Morley, Ruth

Ruth Morley was born around 1926 in Vienna, Austria. In January 1939 she was one of the approximately 10,000 children who were transported to Britain through the Kindertransport in 1938-1939. After receiving her early education in Vienna and Croydon, England, Ruth Morley moved to the United States in 1941. She attended the Washington Irving Fine Arts High School, and the Cooper Union Art School.

With limited language skills, her natural talent in drawing initially helped her go through school by exchanging sketches for biology assignments with help in homework, and later helped support her family by creating greeting cards and cell animation. While still in high school she worked designing sets for summer-stock productions at the Cleveland Playhouse. Soon she realized that “she did not like the mechanical aspects of set designing” and turned to work in a costume house.

In 1950-1951 she established and directed the costume department for the City Center Opera, while in the same year she made her debut as a designer in Broadway with the costumes for Billy Budd (1951). She continued to design costumes for opera, working closely with the City Center Opera and the Little Opera companies throughout the 1960s. Among her most notable opera productions are Carmina Burana (1959), The Triumph of St. Joan (1959) and the world premiere of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (1961). Among the many Broadway and off-Broadway shows for which Morley designed are The Diary of Anne Frank (1978), Deathtrap (1978), A Moon for the Misbegotten (1957), and Twice Around the Park (1982). She was also responsible for both the Broadway and television productions of Death of a Salesman (1983-1985).

In the almost 40 years of her career, Ruth Morley also designed costumes for motion pictures, television shows and advertisements. She had a fondness for designing period costumes, for which she did extensive research and developed a reputation for great historical accuracy. Her first motion picture was Never Love a Stranger, in 1958. Among the most notable motion pictures she worked on include The Chosen (1981), Superman (1978), Ghost (1990), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Tootsie (1982) with Dustin Hoffman, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design; and Grace Quigley with Katharine Hepburn (1985). Her television productions include Playing for Time with Vanessa Redgrave (1980); Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number (1984), and The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck (1984). Her contribution in dressing Diane Keaton in Annie Hall created an international fashion trend through the 1980s, and she received an Academy Award nomination for The Miracle Worker (1979).

Ruth Morley taught at the BBC (Buffalo, Brooklyn, Chicago) School for Modern Art in the Theater and delivered lectures on costume design at New York University, and Brandeis University. She was a member of the Board of Directors at the City Stage Company, and the League of Professional Theatre Women. In 1998 the League created The Ruth Morley Designing Woman Award in her honor.

She was married to Seymour Hacker, art book dealer and theatrical producer. They had two children, Emily Hacker, an actress, director and teacher of English; and Melissa Hacker, a filmmaker and editor, who created the documentary My Knees Were Jumping; Remembering the Kindertransports (1998), inspired by her mother's story. Ruth Morley died in February 12, 1991 in New York City.

From the guide to the Ruth Morley papers, 1925-2005, 1940-1990, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)