Mel Bourne, theproduction designer and longtime Woody Allen collaborator who received threeOscar nominations during his career, has died in New York. He was 79.

He was born inChicago on Nov 22, 1923, and after serving in the Second World War became anassistant to the legendary theatrical designer Robert Edmond Jones beforemoving into television, where he designed such shows as Howdy Doody, TheHallmark Hall of Fameand The Goldbergs.

After a spate ofcommercial work he was invited by Woody Allen in 1976 to design Annie Hall. The pair went on to work together onseven Allen pictures, including Interiors, for which he received an Academy Award nomination in 1979,Manhattan and BroadwayDanny Rose. Bourneworked with a host of established directors, including Michael Mann, AdrianLyne and Terry Gilliam. Among his best know feature credits are FatalAttraction, Cocktail andManhunter by MichaelMann, for whom he was production designer on the original pilot for thetelevision series Miami Vice. Bourne also received Oscar nominations for The Natural in 1985 and The Fisher King in 1992. He died of heart failure on Jan14 at New York Presbyterian Hospital following a short illness.