// Workers AI · dad joke modeWho's Jean-Pierre Dorléac? A lace designer, sewiously.

Jean-Pierre Dorléac
Dorléac with British-American actress Olivia Hussey, circa 1978
Born	Jerome Benson Paine (1943-04-12)12 April 1943 San Bernardino, California
Died	23 July 2026(2026-07-23) (aged 83) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other name	Jean-Pierre Dorléac
Occupation	Costume designer
Years active	1972–2004

Jean-Pierre Dorléac (born Jerome Benson Paine; 12 April 1943 – 23 July 2026) was an American costume designer whose work has appeared in film, television, theatre, variety, opera and burlesque.

Life and career

Dorléac was born Jerome Benson Paine in San Bernardino, California, on 12 April 1943 to an American military family of Ruby Mae Culver and Joseph Paine. In the 1960s, Jerome served as an enlisted member of the US Air Force, and took courses in theater, where he pursued acting. His acting career was not successful. Preferring to design costumes, he started his career in the theatrical and film industry in the United States in 1972, where he first assumed the name Jean-Pierre Dorléac for a stage production of Marat/Sade. He was nominated at the 53rd Academy Awards in the category of Best Costumes for his work on the 1980 film Somewhere in Time.

Additionally he was nominated for eleven Emmy Awards, winning twice for the 1978 TV series Battlestar Galactica and the 1999-2001 TV series The Lot. He was also nominated for Quantum Leap five times, along with Mae West, Lily Dale, The Bastard and Tales of the Gold Monkey.

He was also known for films The Blue Lagoon, Heart and Souls, and Leave It to Beaver among many others.

Examples of his work have been exhibited worldwide: LACMA displayed his costumes for the exhibition and book Hollywood and History: Costume Design in Film as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, the Palais de la civilisation, Montreal, Canada, and in the Place Vendôme, Paris, France.

Dorléac worked throughout the world, principally in France, Spain, Brazil and Uruguay.

In 2015, The Naked Truth: An Irreverent Chronicle of Delirious Escapades was released. The book details accounts of Hollywood's last gasp for glamour in the 80's after the corporations took over the studios and sold off the massive period collection of one-of-a-kind historic garments in order to make rental money on the facilities in which they were kept. The book also included accounts of select Hollywood names that he knew or worked with, ranging from Fred Astaire to Edith Head.

Dorléac died at his home in Hollywood Hills on 23 July 2026, at the age of 83. He was survived by his husband, Gilberto Mello.

Selected filmography

Films

• The Great Smokey Roadblock (1977)
• Good Guys Wear Black (1978)
• Battlestar Galactica (1978)
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)
• The Blue Lagoon (1980)
• Somewhere in Time (1980)
• National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982)
• The Boss' Wife (1986)
• The Killing Time (1987)
• Heart and Souls (1993)
• The Only Thrill (1997)
• Leave It to Beaver (1997)
• Walking to the Waterline (1998)
• In Enemy Hands (2004)

Television movies

• The Bastard (1978)
• The Rebels (1979)
• Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls (1981)
• Twirl (1981)
• Mae West (1982)
• Rooster (1982)
• Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story (1982)
• Airwolf (1984)
• The Highwayman (1987)
• For the Very First Time (1991)
• A Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story (1994)
• An Element of Truth (1995)
• Dead Man's Island (1995)
• Lily Dale (1996)

Television series

• Battlestar Galactica (1978)
• Galactica 1980 (1980)
• The Greatest American Hero (1981)
• Tales of the Gold Monkey (1983)
• Emerald Point N.A.S. (1983)
• Masquerade (1983)
• Automan (1983)
• Knight Rider (1984)
• Airwolf (1984)
• Cover Up (1984)
• Max Headroom (1987)
• Jake and the Fatman (1987)
• Matlock (1988)
• Quantum Leap (1989–91)
• The Lot (2001)

External links

• Jean-Pierre Dorleac at IMDb
• The Costume Designers Guild presents "Movie Night: A Conversation with the Costume Designer" (2019 interview)