Art Directors

After graduating from New York's Art Students League he worked for his architect father, then started film work at Edison Studios in 1915 assisting Hugo Ballin. In 1918 he moved to Goldwyn as art director and, in 1924, began his 32 year stint as supervising art director for some 1500 MGM films, with direct responsibility in well over 150 of those. He designed the Oscar itself, winning it 11 of the 37 times he was nominated for it. Some of his designs influenced American interiors, and it has been argued that he was the most important art director in the history of American cinema.

Rick Carter was born in 1952 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a production designer and art director, known for Avatar (2009), Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) and Lincoln (2012).

Mentor Huebner's wife, Louise, managed his business affairs, both in Fine Arts and Film Making, and wrote and negotiated most of his contracts. She is a writer and has authored 14 books. Louise is known world-wide as the Official Witch of Los Angeles County. In 1968, almost one year to the day, when Buzz Aldrin went to the Moon, she was invited by the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation to cast a spell at the Hollywood Bowl. The Spell she cast was to increase sexual vitality for the entire County of 78 cities. For her 'services' she was given a scroll which included the County Seal. It was awarded to her by the Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors, then Ernest Debs. It designated her as 'Official Witch'. Later when the County wished to rescind the title, Louise threatened to desex all the elected officials pointing out the legality of the document. She won. Photographs of Mentor and Louise and their children along with a copy of her scroll can be viewed in one of her books: Never Strike A Happy Medium. [louisehuebner@aol.com 20021003]

Dennis Gassner was born on 22 October 1948 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is a production designer, known for Blade Runner 2049 (2017), 1917 (2019) and Road to Perdition (2002).

Art director and painter, trained in stage design in Düsseldorf and at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Berlin. Hermann Warm was an important figure in the German expressionist cinema of the 1920's and early 30's. He was instrumental in changing traditional concepts of using painted backdrops in favour of three-dimensional constructions. He was also among the first to petition producers to give the art director copies of film scripts, in order for pre-production sketches to be made.

Warm began in films in 1912 with Deutsche Vitaskop, after working as a theatrical designer. Following a stint designing stage sets for the German Army in Vilnius, he joined Decla-Bioskop as full art director in 1919, often working in close collaboration with Walter Röhrig. Some of Warm's best work was for the directors Fritz Lang, (designing the famous sets for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)), Henrik Galeen (The Student of Prague (1926)) and Carl Theodor Dreyer (Vampyr (1932)). By the late 1930's, Warm found regular film work as a free-lancer more difficult to come by, having repeatedly failed to obtain a long-term contract from Ufa. He emigrated to Switzerland in 1941. Though he returned to Germany six years later, he never again achieved the same level of artistic success.

Carl Hoffmann was born on 9 June 1885 in Neisse, Silesia, Germany [now Nysa, Opolskie, Poland]. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Die Leute mit dem Sonnenstich (1936), Looping the Loop (1928) and Der geheimnisvolle Spiegel (1928). He died on 5 August 1947 in Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Rick Heinrichs is known for Sleepy Hollow (1999), Glass Onion (2022) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).

Stuart Craig was born on 14 April 1942 in Norwich, Norfolk, England, UK. He is a production designer and art director, known for The English Patient (1996), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). He has been married to Patricia Stangroom since 1965. They have two children.

Richard Day's film career began in 1918 when director Erich von Stroheim hired him as a set decorator. His work so impressed von Stroheim that the director kept Day as a set decorator, then an art director, and costume designer on many of his productions. Day left von Stroheim and struck out on his own in the '30s. He soon gained a reputation as one of the most imaginative art directors in the business, and he worked often for the major studios on their top-drawer productions. Day won seven Oscars for art direction and set design.

