Willy Holt

Personal Info

Known For Art

Gender Male

Birthday 1921-11-30

Deathday 2007-06-22 (85 years old)

Place of Birth Quincy, Florida, USA

Also Known As William Holt, Will Holt

Willy Holt

Biography

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. 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. 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. He and Pascal had two children. 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 one of those liberated on 13 April 1945. Holt wrote about his wartime experiences in his 1995 book Femmes en deuil sur camion. 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. Source: Article "Willy Holt" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known For

Art

1996
My Man

as Production Design

1992
Bitter Moon

as Production Design

1990
May Fools

as Production Design

1987
Au Revoir les Enfants

as Production Design

1986
A State of Emergency

as Production Design

1985
Les enragés

as Production Design

1985
Target

as Production Design

1983
The Ruffian

as Production Design

1983
A Friend of Vincent

as Production Design

1982
Five Days One Summer

as Production Design

1982
Santa Claus Is a Stinker

as Production Design

1981
A Business of Men

as Production Design

1979
The Other One's Mug

as Production Design

1979
An Almost Perfect Affair

as Art Direction

1977
Julia

as Production Design

1975
Love and Death

as Art Direction

1975
The Gypsy

as Production Design

1974
The Down-in-the-Hole Gang

as Production Design

1974
The Marseille Contract

as Production Design

1973
The Day of the Jackal

as Set Designer

1972
The Annuity

as Production Design

1969
Staircase

as Art Direction

1968
The Sergeant

as Production Design

1967
Two for the Road

as Art Direction

1966
Is Paris Burning?

as Production Design

1964
The Train

as Production Design

Actor

1999
The Ninth Gate

as Andrew Telfer

1983
Zelig

as Rally Chancellor

1981
For a Cop's Hide

as L'homme qui a tué Fanch Tanguy