Costume Designer. A graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York, designed costumes for over 70 theatrical productions, musicals, operas, ballets, Television specials and series. He was once former head costumer at NBC Studios in Burbank, California until the early 1980’s. He designed apparel for such celebrities as Lynne Redgrave, Lena Horne, Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Gloria Swanson, Brooke Shields, Gloria Estefan, Gladys Knight, Milton Berle, Doc Severensen and countless others. The New York City Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet also used his designs for performances. Bill Belew is most famously known as the costume designer to Elvis Presley from 1968 until his death in 1977. He created the outfits Presley wore on the 1968 NBC Singer Special titled ‘Elvis’ as well as the NBC television special ‘Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii’. Presley once said of the costumes, “If the songs don’t go over we can do a medley of costumes.” Along with all of Elvis’ stage costumes, he designed Elvis’ personal wardrobe as well. Still owning the artistic designs of his most famous works, on May 25, 1983 he gave exclusive permission to the owners of a costume company in Indiana to copy his works. To the man known through out the world as “the man who dressed the King” he was now designing works for the soon to be countless number of Elvis impersonators. (bio by: Allcalmap)