Hollywood movie set designer Peter Howitt, born on May 5th 1957 in Manchester, has passed away. He played the roles of actor, director and set designer throughout his long and fulfilling career, collaborating with some of the best actors, producers and directors of his time. Peter was 93 years old. 

Peter moved to Malta in the 1970s and settled in Gozo. He later decided to relocate to Valletta in the 1990s. Whilst having a knack for bringing sets to life by creating magical productions in the local theater scene, mainly for the YADA Dance Company and MADC, he was also a mentor to many theatre people here in Malta, and helped many build their career. 

It was never Peter’s intention to become a set designer, in fact he held an art exhibition showing off his eye-catching paintings here in Malta in 2015. This included a collection of 66 paintings using different mediums, spanning from acrylics and oil to pencil and watercolours. The images mainly consisted of his perspective of the Maltese countryside. 

His big break came about as a result of his work on the set of Anne of the Thousand Days in 1969, when he was given the opportunity to work with Richard Burton, earning him acclaim in the industry. This four-time Oscar nominee was mostly known for his sets in many Blockbuster Hollywood movies including Braveheart, The Great Gatsby, Indiana Jones, Mission: Impossible and Superman. 

Bonus Fact!

Peter was the only British director to have two UK films in the all-time top ten at the same time in 2003.