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J. Michael Riva

Known For
Art

Known Credits
4

Gender
Male

Birthday
June 28, 1948 (78 years old)

Place of Birth
Manhattan, New York, USA

J. Michael Riva

Biography

John Michael Riva (June 28, 1948–June 7, 2012), better known as J. Michael Riva, was an American production designer.

Riva was born in Manhattan to William Riva, a Broadway set designer, and Maria Elisabeth Sieber, a German-born actress and the daughter of Marlene Dietrich. Riva had three brothers (John Peter, John Paul, and John David). Riva attended the prep school Institute Le Rosey in Switzerland for six years before attending UCLA. Married to Wendy Mickell, he had four sons, Jean-Paul, Mikey, Daniel, and Adam.

Riva had a long and prestigious career as an art director and production designer on numerous films, including the 1985 film The Colour Purple, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction. Other credits include The Goonies (1985), Lethal Weapon (1987), A Few Good Men (1992), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Iron Man (2008), and Iron Man 2 (2010).

His final films, The Amazing Spider-Man and Django Unchained, were released posthumously. He was the production designer for the opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, as well as for the 74th and 79th Academy Awards in 2002 and 2007, respectively. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for his work on the latter.

Riva suffered a stroke on June 1, 2012, in New Orleans, Louisiana, during production of Django Unchained. He died in a hospital there on June 7, 2012, at age 63. Django director Quentin Tarantino commented, "Michael became a dear friend on this picture, as well as a magnificent, talented colleague."

Description above from the Wikipedia article J. Michael Riv, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Art

2012Django Unchained...Production Design
2012The Amazing Spider-Man...Production Design
2010Iron Man 2...Production Design
2008Seven Pounds...Production Design
2008Iron Man...Production Design
2007Spider-Man 3...Production Design
2006The Pursuit of Happyness...Production Design
2005Zathura: A Space Adventure...Production Design
2005Stealth...Production Design
2003Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle...Production Design
2001Evolution...Production Design
2000Charlie's Angels...Production Design
1999Tuesdays with Morrie...Production Design
1998Lethal Weapon 4...Production Design
1998Six Days Seven Nights...Production Design
1998Hard Rain...Production Design
1995Congo...Production Design
1994North...Production Design
1993Dave...Production Design
1992A Few Good Men...Production Design
1992Radio Flyer...Production Design
1989Tango & Cash...Production Design
1989Lethal Weapon 2...Production Design
1988Scrooged...Production Design
1987Lethal Weapon...Production Design
1986The Golden Child...Production Design
1985The Color Purple...Production Design
1985The Goonies...Production Design
1985The Slugger's Wife...Production Design
1984The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension...Production Design
1983Bad Boys...Production Design
1981Halloween II...Production Design
1981The Hand...Production Design
1981Callie & Son...Production Design
1980Ordinary People...Art Direction
1980Brubaker...Art Direction
1979Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider...Art Direction
1977Bare Knuckles...Production Design
1977I Never Promised You a Rose Garden...Production Design
1977Bad Georgia Road...Art Direction
1976Ilsa: Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks...Production Design

Directing

1989Tales from the Crypt...Director
1985Amazing Stories...Director

Production

1988Scrooged...Production Designer

Acting

2008I Am 'Iron Man'as Self
2003The Making of 'The Color Purple'as Self
2001Charlie’s Angels: Getting G’d Upas Self
2001Charlie’s Angels: Welcome to Angel Worldas Self