Edgar G. Ulmer was born on 17 September 1904 in Olmütz, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Olomouc, Czech Republic]. He was a director and writer, known for The Naked Dawn (1955), The Black Cat (1934) and Isle of Forgotten Sins (1943). He was married to Shirley Ulmer and Joan Warner. He died on 30 September 1972 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

After graduating from the University of Illinois, Hal Pereira served his apprenticeship as a theatrical designer in his home town Chicago, between 1933 and 1940. In 1942, he moved to Hollywood and signed with Paramount as a unit art director under the tutelage of department head Hans Dreier. He took over Dreier's job of supervising art director upon the latter's retirement in 1950. Pereira had an innate sense of naturalism and knew how to best suit and enrich the emotive or thematic needs of a subject. He was particularly adept at designing realistic urban landscapes, often using understated sets, and employing props and lighting devices which conveyed moral or economic values. His best early work was on Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944), for which he provided a sombre and claustrophobic atmosphere, alternating his use of light and shadow, both for dramatic effect, and as juxtaposition between good and evil. He used similarly confining interiors, both for the dust bowl of the anguished mining community of Ace in the Hole (1951), and for Alfred Hitchcock's set-bound thriller Rear Window (1954).

Pereira was immensely versatile, tackling films of every conceivable genre, from The War of the Worlds (1953), with it's death-ray dispensing alien flying machines, to creating the expansive outdoor feeling of Shane (1953); from the seedy, random disorder of the police station in Detective Story (1951) , to the rich, glowing sunbaked locations of Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), and the happy-go-lucky Bohemian interiors of The Odd Couple (1968). In 1959, Pereira worked in tandem with A. Earl Hedrick as art director on Bonanza (1959). Nominated for 23 Academy Awards, he only won one, for The Rose Tattoo (1955). He retired in 1968, to work as a design consultant in the architectural firm of his famous brother, William L. Pereira.

Keith Pain is known for Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001) and The Good Shepherd (2006).

Luca Tranchino is a Production Designer and Art Director, known for his work on Hugo (2011), The Aviator (2004), Gangs of New York (2002). His long collaboration with legendary Oscar-winning Production Designer, Dante Ferretti, started in 1998 with Titus, continuing with Gangs of New York (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), The Aviator (2004), Hugo (2011), Seventh Son (2015). He has designed sets for movies such as The Legend of Hercules (2014), Unfinished Business (2015), The Ottoman Lieutenant (2017). In 2012 he has won The ADG Excellence in Production Design Award for a Period Feature Film, for his contribution to Hugo (2011). In 2016 he has designed sets for the television drama Prison Break (Fox TV), in 2021 for the historical television series Domina (Sky Atlantic), and in 2024 for the television series The Decameron (Netflix).

Tony Reading was born in 1940 in Hendon, Middlesex, England, UK. Tony is an art director and production designer, known for The Da Vinci Code (2006), Lifeforce (1985) and The Saint (1997). Tony has been married to Sally Shewring since 1978. Tony was previously married to Susan Terry.

Norman Dorme was born in 1927 in London, England, UK. He is an art director, known for Superman (1978), Krull (1983) and Flash Gordon (1980).

Peter Dorme was born in 1962 in Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK. He is an art director, known for Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Casino Royale (2006) and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015).

Italo Tomassi was born on 25 February 1910 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was an art director, known for Amarcord (1973), Fellini's Roma (1972) and Fellini - Satyricon (1969). He was married to Liliana Joly. He died on 27 September 1990 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Walter H. Tyler was born on 28 March 1909 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an art director and production designer, known for Sabrina (1954), Roman Holiday (1953) and The Ten Commandments (1956). He died on 3 November 1990 in Orange County, California, USA.

Fred Carter was born in 1932 in Islington, London, England, UK. He is an art director and set decorator, known for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Air America (1990) and The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976). He has been married to Irene Carter since 1965.

Ian Gracie is known for The Great Gatsby (2013), Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Australia (2008).

Veniero Colasanti was born on 21 July 1910 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a costume designer and production designer, known for El Cid (1961), Carthage in Flames (1960) and Brivido (1941). He died on 26 May 1999 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Giorgio Giovannini was born on 26 May 1925 in Frascati, Lazio, Italy. He was a production designer and art director, known for The Name of the Rose (1986), La Dolce Vita (1960) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). He died on 31 March 2007 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Emilio D'Andria is known for The Leopard (1963), Waterloo (1970) and Two Women (1960).

Sam Comer was born on 13 July 1893 in Topeka, Kansas, USA. Sam was a set decorator, known for Vertigo (1958), Sunset Boulevard (1950) and To Catch a Thief (1955). Sam died on 27 December 1974 in La Jolla, San Diego, California, USA.

Ernest Archer was born on 26 July 1910 in the UK. He was an art director and production designer, known for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Zulu (1964) and Moonraker (1979). He died on 27 July 1990.