Mollo, John

(b. 1931)

   For much of his life, John Mollo has been passionate about European and American military uniforms. He has written six books on military costumes, often illustrating them as well. At least one of them, the massive Military Fashion, which deals with European and American uniforms and fashions from 1640 to 1914, is widely hailed as a standard volume on the subject. Mollo entered the motion picture industry in 1967 as a technical adviser on Tony Richardson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade. He then worked in the same capacity on The Adventures of Gerard (1970), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), and BARRY LYNDON (1975). Mollo made his first full-fledged foray into costume design, on George Lucas’s epic SCIENCE FICTION film Star Wars (1977), for which Mollo won the Oscar. His other films as costume designer include Alien (1979); Gandhi (1982), which won Mollo his second Oscar for best costume design; King David (1985); White Hunter, Black Heart (1990), starring MARISA BERENSON; Chaplin (1992); and Event Horizon (1997).

   References

   ■ Dingillian, Bob,“Biography: John Mollo (Costume Designer),” Star Wars press book, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1977;

   ■ “John Mollo,” Internet Movie Database, www.imdb.com.