Judy Evans spent more than 30 years as a costume designer and illustrator for many movies and television shows.
She and her husband began raising alpacas in the last 1990s and she became a respected ceramic artist.
Alpacas and pottery
Images of her alpaca pottery and more
A
private person, she nevertheless shared images of her Beauty and the
Beast drawings of Vincent costumes with Angie and stayed in touch,
promising to photograph more of her artwork for The Treasure Chambers, as time allowed.
Early
in 2017, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with inoperable
cancer. Later that year she informed Angie that she was living in a
hospice. Despite her health challenges, Judy was concerned about the
other Beauty and the Beast artwork she had promised to photograph and
in September this year, as fans celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the
series, she expressed her intention to see this done.
Her son revealed that she passed away quietly at home, holding his hand.
Judy's generous sharing of her artwork is much appreciated,
and on behalf of all fans, Angie extends sincere condolences to her son
on his loss. Judy is held in high regard by
those fortunate enough to be familiar with her art. It will always endure and inspire.
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Judy
Evans graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a BFA in
1965.
Her first industry job was at NBC as a dresser, then she moved
into sketch artist work. She was respected as a
costume illustrator, who could quickly
sketch ideas brought to the costume department by a designer.
1966
found her working at Warner Brothers (now the Burbank Studios),
sketching and doing assistant design work on the Academy Award Oscar
winner 'Camelot' . This was almost a year-long job under Designer John
Truscott.
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She
worked as a costume designer for a number of TV series,
the most
prominent of which were:
SOAP:
92 episodes from 1977-1981
BENSON:
158 episodes from 1979-1986
IT'S
A LIVING: 120 episodes
EMPTY
NEST: 94 episodes
HERMANS
HEAD: 25 episodes
GOLDEN
GIRLS: 180 episodes 1984-1990
BEAUTY
AND THE BEAST: 56 episodes 1987-1989
p
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From Bea Arthur, The Golden Girls (5'9 1/2")
She
credits “Golden Girls” stylist Judy Evans with giving the characters
“extra gorgeousness” and personality, just by how she dressed them.
“She knew Dorothy had a dramatic side, so she’d give me crazy earrings to wear,” Arthur recalls. “She was extraordinary.”
The
other women in the seruies were 5'1" or less.
Some of the clothing gained
a second life and was spotted on Beauty and the Beast - when Linda
Hamilton, as Catherine, wore some of the Golden Girls nightgowns and
robes.
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(Extract from “The Changing Face of Modern Television: When Costume Design Costars”
By
Anna Wyckoff, Spring 2012) Costume Designers Guild (website link)
The Cult Favorite
Judy Evans
No one championed glamour going forward more than the late CDs Nolan
Miller in Dynasty and William Travilla in Dallas and Knot’s Landing.
Their costumes defined the next decade, as audiences tuning in for the
melodrama also had an insatiable appetite for the exaggerated
silhouettes. CD Judy Evans spearheaded many shows in the eighties, but
two of the most influential stood in sharp contrast to the landscape of
broad shouldered, waspwaisted suits. The first was The Golden Girls.
Not only did The Golden Girls gather critical acclaim, it beloved by a
broad audience. Evans took the direction from the producers to create a
vibrant look for the four mature leads, and ran with it. It was a
breakthrough show, with Evans single-handedly redefining what “dressing
your age” looked like. From Dorothy’s layered looks in intriguing
fabrics paired with low boots and sophisticated jewelry to Blanche’s
unabashed embrace of her femininity, The Golden Girls ensemble cast is
considered by some to be the prototype for Sex and the City. Evans
worked hard to keep the characters distinct and give them an optimistic
vitality with color that suited their upbeat Florida surroundings. She
chuckles, “I got an awful lot of fan mail!” The costumes, however,
inspired such appreciation because they freed an entire generation to
age gracefully and beautifully.
On the other end of the spectrum was the surprise hit Beauty and the
Beast featuring actor Ron Pearlman as the benevolent Beast. Evan’s
costumes combined present day, period, and fantasy in a nuanced,
romantic, and poetic way that complemented the literary undertone of the
show. She describes it as a seven-day-a-week prep show, as opposed to a
five-day schedule. Because episodes were shot on film, there was always
one show in production, one shooting, and one prepping. “That, coupled
with working— I think I had three other shows at the time— was
intensive. I was very compartmentalized. When I walked into Beauty and
the Beast, it was all Beauty and the Beast… and I had good crews on
every single show, great people to work with. Dedicated. We all worked
hard, we brought a lot of professionalism to our craft.” |
