'Avengers: Endgame' set decorator Leslie Pope dies at 65
Marvel studios collaborator Leslie A Pope has died. The Oscar-nominated set decorator had undergone surgery in February and was expected to be recovering at home, before she died on May 6, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 65. Her Oscar nomination came in 2003, after working on Gary Ross's 'Seabiscuit'. She shared the nomination with Jeannine Oppewall.
Her friend, Trish Gallaher Glenn announced the news, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Pope had carved a name for herself in the superhero genre and had done a handful of features in 'Avengers: Endgame', 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier', 'Ant-Man', and 'The Amazing Spider-Man'. She was also awarded Excellence in Production Design nods from the Art Directors Guild for her work in 'Endgame' and 'Catch Me If You Can'. Disney had also tried pushing Pope and production designer Charles Wood for Best Production Design for the Oscars this year.
'Avengers: Endgame', was the culmination of 10 years worth of storytelling with a stellar star cast, and became the highest-grossing films, surpassing James Cameron's 'Avatar' and 'Titanic' record. 'Seabiscuit', a sports drama based on the racing career of the thoroughbred racehorse, was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Writing, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
Apart from serving as a set decorator, Pope had also earned four production designer credits throughout her career, two television movies — 'Daybreak' and 'Women & Men 2: In Love There Are No Rules' — and 'The Lucky Ones', Neil Burger's dramedy starring Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins and Michael Peña.
Born on June 2, 1954, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Leslie Ann Pope had attended Antioch College and earned a bachelor's degree in biology. She moved to New York City in 1979 to start a career in showbiz. She broke into the film business with her first Hollywood credits coming in 1985 on 'Almost You'. Outside of Marvel, Pope also earned credits on 'Ghostbusters', 'This Is 40', 'Django Unchained', 'Get Him to the Greek', 'Funny People' and 'Spanglish', among others.