Mary Wills; Costume Designer Won Oscar for ‘Brothers Grimm’

Mary Lillian Wills, 82, Academy Award-winning costume designer. Born in Prescott, Ariz., Wills attended the universities of Arizona and New Mexico and was the first woman accepted to study at the Yale Art and Drama School, where she earned a master’s degree. For more than four decades, she designed costumes for Hollywood, adding her touch to such films as “Song of the South,” “Hans Christian Andersen,” “The Virgin Queen,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “A Certain Smile,” “Cape Fear,” “Carousel” and “Camelot.” Wills won an Oscar in 1962 for costumes in “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.” In addition to her work in films, Wills also designed costumes for ice shows and for such events as “The New Buffalo Bill Wild West Show” and Dorothy Hamill’s “Nutcracker on Ice.” On Friday in Sedona, Ariz.