Roger Rabbit set designer Roy Barnes dies, 70

Posted:
Nov 4, 2006

Set designer Roy Barnes, whose films included the partly animated 1988 feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, died Sunday in San Gabriel, California from the effects of lung and bone cancer. He was 70.

He was born Roy Lee Barnes on February 9, 1936 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania to Louis and Irene Barnes. He graduated from McKeesport High School, later attending Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles.

In 1956, Barnes moved to the Los Angeles area, where he spent the rest of his life.

For many years, he worked as an art director for Universal Studios and many other Hollywood studios and independent producers, receiving screen credits for many of his films on which he worked. These included Basic Instinct, The Bodyguard and The Last Samurai.

"Until his illness, he dreamed of retiring to a place where the sun always shines and the temperature is always warm," his obituary read. "He wanted to build a dream hacienda there where he and his wife could spend their golden years surrounded by the many antiques they had lovingly acquired over the years."

Roy Barnes is survived by wife Ruth, of San Gabriel; daughter Tanja Tamarinda Barnes, of Van Nuys, California; and brother Louis Richard Barnes of Pasadena, California; as well as several aunts and uncles and many cousins in the southwestern Pennsylvania area.

A memorial service was held Friday afternoon at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California. Those who wish may donate to their favorite charities in his memory.