Robert Boyle (1909 - 2010) A Los Angeles native, Boyle trained as an architect at the University of Southern California. He began working in the movies on Cecl B. DeMille's The Plainsman (1936) as a sketch artist, but by the early 1940s  he became an art direct at Universal Studios. He may be best known for his work on four films of Alfred Hitchcock, more than any other art director; Saboteur, North by Northwest, The Birds and Marnie.