Hollywood is a place for divas and too often the little guys go unnoticed. Not so the prdocuction designer J Michael Riva, whose spectacularly imaginative work on films like The Goonies was eclipsed only be the elegance of his contributions to the likes of The Color Purple, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Riva had been part of the team working on Quentin arantino project Django Unchained, but he passed away last night at the age of 63.
Son of Maria Riva and grandson of Marlene Dietrich, Riva was perhaps always destibed to go into film work. He will be remembered for his stylish contributions to the likes of the Lethal Weapon and Iron Man films, as well as cult favourite The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension. Riva's gift lay in being able to get into the character of very different films and give each one he worked on a distinctive, carefully crafted look.
Riva is survived by his wife, the art designer Wendy Riva with whom he collaborated on several films, and their three children.
