Willy Holt

Willy Holt (30 November 1921 22 June 2007) was an American production designer, art director and actor who lived in France for many years. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film Is Paris Burning?, and won a César Award for Best Production Design for Au revoir, les enfants.[1][2]

Willy Holt
Willy Holt in 1995
Born(1921-11-30)30 November 1921
Died22 June 2007(2007-06-22) (aged 85)
Paris, France
Occupation(s)Production designer
Art director
Years active1947–1999

Personal life

Willy Holt was born in Quincy, Florida, in 1921, the son of an American military photographer and his French wife.[3] After his parents divorced his mother returned with him to her home country, where he was naturalised as a French citizen in 1923.[4] He graduated with a baccalauréat from the Lycée Fermat in Toulouse during the early years of the Occupation.[5]

Holt was married for four years to the actress Micheline Bourday,[6] subsequently marrying the actress Martine Pascal in 1958.[7] He and Pascal had two children.

War resistance

Holt was a member of the French Resistance and was arrested at Grenoble railway station in December 1943 while transferring money on behalf of anti-Nazi Resistance fighters. He was interned at Auschwitz, via the Drancy internment camp. He survived the death march from Auschwitz to Buchenwald, where he was liberated on 13 April 1945.[8] Holt wrote about his wartime experiences in his 1995 book Femmes en deuil sur camion.[9]

Career

After briefly working as a fashion designer, Holt was hired to work in television in 1946. His set designs for several television shows led to further work in cinema, initially as an art director.[10]

As befitted his Franco-American origins, Holt worked on several productions in both countries, collaborating with a number of internationally renowned film directors such as John Frankenheimer, Stanley Donen, Otto Preminger, Robert Parrish, Fred Zinnemann, Bertrand Blier, Woody Allen, Michael Ritchie, Louis Malle and Roman Polanski.

Selected filmography

As production designer

Year Title Notes
1964The Train
1965Up from the Beach
1966Is Paris Burning?
1967Two for the Roadart director
1968The Sergeant
1969Staircaseart director
1970The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun
1971The Married Couple of the Year Twoas William Holt
1972Le Viager
1973The Day of the Jackalset designer
1974Les Gaspards
1974The Marseille Contract
1975Rosebuduncredited
1975Love and Deathart director
1975Le Gitan
1976Boomerang
1976The Porter from Maxim's
1977Man in a Hurry
1977Julia
1979An Almost Perfect Affairart director
1979La Gueule de l'autre
1982Santa Claus Is a Stinker
1982Five Days One Summer
1983Le Ruffian
1983Gramps Is in the Resistance
1985Target
1987Au revoir, les enfants
1990Milou en mai
1992Bitter Moon
1993La Soif de l'or
1996Mon homme

As actor

Year Title Role Notes
1981Pour la peau d'un flicL'homme qui a tué Fanch Tanguy
1983ZeligRally Chancellor
1998Place Vendôme
1999The Ninth GateAndrew Telfer
2015La sonate des spectres

References

  1. "Willy Holt". theoscarsite.com. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  2. "IMDb.com: Willy Holt - Awards". IMDb.com. Retrieved 26 December 2008.
  3. "Google Translate". translate.google.com. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  4. Catalogue General: Notice de personne "Holt, Willy (1921-2007)", Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  5. French Politics. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. 2019. doi:10.1057/41253.1476-3427.
  6. "Micheline Bourday". www.myheritage.com. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  7. "Martine Pascal: Biography and Movies". en.notrecinema.com. Retrieved 18 July 2021
  8. French Politics. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. 2019. doi:10.1057/41253.1476-3427.
  9. "Film production designer Willy Holt dies". The Economic Times. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  10. "Google Translate". translate.google.com. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
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