After his marriage failed in the late 1970s , he reactivated his network of film contacts and this led to a job offer on a film that was being made in London . From there he moved back into the mainstream film and TV industry where he enjoyed considerable success over the next 20 years . He split his time principally between the UK and New Orleans where he worked on both TV and film projects . The pinnacle of his success was achieved in 1986 when he jointly won the Oscar with Elio Altramura for Set Design & Art Direction on the Merchant Ivory production of '' A Room with a View '' . The Oscar was presented to him by Isabella Rossellini and Christopher Reeve at the 59th Academy Awards ceremony on 30 March 1987 and he publicly thanked James Ivory from the podium . The competing nominations in that year were '' Aliens '' , '' The Mission '' , '' The Color of Money '' and '' Hannah and her Sisters '' . He also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Series on Dinosaurs for the episode " The Mating Dance " . He was also a member of the Art Directors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
59th Academy Awards
59th Academy Awards
Brian Savegar