Stephenie McMillan | Set decorator, 71

Stephenie McMillan, 71, the prolific British set decorator whose meticulous eye brought the whimsical world of Harry Potter to life and earned her an Academy Award for

The English Patient,

has died.

Ms. McMillan, who almost always collaborated with production designer Stuart Craig, with whom she shared the Oscar for best art direction/set decoration, died Monday from complications of ovarian cancer at her home in Norfolk, England, said her partner, Phil Hardy.

An eye for even the smallest details - and an understanding of how they swayed the story line - set her body of work apart, said Thomas Walsh, former president of the Art Directors Guild.

Ms. McMillan was born in Essex, England. After high school she was a secretary in an architect's office and then got a gig helping a commercial photographer. With the skills she learned there - how to arrange furniture for photo spreads in magazines - she segued into decorating for TV commercials and then film sets.

Through the years, she worked on more than 20 movies, designing the farcical world in A Fish Called Wanda (1988), the stuffy French village and charming La Chocolaterie Maya in Chocolat (2000), and the stark Italian monastery in The English Patient (1996).

For a decade, beginning with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Ms. McMillan dedicated herself to creating on-screen interpretations of author J.K. Rowling's imagination. - L.A. Times