Oscar winner Barbara Ling, who recreated 1969 Los Angeles for Tarantino, dies at 73

Barbara Ling, the Oscar-winning production designer who meticulously evoked 1969 Los Angeles for Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,' died on July 9 after a battle with cancer. She was 73, according to Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

VarietyBarbara Ling, Oscar-winning production designer of 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,' dies at 73

Ling won the Academy Award for Best Production Design for Tarantino's 2019 film, a career capstone that The Hollywood Reporter described as a feat of "recreating 1969 Los Angeles." Her ability to transport audiences to specific eras and environments was on display across four decades of work, from Oliver Stone's 'The Doors' to Joel Schumacher's 'Falling Down' and the Batman films 'Batman Forever' and 'Batman & Robin,' according to Variety.

"Ling began her career as a lighting designer on 'The Pee-Wee Herman Show' (1981) before moving into production design with David Byrne's 'True Stories' (1986)."

Deadline noted that she "found her stride in the 1980s and 1990s" with films like 'Less Than Zero,' laying the groundwork for a career that would eventually earn Hollywood's highest honor.

Most recently, Ling had been working on the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic 'Michael,' slated for 2026, according to both Variety and Deadline. Her death cuts short a legacy that Variety summed up as a "career spanned four decades in Hollywood production design," leaving behind a visual imprint on some of the most iconic films of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.