---
name: "Gwen Wakeling"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/gwen-wakeling"
roles: ["Costume designer"]
born: "3 March 1901"
died: "16 June 1982"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 79
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-20T00:20:59.253850+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."
---

# Gwen Wakeling

Costume designer. Born 3 March 1901 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Died 16 June 1982.

## Details

- **Work:** Costume designer
- **Born:** 3 March 1901, Detroit, Michigan, USA
- **Died:** 16 June 1982
- **Active:** 1938–1941
- **Frequently works with:** [Darryl F. Zanuck](https://film.one/person/darryl-f-zanuck.md), [John Ford](https://film.one/person/john-ford.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 70 (1), 1940s 84 (2)
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Music 1, Romance 1
- **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $10m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwen_Wakeling, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q517831, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0906835/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8509

## Biography

Gwen Wakeling (born Gwendolyn Sewell) was an American costume designer who worked on more than 140 films between the mid-1920s and 1966. She began her career as an assistant to Cecil B. DeMille and later became head of costume design at Fox Film Corporation (later Twentieth Century-Fox) from 1933 to 1942. She designed the costumes for *Alexander's Ragtime Band* (1938).

Wakeling collaborated frequently with director John Ford on films including *The Grapes of Wrath* (1940) and *How Green Was My Valley* (1941), and created costumes for many Shirley Temple pictures in the 1930s. She received the Academy Award for Best Costume Design (colour) for *Samson and Delilah* (1949). Later credits include television work such as *I Dream of Jeannie* (1965) and stage productions. She was married to writer-director Henry J. Staudigl.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, catalog.afi.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *How Green Was My Valley* (1941), Fi1m 82, Costume design, Costume Design — [page](https://film.one/film/how-green-was-my-valley.md)
- *The Grapes of Wrath* (1940), Fi1m 86, Costume design, Costume Design — [page](https://film.one/film/the-grapes-of-wrath.md)
- *Alexander's Ragtime Band* (1938), Fi1m 70, Costume design, Costume Design — [page](https://film.one/film/alexanders-ragtime-band.md)

