1. Harry Horner was a Czech-born American art director who made a successful career in Hollywood as an Oscar-winning art director and as a feature film and television director.
13 Facts About Harry Horner
1. 2.
Harry Horner was the father of Academy Award-winning film composer James Horner.
3.
Harry Horner began his career working with Max Reinhardt in Vienna.
4.
When Reinhardt moved to the United States in the early 1930s, Harry Horner travelled with Max Reinhardt's production group acting as his stage manager.
5.
Max Reinhardt's staging of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream for the summer Hollywood Bowl season in Los Angeles, Harry Horner was the production's stage manager and an actor in the production.
6.
Max Reinhardt, disgusted with Norman Bel Geddes lack of interest by not showing up for production rehearsals, pressed Harry Horner into acting as art director supervising the sets, costumes, and the lighting.
7.
Consequently, Harry Horner fell into the scenic design craft and was employed as a stage designer.
8.
Harry Horner won an Oscar in 1949 for his work on William Wyler's The Heiress and another in 1961 for Robert Rossen's drama The Hustler.
9.
When Gene Callahan was nominated in the Oscar Art Direction category for Elia Kazan's America, America, Harry Horner drew the set sketch for Gene, which was used in the telecast's program Art Direction category.
10.
Harry Horner worked with Cukor again in 1950 on Born Yesterday and then tried his hand at directing on several TV series, including Gunsmoke.
11.
Harry Horner directed a few films beginning with Red Planet Mars and Beware, My Lovely both in 1952.
12.
Harry Horner retired after completing the Neil Diamond remake of The Jazz Singer in 1980.
13.
Harry Horner died of pneumonia in 1994 in Pacific Palisades, California, aged 84.