Boyle, Edward George

Edward George Boyle was born on 31 January 1898 in Cobden, Ontario, to Robert, a harness maker, and Mary Boyle. He was the last of five children.

When Edward went to Ottawa to attest for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) on 9 August 1916, he claimed his occupation was that of a farmer and still living with his family in Cobden. By 1916 his mother was listed as deceased and he named his father as his next of kin. He joined the 73rd Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery and left Canada on 28 April 1917 aboard SS Olympic, arriving in the United Kingdom a week later. He was assigned to the 9th Reserve Battalion and spent some of the year in depot duties. However, in August 1917, he was transferred to the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) and by November was with his new unit in France. Shortly thereafter he contracted tonsillitis and was hospitalized for much of the spring of 1918. He was back in the field in April 1918 and, by August, was with the PPCLI and Royal Canadian Regiment in supporting British operations at Amiens at the start of the 100 Days offensive. During the period of 9 to 15 August, the PPCLI was ordered to relieve some British units in an attempt to push the Germans out of Parvilliers. The costs included in this action included 23 killed and 122 wounded or missing. Private Boyle was one of the latter, receiving a severe machine gun wound to his right groin on the 14th of August. After a period at the No.3 Stationary Hospital at Rouen, where his condition was stabilized, he was evacuated to the United Kingdom, to the Canadian Hospital in Kent, after a short stay at Epsom. By the end of January 1919, he was invalided back to Canada where he was sent to Queens University Hospital for rehabilitation. He was eventually discharged as medically unfit in Kingston on 14 April 1919.

While in Kingston Private Boyle married Doris Franell on 31 March 1919 and listed his place of residence in Toronto, and his occupation as a student. The marriage did not last and in 1921, he moved to the United States, crossing at Seattle on March 15 of that year. He soon found employment in the motion picture industry working initially on set props and later set design. An early uncredited work was the 1939 production Gone with the Wind. By 1940 he married again, to Mary Bowie, who had a 10-year old son, and was living in Santa Monica. He continued to work in the film industry on over 100 productions and in 1960 won an Oscar for set design for The Apartment. He also received six other Academy Award nominations. He was naturalized an American citizen in 1962 and died in Los Angeles on 17 February 1977. He is buried in Santa Monica, California.