Polly Platt


Mary Marr "Polly" Platt was an American film producer, production designer and screenwriter. She was the first female art director accepted into Hollywood's Art Director's Guild. In addition to her credited work, she was widely known as mentor as well as an uncredited collaborator and networker. In the case of the latter, she is widely credited with contributing to the success of ex-husband and director Peter Bogdanovich's early films; mentoring then, first-time director and writer Cameron Crowe, and discovering actors including Cybill Shepherd, Tatum O'Neal, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson and director Wes Anderson. Platt also suggested that director James L. Brooks meet artist and illustrator Matt Groening. Their subsequent meeting eventually resulted in the satiric animated television series, The Simpsons.

Early life

Platt was born Mary Marr Platt in Fort Sheridan, Illinois on January 29, 1939, and later adopted the name Polly. Her father, John, was a colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army, while her mother, Vivian, worked in advertising; she had a brother, John. She moved to Germany at age six when her father presided over the Dachau Trials. Platt later returned to the US and attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now known as Carnegie Mellon University. In 1960, Platt was married to Phillip Klein. Klein died in a car accident after eight months of marriage.

Career

Platt worked in summer stock theatre as a costume designer in New York and there met Peter Bogdanovich, whom she later married. She co-wrote with Bogdanovich his first movie Targets, conceiving the plot outline of a "Vietnam veteran-turned-sniper" and served as the production designer on the film. She was also production designer on his film The Last Picture Show, recommending Cybill Shepherd for her first film role, and despite the breakdown of their marriage, had the same role on What's Up Doc? and Paper Moon. Platt had suggested Bogdanovich make Larry McMurtry's novel The Last Picture Show into a film. Bogdanovich commented that: "She worked on important pictures and made major contributions. She was unique. There weren't many women doing that kind of work at that time, particularly not one as well versed as she was. She knew all the departments, on a workmanlike basis, as opposed to most producers who just know things in theory." Platt was the first female member of the Art Directors Guild. She was also production designer on A Star Is Born.
She wrote the screenplay for Pretty Baby, for which she was also an associate producer, as well as Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff, and A Map of the World. She wrote the screenplay for the 1995 Academy Award-winning short film, Lieberman in Love, which was based on a short story by W. P. Kinsella.
Platt worked extensively with James L. Brooks throughout her career. She was the executive vice president of his production company Gracie Films from 1985 to 1995. Platt was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for Brooks' film Terms of Endearment. She co-produced many of the films he worked on, which Gracie made, including Broadcast News, The War of the Roses and Bottle Rocket, as well as producing Say Anything.... She also played a bit role in Say Anything....
Platt gave Brooks the nine-panel Life in Hell cartoon, "The Los Angeles Way of Death" by cartoonist Matt Groening. She suggested that the two meet and that Brooks produce an animated TV version of Groening's characters; the meeting spawned a series of short cartoons about the Simpson family, which aired as part of The Tracey Ullman Show and later became The Simpsons.
In 1994, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award. Brooks said that Platt "couldn't walk into a gas station and get gas without mentoring somebody. Movies are a team sport, and she made teams function. She would assume a maternal role in terms of really being there. The film was everything, and ego just didn't exist." In 2003, she appeared in the BBC documentary film Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. Platt was working on a documentary about the filmmaker Roger Corman at the time of her death. She was very involved with the Austin Film Festival up until her death, and mentored many filmmakers through her participation in the annual festival, which is geared toward screenwriting and production skill-sharing. According to her daughter, Antonia Bogdanovich, "She came every year, religiously, she was a huge supporter," of the Austin Film Festival, and Platt attended the very first festival.