## Complete filmography (105)

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

- *Frankie and Johnny* (1966), Costume Design
- *Most Dangerous Man Alive* (1961), Wardrobe Designer
- *From the Earth to the Moon* (1958), Costume Design
- *The River's Edge* (1957), Costume Design
- *Johnny Concho* (1956), Costume Design
- *Great Day in the Morning* (1956), Costume Design
- *Blood Alley* (1955), Costume Design
- *Tennessee's Partner* (1955), Costume Designer
- *Escape to Burma* (1955), Costume Design
- *Track of the Cat* (1954), Costume Design
- *The High and the Mighty* (1954), Costume Design
- *Silver Lode* (1954), Wardrobe Designer
- *Samson and Delilah* (1949), Costume Design
- *Unconquered* (1947), Costume Designer
- *Cover Girl* (1944), Costume Design
- *Tales of Manhattan* (1942), Costume Design
- *Moontide* (1942), Costume Design, Costumer
- *This Above All* (1942), Costume Design
- *To the Shores of Tripoli* (1942), Costume Design
- *Song of the Islands* (1942), Costume Design
- *Roxie Hart* (1942), Costume Designer
- *Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake* (1942), Costume Design
- *Rise and Shine* (1941), Costume Design
- *Swamp Water* (1941), Costume Design
- *I Wake Up Screaming* (1941), Costume Design
- *How Green Was My Valley* (1941), Costume Design — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/how-green-was-my-valley.md)
- *Week-End in Havana* (1941), Costume Design
- *A Man Betrayed* (1941), Costume Design
- *Brigham Young* (1940), Costume Design
- *Young People* (1940), Costume Design
- *Johnny Apollo* (1940), Costume Design
- *Star Dust* (1940), Costume Design
- *The Grapes of Wrath* (1940), Costume Design — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/the-grapes-of-wrath.md)
- *The Blue Bird* (1940), Costume Design
- *Drums Along the Mohawk* (1939), Costume Designer
- *The Rains Came* (1939), Costume Design
- *The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes* (1939), Costume Design
- *Hotel for Women* (1939), Costume Design
- *Susannah of the Mounties* (1939), Costume Design
- *The Gorilla* (1939), Costume Designer
- *The Return of the Cisco Kid* (1939), Costume Design
- *The Hound of the Baskervilles* (1939), Costume Design
- *The Little Princess* (1939), Costume Design
- *Tail Spin* (1939), Costume Design
- *Kentucky* (1938), Costume Design
- *Submarine Patrol* (1938), Costume Design
- *Just Around the Corner* (1938), Costume Design
- *Gateway* (1938), Costume Design
- *Little Miss Broadway* (1938), Costume Design
- *I'll Give a Million* (1938), Costume Design
- *Three Blind Mice* (1938), Costume Design
- *Alexander's Ragtime Band* (1938), Costume Design — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/alexanders-ragtime-band.md)
- *Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm* (1938), Costume Design
- *Sally, Irene and Mary* (1938), Costume Design
- *Wife, Doctor and Nurse* (1937), Costume Design
- *Wake Up and Live* (1937), Costume Design
- *Wee Willie Winkie* (1937), Costume Design
- *Seventh Heaven* (1937), Costume Design
- *Nancy Steele Is Missing!* (1937), Costume Design
- *On the Avenue* (1937), Costume Design
- *Banjo on My Knee* (1936), Costume Design
- *White Hunter* (1936), Costume Design
- *Pigskin Parade* (1936), Costume Design
- *Ladies in Love* (1936), Costume Designer
- *Ramona* (1936), Costume Design
- *The Road to Glory* (1936), Costume Design
- *Poor Little Rich Girl* (1936), Costume Design
- *Private Number* (1936), Costume Design
- *Half Angel* (1936), Costume Design
- *Under Two Flags* (1936), Costume Design
- *Everybody's Old Man* (1936), Costume Design
- *The Prisoner of Shark Island* (1936), Costume Designer
- *It Had to Happen* (1936), Costume Design
- *King of Burlesque* (1936), Costume Design
- *The Littlest Rebel* (1935), Costume Design
- *The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo* (1935), Costume Design
- *Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round* (1934), Costume Design
- *The Affairs of Cellini* (1934), Costume Design
- *Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back* (1934), Costume Design
- *Born to Be Bad* (1934), Costume Design
- *The Last Gentleman* (1934), Costume Design
- *Looking for Trouble* (1934), Costume Design
- *Gallant Lady* (1933), Costume Design
- *Advice to the Lovelorn* (1933), Costume Design
- *Carnival Boat* (1932), Costume Design
- *Lady with a Past* (1932), Costume Design
- *A Woman Commands* (1932), Costume Design
- *Panama Flo* (1932), Costume Design
- *The Big Shot* (1931), Costume Design
- *Freighters of Destiny* (1931), Costume Supervisor
- *The Tip-Off* (1931), Costume Design
- *Devotion* (1931), Costume Design
- *The Big Gamble* (1931), Costume Design
- *Born to Love* (1931), Costume Design
- *Beyond Victory* (1931), Costume Design
- *The Painted Desert* (1931), Costume Design
- *Sin Takes a Holiday* (1930), Costume Design
- *Her Man* (1930), Costume Designer
- *Holiday* (1930), Costume Design
- *Swing High* (1930), Costume Design
- *This Thing Called Love* (1929), Costume Designer
- *Rich People* (1929), Costumer
- *The Racketeer* (1929), Costume Design
- *Her Private Affair* (1929), Costume Design
- *Paris Bound* (1929), Costume Design

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won

- 1951: Best Costume Design, Color (won), for *Samson and Delilah*

*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/gwen-wakeling