---
name: "Mary Wills"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/mary-wills"
roles: ["Costume designer"]
born: "4 July 1914"
died: "7 February 1997"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-20T03:33:48.471396+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."
---

# Mary Wills

Costume designer. Born 4 July 1914 in Prescott, Arizona, USA. Died 7 February 1997.

## Details

- **Work:** Costume designer
- **Born:** 4 July 1914, Prescott, Arizona, USA
- **Died:** 7 February 1997
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 6 nominated)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wills_(costume_designer), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q518558, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0932683/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/26174

## Biography

Mary Wills (1914–1997) was an American costume designer. She studied at the University of Arizona and the University of New Mexico, where she began creating sets and costumes, and earned a master's degree at the Yale University School of Drama. Her first Hollywood work was as a sketch artist on *Gone with the Wind* (1939).

Wills designed costumes for numerous films, including *Song of the South* (1946), *Hans Christian Andersen* (1952), *The Diary of Anne Frank* (1959), *Cape Fear* (1962) and *The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm* (1962). She received seven Academy Award nominations and won the award for Best Costume Design for *The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm*. She also designed for live shows such as Shipstads & Johnson's Ice Follies and the New Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.

Wills died in Sedona, Arizona.

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

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Diary of Anne Frank* (1959), Fi1m 58, Costume design, Costume Design — [page](https://film.one/film/the-diary-of-anne-frank.md)

## Complete filmography (28)

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

- *Camelot* (1982), Costume Designer
- *The Passover Plot* (1976), Costume Designer
- *The Diary of Anne Frank* (1967), Costume Design
- *The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm* (1962), Costume Design
- *Cape Fear* (1962), Costume Design
- *The Wonderful Country* (1959), Costume Design
- *The Diary of Anne Frank* (1959), Costume Design — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/the-diary-of-anne-frank.md)
- *Fraulein* (1958), Costume Designer
- *A Hatful of Rain* (1957), Costume Design
- *The Wayward Bus* (1957), Costume Designer
- *Bigger Than Life* (1956), Costume Design
- *Love Me Tender* (1956), Costume Design
- *Teenage Rebel* (1956), Costume Design
- *Between Heaven and Hell* (1956), Costume Design
- *The Last Wagon* (1956), Costume Design
- *Carousel* (1956), Costume Design
- *Good Morning, Miss Dove* (1955), Costume Design
- *The Virgin Queen* (1955), Costume Design
- *Hans Christian Andersen* (1952), Costume Design
- *I Want You* (1951), Costume Design
- *Edge of Doom* (1950), Costume Design
- *Our Very Own* (1950), Costume Design, Costumer
- *The Capture* (1950), Costume Design
- *My Foolish Heart* (1950), Costume Design
- *Roseanna McCoy* (1949), Costume Design
- *Enchantment* (1948), Costume Design
- *Song of the South* (1946), Costume Design
- *Belle of the Yukon* (1944), Costume Design

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won, 6 nominated

- 1977: Best Costume Design (nominated), for *The Passover Plot*
- 1963: Best Costume Design, Color (won), for *The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm*
- 1960: Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (nominated), for *The Diary of Anne Frank*
- 1959: Best Costume Design (nominated), for *A Certain Smile*
- 1957: Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (nominated), for *Teenage Rebel*
- 1956: Best Costume Design, Color (nominated), for *The Virgin Queen*
- 1953: Best Costume Design, Color (nominated), for *Hans Christian Andersen*

*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/mary-wills