Harry Horner

Harry Horner (July 24, 1910 - December 5, 1994) was an Austrian art director who made a successful career in Hollywood. He was born in the town of Holitz, which now belongs to the Czech Republic, to German speaking parents in Bohemia. He began his career working with Max Reinhardt in Vienna. When Reinhardt moved to the United States in the early 1930s, Horner went along with him. During World War II, he served as production designer and set designer for the U.S. Army Air Forces show Winged Victory. He 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. One of his first notable successes was George Cukor's A Double Life (1947) and he soon found himself up on the Oscar podium in 1949 for his work on William Wyler's The Heiress. He worked with Cukor again in 1950 on Born Yesterday and then tried his hand at directing on several TV series, including Gunsmoke. He was nominated for a third time in 1969 for Sydney Pollack's 30s drama They Shoot Horses, Don't They .  Horner directed a few films beginning with Red Planet Mars and Beware, My Lovely both in 1952. He retired after completing the Neil Diamond remake of The Jazz Singer in 1980. He died of pneumonia in 1994 in Pacific Palisades, California, aged 84.