Aggie Guerard Rodgers, Costume Designer
Aggie Guerard Rodgers graduated with a master's degree in theatre costume design from Cal State Long Beach in 1970. Immediately following, she moved to San Francisco where she was the last and most fortunate costume designer to interview for American Graffiti. Although she had no experience in film costume design, she hit the jackpot as production manager James Hogan realized she understood the script: Hogan asked, "Do you know anything about dragging the main?" And she replied matter-of-factly, "My sister has a '54 Ford with no door handles." Hogan excused himself, returned with George Lucas and all came to realize that the director and Aggie graduated high school the same year 20 miles apart in California's Central Valley. From the very beginning, Aggie's personal connection to the material she takes on was ingrained in her work.Firmly settled in the Bay Area, she has since found herself a member of the area's tight clique of filmmakers working time and again with George Lucas (American Graffiti, The Return of the Jedi), Francis Ford Coppola (The Conversation, The Rainmaker, Jack), Chris Columbus (Rent), Philip Kaufman (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), and John Korty (A Farewell To Manzanar). She has remained in the Bay Area her whole career, traveling to Los Angeles and to locations around the globe whenever work strikes. Such ventures outside the Bay Area have seen her paired with Milos Foreman (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest), Ron Howard (Cocoon), Tim Burton (Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice), Norman Jewison (In Country, The Hurricane) and an Academy Award Nominated collaboration with Steven Spielberg (The Color Purple).
Born in Fresno, California, 1943 to F.A. Reid Guerard and John Guerard. Met Peter Laxton in 1979 and married in June 1980. They have two children: James Laxton, a young cinematographer, and Thomas Laxton, a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta.