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Longtime Hollywood multitalent Polly Platt passed away this morning in Brooklyn, NY, after a battle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. She was 72. According to her official bio, the former costume and production designer and writer and producer was married to Peter Bogdanovich and helped him write his first movie Targets (1968) and did design on that film along with his The Last Picture Show (1971) and What’s Up, Doc? (1972) and Paper Moon (1973). (News reports say the 1984 film Irreconcilable Differences, starring Ryan O’Neal and Shelley Long and Drew Barrymore, is loosely based on her and Bogdanovich’s marriage and divorce.) Later, Platt was partnered with director Jim Brooks and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for his Terms of Endearment (1983). She also was an executive producer on his Broadcast News (1987) and a producer on his I’ll Do Anything. She was an executive producer on The War of the Roses (1989) and as a producer on Say Anything (1989) and as a producer on Bottle Rocket (1996). Her screenwriting credits include Pretty Baby, Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff, and A Map of the World. Her production design credits include The Witches Of Eastwick, The Man With Two Brains, Young Doctors in Love, A Star Is Born, and The Bad News Bears.
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I once saw her at a Q&A in Austin, TX, along with Mr. James L. Brooks, after an Austin Film Fest screening of ‘Terms of Endearment’ in 1999. The last reel or so of the film had been slightly out of focus. The first thing she did when she got on stage and sat was chew out the projectionist. Unforgettable. May she rest in peace.
Polly always struck me as a classy, sexy and smart lady! Sorry I never got a chance to meet her.
As impressive as her credits are, they don’t reflect the influence that ran like a stream through so many great films and filmmakers throughout the years. She was the quintessential power behind many thrones – artistic power.
I whole-heartedly agree with that comment! As did James L Brooks when I talked to him this AM. Thanks so much for the comment. Much love
Antonia,
So shocked and saddened to hear this. She was an idol of mine and
I regret we drifted apart. So glad she was with you all in Brooklyn.
Sending my love and my heartfelt sympathy. Please, let me know
about the Memorial Service.
Thanks,
Trixxxx
Antonia,
I’m so sorry to hear about Polly’s passing. There are so many wonderful things about her, I don’t know where to begin or end. If at all possible I’d love to pay my respects, please send me any info.
Love,
Angela
How very very sad. ALS is a lonely way to go. Brilliant and talented woman.
Agreed. It’s such a horrible disease. My sympathies to her family. May they find peace.
Trailblazer and an inspiration, and also a great broad. If she doesn’t get in the Oscar In Memoriam reel next year, I’m starting a riot.
Me and my sisters will bring the matches!!!
Antonia,
I was so sorry to hear this news today, and for you and your family. I was lucky enough to know your mother through a panel we worked on in L.A., then through a series of interviews we did for a profile of her career. She was a unique woman and a special artist, and she spoke of you and your sister warmly and often in private. I remember her as being generous and kind, tough when she had to be, and always honest, with a laughter over bad ideas that made you remember how important it was to be good. People who didn’t get the chance to work with her really have no idea how important she was, but the people who did know the real truth, that she influenced a generation of filmmakers, writers, and producers, and changed almost every piece of work she touched for the better.
I hope the reports of her memoir are correct and people will get to hear her voice again. She had many stories of her childhood and career, and I always thought they would make their own great story someday (yes, even a film), I hope we get the chance to read it. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to get the word out, either through press or publishers, it would be great to let more people know what a special woman she was.
Sincerely,
John Kim
And her neices will bring back-up lighters and lighter fluid!~ Love to my cousins, and i also adore and concur with this (this is a keeper…):
As impressive as her credits are, they don’t reflect the influence that ran like a stream through so many great films and filmmakers throughout the years. She was the quintessential power behind many thrones – artistic power.
So talented. R.I.P.
She was the real brains behind then hubby Peter Bogdanovich’s early movies. After they split, his movies were decidedly less successful both artistically and financially.
Man, is that the truth! Wading through Bogdanovich’s “post-Polly” ouvre is an exercise in tedium!
She was Hollywoods original Muse. A great talent. From Bogdanovich to James Brooks her influence can be seen in so many of their movies. She will be missed.
She was brilliant, beyond talented, and a class act. This is a terrible loss.
I believe she also brought Matt Groening into Jim Brooks’ company when she worked there. The rest is history.
She most certainly did! She showed me his now famous “Life In Hell” cartoon in a free Venice Beach newspaper and said, “this guy’s a genius I’m bringing this into Jim [Brooks]“
Wonderful tribute to her in the cast commentary–by Ione Skye–on the “Say Anything” DVD extras.
her DNA runs through so much of what is great about Hollywood. She influenced a lot of us more than she will ever know. We’ll miss you, Polly.
So sad! A total classic and an amazing talent.
What an amazing woman and artist. She blazed the trail and inspired so many, and leaves an incredible legacy.
Such an inspiring lady. Very sad to see her go. Rest in peace, Ms. Platt.
My first job in the industry was working with Polly at Oxygen on The Girl in the Picture. She was a legend and one of the nicest people I have ever encountered and worked with. May she rest in peace.
She should get a lot of credit for discovering Wes Anderson, too. She saw “Bottle Rocket” before anyone and championed it finding a
distributor.
Terrific lady. Smart and creative. Rest, Polly.
The Last Picture Show was one of the great movies of the 70′s, and I have to presume she had a lot to do with that even beyond being the Production Designer.
It makes me kind of sad she never stepped out from behind others and directed movies herself, although maybe that’s the way she liked it.
RIP.
A fierce woman of talent. A life well lived. May Polly Plant RIP and may her friends and loved ones find comfort at this time.
Polly. Antonia. Lots of love.
Xxx
I was at that screening and I was sitting in front of her. We talked for about 30 minutes before the start of the screening. I didn’t realize I was speaking to the legendary Polly Platt until the Q&A. She was so warm and lovely….truly down to earth. I am so blessed to have met her and to have been in her prescence. We have lost a true treasure in this world. She will be missed. Rest in Peace!
I was blessed…more than fortunate enough to have coffee with Ms. Platt during my time at film school. I was just a struggling, starving grad student in the MFA screenwriting program,
and just happened to be killing time between classes doing a rewrite on a bad script. A crap script. And Ms. Platt was speaking at a function on campus. We happened to be getting coffee at the same campus spot and when she saw me tossing page after page away, and since she noticed one of my film books on my table…she couldn’t help but notice.
In the brief 20 minutes — which she had but didn’t have to spend time talking to an unknown — she gave me great advice. And I never forgot it.
I thanked her over and over for her time and advice before she left.
To her family and friends and co workers…my condolences. To all of us in the audience,
who fully know your long standing contributions to the lives and loves of movies, Ms. Platt, this writer…once again…owes you his thanks.
Antonia, my thoughts are with you and your sister- your mother was an incredible original talent, I have many fond memories of her.
be well,
eric
She graced our home on Thanksgivings—how she loved her grandchildren—-wonderful memories.
She will be missed.
Rode in a little(sorry, Mikey)plane through a forest fire with her a LONNNNNG time ago; so understated and openly interested in people.
One hour and I never forgot her.
What a woman.
Peace and love,
Suzan