma and Terry Malick.” She joined the Costume Directors Guild in 1975.
Her résumé included Messiah of Evil (1974), Outlaw Blues (1977), Robert Zemeckis’ I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), Joan Micklin Silver’s Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979), Airplane II (1982), RoboCop 2 (1990), The Flintstones (1994), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) and Detroit Rock City (1999).
After costume designing — her last credit was Pool Boys (2009) — Norton returned to her first love, painting.
Survivors include her daughter, Lora; her grandchildren, Mira, Milo, Lola, Isaac and Kayla; and her sister, Pat. She also was briefly married to director James Bryan.
