James J. Murakami was an American production designer and art director who lived from June 4, 1931, to December 15, 2022.
In 2006, Murakami received an Emmy Award for his contributions to the television series Deadwood. For his work on the movie Changeling, Murakami was nominated in 2008 for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction (2008).
As the recipient of the ADG Award for Lifetime Achievement for 2018, Murakami was honored by the Art Directors Guild.
Murakami contributed to several Clint Eastwood movies, such as J. Edgar (2010), Hereafter (2009), and Invictus (2009) (2011).
James J. Murakami children: Meet Patricia Murakami, John and Sandee
After finishing work on Sully, Murakami retired in 2016, and the Art Directors Guild honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award two years later.
Patricia, his daughter, and John and Sandee, his stepchildren, are among his survivors in addition to his wife.
For production designer Dean Tavoularis and director Francis Ford Coppola, Murakami worked as an associate art director on The Godfather Part II (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979), One From the Heart (1981), and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).
After that, he collaborated with the production designer and art director Henry Bumstead on Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven (1992), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), and Letters From Iwo Jima (2000) films (2006).
