Alexandre Trauner (born Sándor Trau; 3 August 1906 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

– 5 December 1993 in Omonville-la-Petite,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

) was a Hungarian film

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 ...

. After studying painting at Hungarian Royal Drawing School, he left the country in 1929, fleeing from the antisemitic government of

Admiral Horthy Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

. In Paris, he became the assistant of set designer

Lazare Meerson Lazare Meerson (1900–1938) was a Russian-born cinema art director. After emigrating to France in the early 1920s, he worked on French films of the late silent cinema and the early 1930s, particularly those directed by René Clair and Jacques F ...

, at the studios in

Épinay-sur-Seine Épinay-sur-Seine (, literally ''Épinay on Seine'') is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The church of Notre-Dame-des-Missions-du-cygne d'Enghien, designed by Paul Tournon, may be fou ...

working on such films as ''

À nous la liberté ''À nous la liberté'', sometimes written as ''À nous la liberté!'', (English: ''Freedom Forever'' or ''Freedom for Us'') is a 1931 French musical film directed by René Clair. With a score by Georges Auric, it has more music than any of C ...

'' (1932) and ''

La Kermesse héroïque ''Carnival in Flanders'' is a 1935 French historical romantic comedy film directed by Jacques Feyder. It is also widely known under its original title in French, ''La Kermesse héroïque''. A German-language version of the film was made simultane ...

'' (1935). In 1937, he became a chief set designer."Alexandre Trauner 50 ans de cinéma"
lpce.com, c.2007 Trauner worked with director

Marcel Carné Marcel Albert Carné (; 18 August 1906 – 31 October 1996) was a French film director. A key figure in the poetic realism movement, Carné's best known films include ''Port of Shadows'' (1938), '' Le Jour Se Lève'' (1939), '' The Devil's Envoy ...

for some years on such films as '' Port of Shadows'' (''Quai des brumes'', 1938), '' Le Jour se lève'' (1939), and '' Children of Paradise'' (''Les Enfants du paradis'', 1945). Trauner worked in hiding on ''Children of Paradise'', which was filmed at the Victorine Studios in Nice during 1943 and 1944 during the Nazi's

Occupation of France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied ...

. He worked with

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Holl ...

on eight films between 1958 and 1978, including the sets for ''

The Apartment ''The Apartment'' is a 1960 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and produced by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond. It stars Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, ...

'' (1960), on which he made use of false perspective, a characteristic of his work. For his work on this film, he won 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 in ...

. He also worked on

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

's ''

The Man Who Would Be King "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888) is a story by Rudyard Kipling about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. The story was first published in ''The Phantom Rickshaw and other Eer ...

'' (1975),

Joseph Losey Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blacklisted ...

's ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spani ...

'' (1979), and

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films ''Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and ''La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the '' ...

's '' Subway'' (1985). In 1980, he was a member of the jury at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival.

Selected filmography

* ''

Ciboulette ''Ciboulette'' is a French opérette in three acts, music by Reynaldo Hahn, libretto by Robert de Flers and Francis de Croisset, first performed at the Théâtre des Variétés, in Paris, on 7 April 1923. One of the most elegant and refined com ...

'' (1933) * '' Another World'' (1937) * '' Woman of Malacca'' (1937) * '' Children of Paradise'' (1945) * ''

Mollenard ''Mollenard'' is a 1938 French drama film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Harry Baur, Gabrielle Dorziat and Pierre Renoir. It was also known by the alternative titles of ''Hatred'' and ''Capitaine Corsaire''. The film's sets were desi ...

'' (1938) * '' Hotel du Nord'' (1938) * '' Port of Shadows'' (1938) * '' The Curtain Rises'' (1938) * '' Gates of the Night'' (1946) * '' The Misfortunes of Sophie'' (1946) * '' La Marie du port'' (1950) * ''

Juliette, or Key of Dreams ''Juliette, or Key of Dreams'' (french: Juliette ou La clef des songes) is a 1951 French drama film directed by Marcel Carné. It was entered into the 1951 Cannes Film Festival. The film is based on a play by Georges Neveux. Cast * Gérard ...

'' (1951) * '' Miracles Only Happen Once'' (1951) * ''

Rififi ''Rififi'' (french: Du rififi chez les hommes) is a 1955 French crime film adaptation of Auguste Le Breton's novel of the same name. Directed by American blacklisted filmmaker Jules Dassin, the film stars Jean Servais as the aging gangster Tony ...

'' (1955) * ''

Lady Chatterley's Lover ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the last novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Italy, and in 1929, in France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960, w ...

'' (1955) * '' The Light Across the Street'' (1956) * '' Mademoiselle Striptease'' (1956) * ''

'' (1960) * ''

One, Two, Three ''One, Two, Three'' is a 1961 American political comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and written by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond. It is based on the 1929 Hungarian one-act play ''Egy, kettő, három'' by Ferenc Molnár, with a "plot borrowed pa ...

'' (1961) * '' Once More, with Feeling!'' (1960) * ''

Irma la Douce ''Irma la Douce'' (, "Irma the Sweet") is a 1963 American romantic comedy film directed by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond, based on the 1956 French stage musical of the same name by Marguerite Monnot and Al ...

'' (1963) * '' Behold a Pale Horse'' (1964) * ''

How to Steal a Million ''How to Steal a Million'' is a 1966 American heist comedy film directed by William Wyler and starring Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Eli Wallach, Hugh Griffith, and Charles Boyer. The film is set and was filmed in Paris, though the character ...

'' (1966) * ''

The Night of the Generals ''The Night of the Generals'' is a 1967 World War II mystery film directed by Anatole Litvak and produced by Sam Spiegel. It stars Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence, Joanna Pettet and Philippe Noiret. The screenpla ...

'' (1967) * ''

A Flea in Her Ear ''A Flea in Her Ear'' (french: La Puce à l'oreille) is a play by Georges Feydeau written in 1907, at the height of the Belle Époque. The author called it a vaudeville, but in Anglophone countries, where it is the most popular of Feydeau's play ...

'' (1968) * ''

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes ''The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes'' is a 1970 DeLuxe Color film in Panavision written and produced by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond, and directed by Wilder. The film offers an affectionate, slightly parodic look at Sherlock Holmes, ...

'' (1970) * ''

'' (1975) * ''

Fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...

'' (1978) * ''

The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu ''The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu'' is a 1980 comedy film. It was the final film featuring star Peter Sellers and David Tomlinson. Based on characters created by Sax Rohmer, the film stars Sellers in the dual role of Fu Manchu, a megalomani ...

'' (1980) * ' (1983) * '' Round Midnight'' (1986)

References

External links

*
Trauner's official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trauner, Alexandre 1906 births 1993 deaths Best Art Direction Academy Award winners European Film Awards winners (people) Hungarian art directors Hungarian Jews Film people from Budapest Production designers Hungarian University of Fine Arts alumni

Selected filmography

See also

References

External links