Leonard Doss, 88; Color Consultant on More Than 100 Films

Leonard Fredrick Doss, 88, a color consultant for more than 100 motion pictures from 1945 to the epic “Cleopatra” in 1963, died Thursday in Palm Springs of causes associated with aging.

A native of Chicago, Doss graduated from Northwestern University and then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked for Technicolor Inc. as a color consultant at 20th Century Fox.

He earned his first credit on the 1945 film “San Antonio,” starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith. Other films he helped color include “David and Bathsheba,” “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” “The King and I,” “Bus Stop,” “South Pacific,” “Can Can Follies” and “Elmer Gantry.”

Doss later worked as color consultant and set director for Shipstad & Johnson Ice Follies, and was an architect and interior designer for the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. He designed three exhibits for the 1964 New York World’s Fair and spent four years as director of interior design for Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

He capped his career with 15 years as director of design for Hilton Hotels, responsible for the look of all 275 of its complexes in the U.S.

After retiring to Palm Springs in 1992, Doss served on the board of the Mizel Senior Center and was a founding member of the Prime Timers of the Desert.