Motion Picture Art Director. He will be best remembered for his work as a production designer (although uncredited), and as an associate director on the classic film, "The Wizard Of Oz" (1939), which starred Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Toto, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr, for which he was also nominated for an Academy Award. He was born as William Allen Horning in Springfield, Missouri, to William Henry Horning (-1955), and his wife Effie Mary Wright Horning (1870-1964), on November 9, 1904. He was educated locally and then attended and graduated from the School of Architecture at the University of California in Los Angeles, California. He then began working as a draftsman for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Studios in 1931. He also became an assistant to Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Studio's's supervising art director Cedric Gibbons in 1936. The following year they won an Academy Award for the biographical film about the mistress of Napoleon, "Conquest" (1937), which starred Greta Garbo and Charles Boyer. He was also nominated for another Academy Award for the classic film, "The Wizard Of Oz" (1939), and another Academy Award for the historical epic drama film, "Quo Vadis" (1951). Besides, "Conquest" (1937), "The Wizard Of Oz" (1939), and "Quo Vadis" (1951), his many other film credits as a production designer, associate art director, and art director, include, "Shadow Of Doubt" (1935), "Times Square Lady" (1935), "Age Of Indiscretion" (1935), "The Flame Within" (1935), "Mad Love" (1935), "Here Comes The Band" (1935), "Whipsaw" (1935), "Ah Wilderness!" (1935), "Wife vs. Secretary" (1936), "Fury" (1936), "The Gorgeous Hussy" (1936), "Libeled Lady" (1936), "Parnell" (1937), "Marie Antoinette" (1938), "The Power And The Prize" (1956), "Tea And Sympathy" (1956), "The Great American Pastime" (1956), and "The Teahouse Of The August Moon" (1956). In 1956, Cedric Gibbons retired from his position as Metro-Goldwyn Mayer's supervising art director and he replaced him in that position. He was then nominated for two more Academy Awards for "Les Girls" (1957), a musical comedy that starred Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, and Kay Kendall, and "Raintree Country" (1957), a romance set during the American Civil War which starred Montgomery Clift, Lee Marvin, Nigel Patrick, Eve Marie Saint, and Elizabeth Taylor. Besides, "Les Girls" (1957), and "Raintree Country" (1957), his many other film credits include, "Slander" (1957), "The Wings Of Eagles" (1957), "Hot Summer Night" (1957), "Ten Thousand Bedrooms" (1957), "Designing Woman" (1957), "Something Of Value" (1957), "This Could Be The Night" (1957), "The Seventh Sin" (1957), "Silk Stockings" (1957), "Man On Fire" (1957), "Gun Glory" (1957), "House Of Numbers" (1957), "Tip On A Dead Jockey" (1957), "The Hired Gun" (1957), "Until They Sail" (1957), "Jailhouse Rock" (1957), "Don't Go Near The Water" (1957), "The Brothers Karamazov" (1958), "Merry Andrew" (1958), "Saddle In The Wind" (1958), "Handle With Care" (1958), "The Sheepman" (1958), "The High Cost Of Living" (1958), "High School Confidential!" (1958), "The Law And Jake Wade" (1958), "Imitation General" (1958), "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" (1958), "The Badlanders" (1958), "Torpedo Run" (1958), "Party Girl" (1958), "The Tunnel Of Love" (1958), "Some Came Running" (1958), "Gigi" (1958), "Andy Hardy Comes Home" (1958), "Night Of The Quarter Moon" (1959), "Green Mansions" (1959), "Watusi" (1959), "The World, The Flesh And The Devil" (1959), "Count Your Blessings" (1959), "The Mating Game" (1959), "Ask Any Girl" (1959), "Ben Hur" (1959), and "The Beat Generation" (1959). He also worked on television including, "Northwest Passage" (1958-1959, fifteen episodes), "One Step Beyond" (1959, fifteen episodes), "Union Pacific" (1959, four episodes), "The Thin Man" (1957-1959, 65 episodes), and "The Lawless Years" (1959, eight episodes). He received another Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Art Direction for the musical comedy, "Gigi" (1958), which starred Leslie Caron, Hermione Gingold, Maurice Chevalier, and Louis Jourdan, at the 31st Academy Awards that was held at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, California, on April 6, 1959. He also received an Academy Award nomination for British film director Alfred Hitchcock's "North By Northwest" (1959), which starred Cary Grant, and another Academy Award nomination for the epic film, "Ben-Hur" (1959), which starred Charlton Heston as the title character. He won the Academy Award for "Ben-Hur" (1959), in the category of Best Art Direction at the 32nd Academy Awards which was held at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, California, on April 4, 1960. During his career, he won a total of eight Academy Award nominations, two that were posthumously awarded because of his death. The producer Sam Zimbalist had also passed away the previous November during the film's production and he was also awarded a posthumous Academy Award. To date, he is the only person ever to win posthumous Academy Awards in consecutive ceremonies. Two more films that he worked on were also released posthumously following his death. the western, and war adventure, "Mission Of Death" (1960), and "Fury River" (1961), which were both related to the "Northwest Passage," television series that he had also worked on. He had spent his entire career at Metro Goldwyn-Mayer Studios from 1931 to 1959. He was married to Esther Morton Montgomery Horning (1903-2001), in Marin, California, on April 2, 1925, with whom he had two children.