Filmography

FilmYearProducerProduction DesignerCostume DesignerWriterActressMiscellaneous CrewArt DirectorStuntsThanksSelfArchive Footage-
The Other Side of the Wind 2018art director-
The Grand Budapest Hotel2014special thanks: our old friends-
The 84th Annual Academy Awards 2012Archival Footage-
Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel 2011executive producerSelf-
The Girl in the Picture 2011executive producer-
The Making of Bottle Rocket 2008special thanksSelf-
Bean 2008thanks-
A West Texas Children's Story2007executive producer-
Muertas 2007style="background: #28e10a; color:#ffffff;"| |executive producer-
Asking for the Moon 2003self: interviewedself-
The Next Picture Show 2003self: interviewedself-
Women on Top: Hollywood and Power 2003self: interviewedself-
A Decade Under the Influence 2003self: interviewedself-
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood 2003self: interviewedself-
Headliners & Legends with Matt Lauer : Brook Shields2001self: interviewedself-
E! True Hollywood Story: The O'Neals 2001self: interviewedself: interviewed-
Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Power of Women in Hollywood 2000self-
Sugar Town1999Maggie-
A Map of the World1999writer: screenplay-
Dogtown1997the production wishes to thank-
Getting the Goods on 'As Good As It Gets 1997self-
The Evening Star1996producer-
Bottle Rocket1996producer-
Ben Johnson: Third Cowboy on the Right 1996self-
I'll Do Anything1994producer-
Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas 1991self-
Texasville1990special thanks-
Let's Get Mom 1989producer-
The War of the Roses1989executive producer-
Say Anything...1989producerMrs Flood-
Big1988special thanks-
Broadcast News1987executive producer-
The Witches of Eastwick1987production designer-
Between Two Women 1986co-producerproduction designer-
Terms of Endearment1983production designer-
The Man with Two Brains1983production designer-
Young Doctors in Love1982production designer
Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff1979writer: screenplay--
Lieberman in Love 1979writer: teleplay-
Pretty Baby1978associate producerwriter: screenplay/story-
A Star Is Born1976production designer-
The Bad News Bears1976production designer-
Thieves Like Us1974costume designer -
Paper Moon1973production designercostume designer -
The Thief Who Came to Dinner1973production designercostume designer -
What's Up, Doc?1972production designercostume designer -
The Last Picture Show1972designcostume designer -
'1969costume designer -
Targets1968production designercostume designer writer: story-
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women1968production coordinator-
The Wild Angels''1966costume designer stunt double: Nancy Sinatra -

Personal life

Platt was married to Philip Klein until his death in a car accident in the 1960s, eight months after they married. Platt was married to director Peter Bogdanovich from 1962 to 1971. They divorced after Bogdanovich left her during the filming of The Last Picture Show for its lead actress Cybill Shepherd. Platt and Bogdanovich had two children: Antonia and Sashy. Platt later married prop maker Tony Wade; they remained married until his death in 1985; she was stepmother to his two children, Kelly and Jon.
The 1984 film Irreconcilable Differences, starring Ryan O'Neal, Shelley Long and Drew Barrymore, was reportedly loosely based on her marriage to Bogdanovich, and their divorce, and Platt herself confirmed the film "got more right than wrong."
Platt's talent as a mentor and film producer was deeply admired by her peers, who felt she should have become a director. Platt's struggled with alcoholism for more than 25 years. Additionally, as well sexism in the film industry made directing unlikely for her.
Platt participated in a 2000 Texasville reunion of some of the cast and crew of The Last Picture Show. She and Cybill Shepherd had made peace and were on friendly terms. Platt and her children were reconciled with Bogdanovich at the time of her passing.

Death

Platt died aged 72 on July 27, 2011 in Manhattan from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. She was survived by her brother John "Jack" Platt, her two daughters Antonia Bogdanovich and Sashy Bogdanovich, her son-in-law Pax Wassermann, and three grandchildren.

Legacy

Platt was the first female film art director accepted into the Art Director's Guild, membership she needed to receive credit on studio films. In May 2020, film journalist and podcast producer/writer/host Karina Longworth began the sixth season of the podcast You Must Remember This, with a focus on the significance of Polly Platt's work within the larger context of late 20th-century U.S. film history. The season, "Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman," includes interviews with family, friends, and colleagues documenting her contributions to commercially and critically successful films of the late 1960s and into the early 2000s. Longworth argues that Platt played a pivotal role in the location, casting, and overall visual aesthetic of major films, including but not limited to Paper Moon, What's Up, Doc? and The Last Picture Show. Actress Maggie Siff voices Platt in the podcast.

Books