The Robert Boyle papers span the years 1933-1979 (bulk 1930s-1960s). The collection contains production files and scripts, production design drawings, continuity drawings, pencil drawings, and photographs. The production files are particularly rich for films released during the 1970s and 1980s. There are also hundreds of production design drawings from such films as THE BIRDS (1963), GAILY, GAILY (1969), IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953), MARNIE (1974), and NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959). There are also copies of additional drawings by Boyle for THE BIRDS and NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Original drawings by Alfred Hitchcock for NORTH BY NORTHWEST, SABOTEUR (1942), and SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943) are of particular interest. The photograph series consists primarily of prints, transparencies, and slides of production, location, research, and biography photographs. More than a dozen films from FITZWILLY (1967) to DRAGNET (1987) are represented.

Robert F. Boyle (1909-2010) was born in Los Angeles and raised in the San Joaquin Valley, in central California. After graduating with a degree in architecture from the University of Southern California in 1933 he wasn’t able to find steady work in the field due to the great Depression. After an acting stint, he was hired as a draftsman at Paramount. There Boyle worked simultaneously as a draftsman, illustrator, and assistant under art director Hans Dreier. For Universal, Boyle art directed his first film, Alfred Hitchcock’s SABOTEUR (1942). During World War II he served in the Army Signal Corps as a combat photographer. Following the war he married Bess Taffel, a screenwriter at RKO. He continued to collaborate with Hitchcock on such films as NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) and THE BIRDS (1963). Among other directors he worked with are Hal Ashby, Arthur Hiller, Norman Jewison, Tom Mankiewicz, and Penny Marshall. Boyle was credited as art director or production designer on nearly 100 feature films. He received Academy Award nominations in the art direction category for NORTH BY NORTHWEST, GAILY GAILY (1969), FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971), and THE SHOOTIST (1976); and was a recipient of a 2007 Honorary Award. He served multiple terms as an Academy governor representing the art directors branch from 1975 to 1997 and was associated with the American Film Institute as a lecturer on production design for many years.