Oscar-Winning Production Designer Barbara Ling Dies at 73 After Cancer Battle
Updated
Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Jul 11
Oscar-Winning Production Designer Barbara Ling Dies at 73 After Cancer Battle
3 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Jul 11
Summary
Barbara Ling, the Oscar-winning production designer behind Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, died Thursday in Santa Barbara at 73 after battling cancer, her agency WME said.
Her best-known work came on Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film, where she and set decorator Nancy Haigh won best production design for re-creating 1969 Los Angeles with practical facades, marquees and neon rather than digital effects.
Over a career spanning more than 40 years, Ling shaped films from The Doors and Fried Green Tomatoes to Batman Forever, Batman & Robin and A Man Called Otto, moving between period detail, realism and stylized fantasy.
Born in 1952 in Los Angeles, Ling began in theater and opera before moving into film with David Byrne’s True Stories; she is survived by her wife, Lindsay, and sons Clay and Will.