Johnstone, whose married name was Robinson, chose to be credited under her maiden name, and was often referred to as "Johnnie." Johnstone worked with some of the most respected and idiosyncratic American film directors such as Elia Kazan, Sidney Lumet, Frank Perry, Milos Forman, and Francis Ford Coppola.
In 2006, she was posthumously awarded the Costume Designers Guild "Hall of Fame" award. Some of Johnstone"s film credits included Serpico, On the Waterfront, East of Eden, Baby Doll, Dog Day Afternoon, A Face in the Crowd, The Swimmer and The Godfather. Anna Hill Johnstone worked for over forty years in the film business on more than sixty films and was a frequent collaborator with Elia Kazan and Sidney Lumet.
She got her start working on student productions at Barnard College, later becoming a seamstress for summer stock stage shows.
She graduated from Barnard in 1934 and forty years later, received another honorary degree there. Her first full cr for costume design was for the 1937 Broadway hit Having Wonderful Time.
Other stage productions would follow, including Bell, Book and Candle and A Streetcar Named Desire. In 1948, Johnstone made the move to working in films, obtaining her first costume design cr on Portrait of Jennie.
Other Kazan films that she worked on include, East of Eden, Baby Doll, A Face in the Crowd, Wild River, Splendor in the Grass and America, America.
She worked on more than a half dozen pictures with director Sidney Lumet including Fail-Safe, Serpico, The Verdict and Dog Day Afternoon. In addition to her work with Lumet and Kazan, Johnstone was also a frequent collaborator with The Perrys, Frank and Eleanor, on films such as David and Lisa and The Swimmer. 2006 – Costume Designers Awards – Hall of Fame Award.
