Bonnie and Clyde: When Theadora Went Wild

No matter which film captures this year’s Oscar for best costume design, one thing is certain: the winning clothes will not be nearly so influential as those worn by Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde. The two outlaws’ outfits -- Bonnie’s berets, soft scarves, and mid-calf skirts; Clyde’s snappy fedoras and well-tailored suits – took the fashion world by storm. Young women who’d been strutting around town in thigh-high minis suddenly discovered the elegance of 1930s styling. Overnight they traded the baby-doll Twiggy look for Bonnie’s bias-cut silks and hems well below the knee.

The designer of those captivating clothes was Theadora Van Runkle, working on her very first film. Later Van Runkle credits include Bullitt, The Godfather Part II, and Peggy Sue Got Married, as well as Myra Breckinridge, which she herself called “arguably the worst movie ever made.” Awed by her reputation (and that remarkable name), I was sure that Theadora would be haughty and unapproachable. Hardly. When I phoned her to talk about film in the Sixties, she turned out to be delightfully chatty. We got along so famously that we tried making plans to meet. Alas, it was not to be. Theadora passed away last November at age 83.

Theadora’s movie career came out of nowhere. A single mom supporting herself as an illustrator, she couldn’t afford to see many films. But one day she took the kids to a bargain screening of Lawrence of Arabia. Theadora remembered, “I was so inspired – I came home and I was watering the garden, and this rainbow appeared over the roses. I said, ‘I’ve got to have some recognition for my art work. I’ve got to.’ I begged the universe to give me recognition.” The following day, she got a call from legendary costumer Dorothy Jeakins, who knew her sketch work. Jeakins, who was off to Rome to work on Reflections in a Golden Eye, passed on to her "a little cowboy movie at Warner Bros.” that turned out to be Bonnie and Clyde.

Van Runkle’s portfolio impressed director Arthur Penn and producer/star Warren Beatty, but she was such a novice that she thought movies were shot in sequence. Early only, when Beatty saw her working on Faye Dunaway’s frock for the film’s opening sequence, he chewed her out. Theadora insists he was right, that she didn’t know what she was doing. She learned quickly, though. Dunaway, she discovered, had a passion for detail, as well as the perfect body for languid Thirties styles that could be worn bra-less. (By contrast Estelle Parsons wore bits and pieces because she rejected Van Runkle’s designs, except for one iconic jodphur outfit.)

When it came time to verify screen credits, Beatty assumed she’d modify her moniker, since he considered Theadora Van Runkle “the ugliest fucking name I ever heard.” (“Thea Vee” was his suggested fix.) But Theadora stuck to her guns, and soon her full name appeared among the ranks of Oscar nominees. She didn’t win -- that honor went to John Trescott, whose exquisitely detailed work on Camelot was not really captured by the cameras. But Theadora moved on to other films and other kudos, including one unforgettable publicity event.

In 1968 the brand-new Century City Shopping Mall, sitting on land that was once the Fox backlot, held a weeklong festival with a Bonnie and Clyde theme. Shops put fake bullet-holes on their windows, and announced that their prices were “a steal.” Theadora and Faye, dressed in period finery, were special guests, and she never forgot the coverage given to “Miss Dunaway’s beauty and Miss Van Runkle’s shapely legs.”