Willy Holt (30 November 1921 – 22 June 2007) was a French and 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.
Personal life Willy Holt was born in Quincy, Florida, in 1921, the son of an American military photographer and his French wife. After his parents divorced his mother returned with him to her home country, where he was naturalised as a French citizen in 1923.Catalogue General: Notice de personne "Holt, Willy (1921-2007)", Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved 9 August 2021. He graduated with a baccalauréat from the Lycée Fermat in Toulouse during the early years of the Occupation.
Holt was married for four years to the actress Micheline Bourday, subsequently marrying the actress Martine Pascal in 1958."Martine Pascal: Biography and Movies". en.notrecinema.com. Retrieved 18 July 2021 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. Holt wrote about his wartime experiences in his 1995 book Femmes en deuil sur camion.
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.
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 Notes1964 The Train 1965 Up from the Beach 1966 Is Paris Burning? 1967 Two for the Road art director 1968 The Sergeant 1969 Staircase art director1970 The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun 1971 The Married Couple of the Year Two as William Holt1972 Le Viager 1973 The Day of the Jackal set designer 1974 Les Gaspards 1974 The Marseille Contract 1975 Rosebud uncredited1975 Love and Death art director1975 Le Gitan 1976 Boomerang 1976 The Porter from Maxim's 1977 Man in a Hurry 1977 Julia 1979 An Almost Perfect Affair art director1979 La Gueule de l'autre 1982 Santa Claus Is a Stinker 1982 Five Days One Summer 1983 Le Ruffian 1983 Gramps Is in the Resistance 1985 Target 1987 Au revoir les enfants 1990 Milou en mai 1992 Bitter Moon 1993 La Soif de l'or 1996 Mon homme
As actor Year Title Role Notes1981 Pour la peau d'un flic L'homme qui a tué Fanch Tanguy 1983 Zelig Rally Chancellor 1998 Place Vendôme 1999 The Ninth Gate Andrew Telfer 2015 La sonate des spectres
References
External links