Florence Klotz

Florence Klotz (October 28, 1920 – November 1, 2006) was an American costume designer on Broadway and on film.

Florence Klotz
Born
Kathrina Klotz

October 28, 1920
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 1, 2006(2006-11-01) (aged 86)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Nationality United States
Known forCostume designer
AwardsTony Award for Best Costume Design

Biography

Born in Brooklyn, New York, she graduated from Parsons School of Design, and went to work painting fabrics for Brooks Costumes. Originally named as Kathrina Klotz, she later changed her name to "Florence" and was often nicknamed "Flossie".[1][2]

Klotz began her career in 1951 as an assistant to Irene Sharaff, who designed the costumes for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's The King and I. It was there she met her companion for the next half century Ruth Mitchell who later would co-produce Broadway shows with Hal Prince.

She worked with Jerome Robbins, designing costumes for Madama Butterfly for the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the film version of A Little Night Music. She became friendly with actress Elizabeth Taylor on the set of this last venture, for which Klotz was nominated for an Academy Award — Taylor asked Klotz to design the lavender dress she wore for her wedding to United States Senator John Warner (R-VA) in 1976.

Other musicals she designed for included City of Angels, On the Twentieth Century, It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman, Grind, and The Little Foxes.

Costume design

Klotz designed costumes for many Broadway productions, including:

Death

Klotz died at her Manhattan home of cardiac arrest, four days after her 86th birthday. Her only immediate survivor was her niece, Suzanne DeMarco. Klotz's partner, producer and stage manager Ruth Mitchell, died in 2000.[3][4]

Awards

All of the Tony Awards Klotz won were for musicals directed by Hal Prince, with whom she had a long association.

She won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design five times, three L.A. Critic Circle Awards, and two Outer Critics Circle Awards. In 2002, she received the Patricia Zipprodt Award from the Fashion Institute of Technology; and in 2005, she won the Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award.

References
  1. Michael Portantiere (November 2, 2006). "Florence Klotz, Tony Award Winning Costume Designer, Dies at 86". TheaterMania. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
  2. Andrew Gans; Robert Simonson (November 2, 2006). "Florence Klotz, Tony-Winning Costume Designer, Dead at 86". Playbill. Archived from the original on September 12, 2012. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
  3. Campbell Robertson (November 3, 2006). "Florence Klotz, 86, Creator of Broadway Styles, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
  4. McKinley, Jesse (2000-11-08). "Ruth Mitchell, 81, Producer Who Energized Broadway (Published 2000)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
Archives at
LocationLibrary of Congress
SourceFlorence Klotz costume designs, 1971-1985
How to use archival material
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