---
name: "Bill Thomas"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/bill-thomas-14493"
roles: ["Costume designer"]
born: "13 October 1921"
died: "30 May 2000"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 74
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-20T04:32:40.655632+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Bill Thomas

Costume designer. Born 13 October 1921 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Died 30 May 2000.

## Details

- **Work:** Costume designer
- **Born:** 13 October 1921, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- **Died:** 30 May 2000
- **Active:** 1959–1965
- **Also known as:** William Thomas
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 9 nominated)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1950s 86 (1), 1960s 62 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Thomas_(costume_designer), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q862497, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0858528/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/14493

## Streaming the US now

- **The Roku Channel:** [*Ship of Fools*](https://film.one/film/ship-of-fools.md) (62)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Bill Thomas (also credited as William Thomas) was an American costume designer. Born in Chicago, Illinois, on 13 October 1921, he died in Beverly Hills, California, on 30 May 2000.

He received an Academy Award for Best Costume Design (colour) for *Spartacus* (1960, shared with Arlington Valles) and was nominated nine further times, including for *Ship of Fools* (1965). His credits include *Touch of Evil* (1958), *It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World* (1963), *The Love Bug* (1968), *Logan's Run* (1976) and *The Black Hole* (1979). He worked on over 180 films between 1950 and 1983 and was inducted into the Costume Designers Guild Hall of Fame in 2006.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, latimes.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Ship of Fools* (1965), Fi1m 62, Costume Design, Costume design — [page](https://film.one/film/ship-of-fools.md)
- *Imitation of Life* (1959), Fi1m 86, Costume Designer — [page](https://film.one/film/imitation-of-life.md)

