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50th
ANNIVERSARY
"Giant" Art
Before shooting “Giant,” director George Stevens asked the late Dallas artist and SMU art professor Ed Bearden to draw the film’s storyboards. Stevens wanted a Texas native to conceive the characters visually in order to capture their authenticity. Bearden's pen portraits were enlarged and displayed on the set as a guide to makeup and costume crews.
The artist also went to Marfa during shooting to sketch on the "Giant" set. Several of his drawings appeared with John Rosenfield's article on the "Giant" shoot in the Autumn 1956 Southwest Review. The following are used with permission of Bearden's wife, Frances, who traveled with him to West Texas to see the cast and crew in action.
Bearden's "Giant" art will be featured in a special exhibition at SMU's Hamon Arts Library in spring 2006, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the film's release. Click on each image for a high-resolution version showing the complete picture. (File sizes are up to 1.5 MB each.)
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Cowboys and klieg lights |
Mercedes McCambridge as Luz Benedict |
Riders and horses |
Two views of "Giant" director George Stevens |
Extras chat between takes at the barbecue scene; John Rosenfield is with Elizabeth Taylor's makeup artist at right |
Actor and former McMurry College speech and drama teacher Charlie Watts as Judge Whiteside |
The Reata ranch set: an amateur photographer takes a souvenir; James Dean suns himself under an umbrella |
Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor relax between takes |
Lighting and sound technicians shoot an outdoor scene |
A cowboy extra with two makeup artists |
James Dean as Jett Rink: three studies |
