Lyle R. Wheeler

Who was Lyle R. Wheeler?

Lyle Reynolds Wheeler, was an Academy Award-winning American motion picture art director.

Wheeler studied at the University of Southern California, then worked as a magazine artist and industrial designer. In 1936 he was hired by David O. Selznick to work as a set designer for Selznick's motion picture production company. Wheeler proved to be a creative genius when it came to designing quality sets at reasonable costs and was very much in demand in the industry. By the end of World War II, Wheeler had joined Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, where he remained as chief art director until the end of the 1950s.

In a career spanning forty years, Wheeler created sets for more than three hundred and fifty motion pictures, many of which are considered film classics. His credits include A Star is Born, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, State Fair, The Dolly Sisters, Forever Amber, The Fan, The Pride of St. Louis, The Seven Year Itch, and Carousel. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction twenty-nine times, winning five. In 1951, he was nominated for four different films, three in 1952 and twice for two films in one year.