## Complete filmography (139)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies* (1988), as Narrator (voice)
- *Love is Forever* (1983), Costume Design
- *The Adventures of Pollyanna* (1982), Costume Design
- *Callie & Son* (1981), Costume Design
- *The Formula* (1980), Costume Design
- *The Black Hole* (1979), Costume Design
- *Backstairs at the White House* (1979), series, Costume Design
- *The Children of Sanchez* (1978), Costume Design
- *Logan's Run* (1976), Costume Design
- *Breakout* (1975), Costume Design
- *Wonder Woman* (1974), Costume Design
- *The Third Girl from the Left* (1973), Wardrobe Designer
- *Oklahoma Crude* (1973), Costume Design
- *The Hawaiians* (1970), Costume Design
- *The Gypsy Moths* (1969), Costume Design
- *The Trouble with Girls* (1969), Costume Design
- *The Love Bug* (1968), Costume Design
- *Blackbeard's Ghost* (1968), Costume Design
- *The Gnome-Mobile* (1967), Costume Design
- *The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin* (1967), Costume Design
- *Inside Daisy Clover* (1966), Costume Design
- *Ship of Fools* (1965), Costume Design — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/ship-of-fools.md)
- *Cat Ballou* (1965), Costume Design
- *The Americanization of Emily* (1964), Costume Design
- *A Global Affair* (1964), Wardrobe Designer
- *The Prize* (1963), Wardrobe Designer
- *It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World* (1963), Costume Design
- *Toys in the Attic* (1963), Costume Design
- *Boys' Night Out* (1962), Co-Costume Designer
- *Moon Pilot* (1962), Costume Designer
- *Backstage Party* (1961), Costume Design
- *Babes in Toyland* (1961), Costume Design
- *The Parent Trap* (1961), Costume Design
- *Spartacus* (1960), Costume Design
- *The Leech Woman* (1960), Costume Design
- *Seven Thieves* (1960), Costume Design
- *Operation Petticoat* (1959), Costume Design
- *Curse of the Undead* (1959), Costume Design
- *Beloved Infidel* (1959), Costume Design
- *The Rabbit Trap* (1959), Costume Design
- *The Wild and the Innocent* (1959), Costume Design
- *Imitation of Life* (1959), Costume Designer — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/imitation-of-life.md)
- *A Stranger in My Arms* (1959), Costume Design
- *No Name on the Bullet* (1959), Costume Design
- *The Restless Years* (1958), Costume Design
- *Ride a Crooked Trail* (1958), Costume Design
- *Kathy O'* (1958), Costume Design
- *The Saga of Hemp Brown* (1958), Costume Design
- *Step Down to Terror* (1958), Costume Design
- *Once Upon a Horse...* (1958), Costume Design
- *Voice in the Mirror* (1958), Costume Design
- *Twilight for the Gods* (1958), Costume Design
- *A Time to Love and a Time to Die* (1958), Costume Design
- *The Thing That Couldn't Die* (1958), Costume Design
- *This Happy Feeling* (1958), Costume Design
- *Live Fast, Die Young* (1958), Costume Design
- *Touch of Evil* (1958), Costume Design
- *The Lady Takes a Flyer* (1958), Costume Design
- *Day of the Badman* (1958), Costume Design
- *Flood Tide* (1958), Costume Design
- *The Female Animal* (1958), Costume Design
- *Man in the Shadow* (1957), Costume Design
- *The Tarnished Angels* (1957), Costume Design
- *Slim Carter* (1957), Costume Design
- *My Man Godfrey* (1957), Costume Design
- *Appointment with a Shadow* (1957), Costume Design
- *Slaughter on 10th Avenue* (1957), Costume Design
- *Man of a Thousand Faces* (1957), Costume Designer
- *Night Passage* (1957), Costume Design
- *Tammy and the Bachelor* (1957), Costume Designer
- *The Midnight Story* (1957), Costume Design
- *The Girl in the Kremlin* (1957), Costume Design
- *Man Afraid* (1957), Costume Design
- *Mister Cory* (1957), Costume Design
- *Istanbul* (1957), Costume Design
- *The Great Man* (1956), Costume Design
- *Rock, Pretty Baby* (1956), Costume Design
- *Written on the Wind* (1956), Costume Design
- *Walk the Proud Land* (1956), Costume Design
- *I've Lived Before* (1956), Costume Design
- *The Rawhide Years* (1956), Costume Design
- *Behind the High Wall* (1956), Costume Design
- *Congo Crossing* (1956), Costume Design
- *Raw Edge* (1956), Costume Design
- *World in My Corner* (1956), Costume Design
- *The Spoilers* (1955), Costume Design
- *All That Heaven Allows* (1955), Costume Design
- *Foxfire* (1955), Costume Design
- *Cult of the Cobra* (1955), Costume Designer
- *Captain Lightfoot* (1955), Costume Design
- *Smoke Signal* (1955), Costume Design
- *Sign of the Pagan* (1954), Costume Design
- *The Yellow Mountain* (1954), Costume Design
- *Magnificent Obsession* (1954), Costume Design
- *Playgirl* (1954), Costume Design
- *Saskatchewan* (1954), Costume Designer
- *Forbidden* (1953), Costume Design
- *Tumbleweed* (1953), Costume Design
- *The Glass Web* (1953), Costume Design
- *The Stand at Apache River* (1953), Costume Design
- *Wings of the Hawk* (1953), Costume Design
- *East of Sumatra* (1953), Costume Design
- *The Man from the Alamo* (1953), Costume Design
- *The Great Sioux Uprising* (1953), Costume Design
- *Take Me to Town* (1953), Costume Design
- *Desert Legion* (1953), Costume Design
- *It Happens Every Thursday* (1953), Costume Design
- *The Mississippi Gambler* (1953), Costume Design
- *Because of You* (1952), Costume Design
- *The Raiders* (1952), Costume Design
- *The World in His Arms* (1952), Costume Design
- *Yankee Buccaneer* (1952), Costume Design
- *The Duel at Silver Creek* (1952), Costume Design
- *Untamed Frontier* (1952), Costume Design
- *Flesh and Fury* (1952), Costume Design
- *No Room for the Groom* (1952), Costume Design
- *Steel Town* (1952), Costume Design
- *Meet Danny Wilson* (1952), Costume Design
- *The Cimarron Kid* (1952), Costume Design
- *Flame of Araby* (1951), Costume Design
- *The Raging Tide* (1951), Costume Design
- *Cave of Outlaws* (1951), Costume Design
- *Thunder on the Hill* (1951), Costume Design
- *The Lady Pays Off* (1951), Costume Design
- *You Never Can Tell* (1951), Costume Design
- *Iron Man* (1951), Costume Design
- *Smuggler's Island* (1951), Costume Design
- *The Prince Who Was a Thief* (1951), Costume Design
- *Apache Drums* (1951), Costume Design
- *Air Cadet* (1951), Costume Design
- *Tomahawk* (1951), Costume Design
- *Mystery Submarine* (1950), Costume Design
- *Kansas Raiders* (1950), Costume Design
- *Undercover Girl* (1950), Costume Design
- *Wyoming Mail* (1950), Costume Design
- *Saddle Tramp* (1950), Costume Design
- *The Desert Hawk* (1950), Costume Design
- *Spy Hunt* (1950), Costume Design
- *In the Good Old Summertime* (1949), as Other

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won, 9 nominated

- 1972: Best Costume Design (nominated), for *Bedknobs and Broomsticks*
- 1971: Best Costume Design (nominated), for *The Hawaiians*
- 1968: Best Costume Design (nominated), for *The Happiest Millionaire*
- 1966: Best Costume Design, Color (nominated), for *Inside Daisy Clover*
- 1966: Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (nominated), for *Ship of Fools*
- 1964: Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (nominated), for *Toys in the Attic*
- 1963: Best Costume Design, Color (nominated), for *Bon Voyage!*
- 1962: Best Costume Design, Color (nominated), for *Babes in Toyland*
- 1961: Best Costume Design, Color (won), for *Spartacus*
- 1961: Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (nominated), for *Seven Thieves*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/bill-thomas-14493