Stratford Festival designer and three-time Tony winner Desmond Heeley dead at 85

STRATFORD, Ont. – Longtime Stratford Festival designer Desmond Heeley died on Friday night in New York. He was 85.

The three-time Tony winner began his career with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he worked on productions including “Titus Andronicus” with the late Sir Laurence Olivier.

A working relationship with former Stratford Festival artistic director Michael Langham, established in the U.K., brought Heeley to Canada.

Heeley’s lengthy career with the festival spanned five decades, beginning with the 1957 production of “Hamlet” starring Canadian stage and screen legend Christopher Plummer.

Heeley designed nearly 40 productions, including “Cyrano de Bergerac” (1962), “The Duchess of Malfi” (1971), “Amadeus” (1995 and 1996) and “Camelot” (1997).

His last production was “The Importance of Being Earnest” in 2009, directed by and starring Brian Bedford.

The production was transferred to Roundabout Theatre in New York where Heeley won a Tony Award for best costume design.

Heeley made history in 1968 as the first person to win both scenic and costume-design Tonys for the same production: the Broadway premiere of Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.”

In addition to his work with the Stratford Festival, Heeley also designed for the National Ballet of Canada and the Canadian Opera Company.

The Stratford Festival says this season’s production of “The Hypochondriac” will be dedicated in his honour.