Gile Steele

Gile Steele was a Cinema of [the United States|Hollywood] costume designer.
His career began at MGM in 1938 with one of his first assignments being the Norma Shearer film Marie [Antoinette (1938 film)|Marie Antoinette]. He also worked on many of the company's prestige pictures including Pride and Prejudice and Boom Town, Blossoms in the Dust and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mrs. Miniver and Madame Curie. He was one of the first nominees when the category for Academy [Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design] was introduced at the Academy Awards in 1948 for his work on The Emperor Waltz.
He won the Oscar for Best Costume design for The Heiress in 1949 and Samson and Delilah in 1950.
Steele was also an amateur painter of some note.

Death

Steele died around midnight on the evening of January 15-16, 1952. He was driving on Sepulveda Blvd. in Santa Monica when a wall of floodwater high swept his car from the road and deposited it away in a stormwater drainage area. He drowned before rescuers could get to him.
Steele was divorced. He was survived by his former wife, Barbara Spencer, and his three young children.