Dwight Franklin

George Dwight Franklin (1888–1971) was an American artist, taxidermist, naturalist, museum curator and costume designer for early Hollywood films.

Personal life Dwight Franklin was born on January 28, 1888, in New York City. He married Mary C. McCall Jr., a novelist and screenwriter, in January 1928. They divorced in February 1943 and he married Eliza Moultrie Franklin in 1947. They remained married until his death. Some time between 1920 and 1925, Dwight Franklin joined nearly 250 bohemians in signing The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door at Frank Shay's Bookshop on Christopher Street. The door is now held at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin and Franklin's signature can be found on front panel 3.

Franklin died on January 19, 1971, in Santa Monica, California.

Career Dwight Franklin began working in 1906 as a taxidermist for the American Museum of Natural History. In 1910, he participated in a museum-sponsored expedition to Moon Lake in Mississippi, part of the habitat of the American paddlefish. Franklin created many figurines and sculptures. He built historical dioramas for the American Museum of Natural History, the Brooklyn Children's Museum, The Newark Museum of Art and the Museum of the City of New York.

In 1915, Franklin founded the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists with John Treadwell Nichols and Henry Weed Fowler.

In the early 1930s, Franklin moved from New York City to Los Angeles to begin work as a costume designer for Hollywood films. Name Genre Year Role The Black Pirate Adventure, action 1926 Consultant Treasure Island Adventure, family 1934 Technical advisor Anthony Adverse Adventure, drama, romance 1936 Technical consultant; 18th-century costumes The Plainsman Western 1936 Costume designer The Buccaneer Adventure, biography, drama 1938 Reap the Wild Wind Action, adventure, drama 1942 Wardrobe designer The Adventures of Mark Twain Adventure, biography, drama 1944 Technical advisor Frenchman's Creek Adventure, drama, romance 1944 Technical advisor Sinbad, the Sailor Adventure, family, fantasy 1947 Men's costume designer Unconquered Adventure, drama, history 1947 Production illustrator Tycoon Adventure, drama, romance 1947 Men's wardrobe The Exile Adventure, romance 1947 Samson and Delilah Drama, family, history 1949 Illustrator Fair Wind to Java Action, adventure, drama 1953 Technical advisor