Patrizia von Brandenstein (born April 15, 1943) is an American

production designer In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...

. She was the first woman to win an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for production design and has been nominated for two more in the category Best Art Direction. She has shown versatility in creating sets for both lavish historical films and glossy contemporary fare. She was born in Arizona to German Russian emigrant parents. Her education abroad closed with two years as an apprentice at the famed Comédie Française. She started with the off-Broadway scene of 1960s New York at the Actors Studio and

La MaMa La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...

as a seamstress, prop maker and scene painter. 1966 saw the real start of her career in design with an eight-year stay creating costumes and sets at the American Conservatory Theater in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

under William Ball. She also met future husband and fellow production designer Stuart Wurtzel. She has designed movies in a wide range of subjects, styles, and periods: from the low-budget, break-dancing musical ''

Beat Street ''Beat Street'' is a 1984 American drama dance film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to ...

'' to the expensive plutonium-plant melodrama '' Silkwood''.Details of her styles
/ref> Director

Neil Burger Neil Norman Burger (born November 22, 1963) is an American filmmaker. He is known for the fake-documentary ''Interview with the Assassin'' (2002), the period drama '' The Illusionist'' (2006), '' Limitless'' (2011), and the sci-fi action film '' ...

, in his DVD commentary for '' Limitless,'' singles out von Brandenstein for her excellent work on the film.

Selected filmography

Brandenstein has won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction and has been nominated for two more: ;Won * ''

Amadeus Amadeus may refer to: *Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), prolific and influential composer of classical music *Amadeus (name), a given name and people with the name * ''Amadeus'' (play), 1979 stage play by Peter Shaffer * ''Amadeus'' (film), ...

'' (1984) ;Nominated * ''

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

'' (1981) * ''

The Untouchables Untouchables or The Untouchables may refer to: American history * Untouchables (law enforcement), a 1930s American law enforcement unit led by Eliot Ness * ''The Untouchables'' (book), an autobiography by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley * ''The U ...

'' (1987)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brandenstein, Patrizia Von 1943 births Living people American people of German-Russian descent American production designers Best Art Direction Academy Award winners Artists from Arizona Women production designers