HAROLD AND LILLIAN: A HOLLYWOOD LOVE STORY (2017)

With Lillian Michelson and director Daniel Raim.

The 2017 Film Librarians Conference, Documenting Cinema: Film Librarianship in the 21st Century, presented a preview of the documentary Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story.

The inspiring love story between storyboard artist Harold Michelson and film research librarian Lillian Michelson spanned more than 60 years, during which they contributed to some of Hollywood’s most iconic examples of visual storytelling.

Lillian Michelson meticulously researched details for some of Hollywood’s greatest films, including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and Scarface (1983). The late Harold Michelson started out as a storyboard artist working on films such as The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur (1959), Spartacus (1960), Cleopatra (1963) and The Graduate (1967). He became an art director and production designer in the late 1960s, earning Oscar nominations for Star Trek – The Motion Picture (1979) and Terms of Endearment (1983). Harold and Lillian worked with such directors as Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Francis Ford Coppola and Mel Brooks; many of the couple’s colleagues share their stories and recollections of the Michelsons in the film. Through these stories, film clips and love letters, the documentary explores the important and lasting role of Harold and Lillian in Hollywood history.

A Zeitgeist Films release. Written and directed by Daniel Raim. Produced by Daniel Raim, Jennifer Raim.