J. Michael Riva
Personal Info
Known for
Art
Gender
Male
Birthday
1948-06-28
Day of Death
2012-06-07 (63 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
Acting
(2003)
Crew
(2012)
Django Unchained
Production Design
(2012)
The Amazing Spider-Man
Production Design
(2010)
Iron Man 2
Production Design
(2008)
Iron Man
Production Design
(2008)
Seven Pounds
Production Design
(2007)
Spider-Man 3
Production Design
(2006)
The Pursuit of Happyness
Production Design
(2005)
Stealth
Production Design
(2005)
Zathura: A Space Adventure
Production Design
(2003)
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
Production Design
(2001)
Evolution
Production Design
(2000)
Charlie's Angels
Production Design
(1999)
Tuesdays with Morrie
Production Design
(1998)
Lethal Weapon 4
Production Design
(1998)
Six Days Seven Nights
Production Design
(1998)
Hard Rain
Production Design
(1995)
Congo
Production Design
(1994)
North
Production Design
(1993)
Dave
Production Design
(1992)
Radio Flyer
Production Design
(1992)
A Few Good Men
Production Design
(1989)
Lethal Weapon 2
Production Design
(1989)
Tango & Cash
Production Design
(1988)
Scrooged
Production Designer, Production Design
(1987)
Lethal Weapon
Production Design
(1986)
The Golden Child
Production Design
(1985)
The Color Purple
Production Design
(1985)
The Slugger's Wife
Production Design
(1985)
The Goonies
Production Design
(1984)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Production Design
(1983)
Bad Boys
Production Design
(1981)
The Hand
Production Design
(1981)
Callie & Son
Production Design
(1981)
Halloween II
Production Design
(1980)
Ordinary People
Art Direction
(1980)
Brubaker
Art Direction
(1979)
Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider
Art Direction
(1977)
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
Production Design
(1977)
Bare Knuckles
Production Design
(1977)
Bad Georgia Road
Art Direction
(1976)
Ilsa: Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks
Production Design