Oral Histories

Interview of Andrea Weaver

Costumer who worked on the movies Harold and Maude, The Sting, Raging Bull, Mommie Dearest, Hook, Seabiscuit, Walk the Line, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Also created costumes for television movies and series, including Star Trek: The Original Series, the Mission Impossible series, and the final episode of M*A*S*H.
Series:
The Crafts in Hollywood: Costuming
Topic:
Film and Television
Biographical Note:
Costumer who worked on the movies Harold and Maude, The Sting, Raging Bull, Mommie Dearest, Hook, Seabiscuit, Walk the Line, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Also created costumes for television movies and series, including Star Trek: The Original Series, the Mission Impossible series, and the final episode of M*A*S*H.
Interviewer:
Collings, Jane
Interviewee:
Weaver, Andrea
Persons Present:
Weaver and Collings.
Place Conducted:
Weaver's home in Hollywood, California.
Supporting Documents:
Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research.
Interviewer Background and Preparation:
The interview was conducted by Jane Collings, principal editor and interviewer, UCLA Center for Oral History Research; Ph.D. Critical Studies in Film and Television, UCLA.
Processing of Interview:
The interviewer prepared a timed log of the audio recording of the interview. Weaver was given the opportunity to review the log in order to supply missing or misspelled names and to verify the accuracy of the contents. Weaver made minor changes, which were entered into the text without further editing or review on the part of the Center for Oral History Research staff. Weaver provided the biographical statement.
Length:
3.5 hrs.
Language:
English
Copyright:
Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
Audio:
Series Statement:
This series of interviews documents the work of costumers in the film and television industries in Los Angeles. The interviews preserve a dimension of Hollywood history and Los Angeles history that has been under-documented to date.
Early life, education, and mentors—The work that the costumer performs—Works on Mission Impossible and Star Trek, among other shows—The training for costumers—Changing technology—Impact of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 on costuming—The structure and operation of Western Costume Company.
Works on Raging Bull, Jingle All the Way, Seabiscuit, True Confessions—Nominated for an Emmy for work on Scarecrow and Mrs. King—Differences between production hours in the past and today—Wins an Emmy for Pancho Barnes.
The vision of cooperation that underlies Star Trek: The Original Series—The production of Star Trek—Works on Young Indiana Jones, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Jingle All the Way, Hood, Raging Bull, Mommie Dearest—Fruitful collaborations with Shelley Komarov, Peggy Farrell, Patty Norris, Irene Sharaff, and Lin Bolen—The growth of the Motion Picture Costumers International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 705 in the nineties—The importance of cooperation between crews for different departments.