Costume Designer. He was a Hollywood costume designer, who earned four Emmy Awards. He designed costumes for theatre, film, and television. Best known for dressing Candice Bergen in the television sitcom "Murphy Brown." The colorful blazers, short pencil shirts, and high heel shoes worn by the actress's character, a savvy anchorwoman, gave an edgy, modern look that inspired women's' dress in the workplace in the late 1980s. The red silk blazer worn in the opening episode especially garnered attention and was emulated in New York fashion collections for eight seasons. He had a true passion for dressing elegant women. He designed Oscar gowns for Geena Davis for four Academy Award ceremonies, as well as fashioning outfits for Annie Potts, Delta Burke, Kim Basinger Barbara Mandrell, Ethel Merman, Mary Tyler Moore, and Pam Dawber, as well as for the contestants in three Miss America Pageants. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, his career beginnings were with the St. Louis Municipal Opera where he initially volunteered on summer breaks as a high school student before working in the wardrobe department. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago Goodman School of Theatre in Chicago, Illinois from 1953 to 1958, where he earned a master's degree in costume and set design. He was a student of Theoni Aldredge. While he is best known for his work in television, his first love was theatre. His grandmother gifted him season tickets to local productions from the time he was 6 years old. After college, he moved to New York City where he worked in design for Broadway productions. There he assisted Theoni Aldredge and Donald Brooks. In 1979, he designed costumes for the Broadway revivals of "Peter Pan" and "Oklahoma!" In 1966, he moved to Hollywood to assist Brooks on the production of "Star," featuring Julie Andrews. It was in Hollywood that he transitioned into television. He worked for NBC's Burbank Studios, then Universal Studios. In 1985, he started Bill Hargate Costumes, a costume house and shop in Los Angeles that still operates today. The shop advertises costume makers, wardrobe construction, and costume rentals. He was nominated for a total of 12 Emmy Awards, receiving four for his work in "Pinocchio" in 1977, "Once Upon a Brothers Grimm" in 1978, "Sylvia Fine Kaye's Musical Comedy Tonight III" in 1986, and "Murphy Brown" in 1991. Besides his Emmy awards, he received the Aldo Award from the Menswear Association of America in 1995 and the Costume Designers Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. His died from the complications of leukemia. A collection of his, which includes biographical documents, awards, and articles, playbills, photographs, set sketches, costume design sketches, reviews, and newspaper clippings, have been archived at DePaul University in Chicago.