Dorothea Holt Redmond
Encyclopedia
Dorothea Holt Redmond was an illustrator and production designer noted for her work on Alfred Hitchcock
films. Known as the first woman production designer, Redmond entered the industry in 1938. She worked on more than 30 films, including Gone with the Wind
and The Ten Commandments
, as well as seven Hitchcock productions, among them Rebecca, Rear Window
and To Catch a Thief
.
She was born in Los Angeles
on May 18, 1910 to Mary and Harry Holt, who was a co-owner Western Lithograph Co. She attended the University of Southern California
, where she studied architecture and was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree in 1933. She attended what is now the Art Center College of Design
, and was awarded a degree in illustration in 1936, and later taught at the school.
in 1938, making her what the Los Angeles Times
reported that year as the first woman to work in the "heretofore exclusively male field" of motion-picture production design. Out of resentment, male co-workers demanded that she work in a walled-off area separated from theirs.
Tania Modleski, a professor of English at the University of Southern California, emphasized how Redmond was responsible for influencing the German Expressionist aesthetic that Hitchcock was credited with, and that Redmond was widely considered one of the most talented illustrators in the film industry.
Redmond's illustrations would be used by Hitchcock and his art director
s to define the tone of a scene for cameramen and other crew members. The 2007 book Casting a Shadow described how her renderings of a sequence in Hitchcock's 1943 film Shadow of a Doubt
were influential in adding suspense by adding an element of threat to a quiet town.
Redmond's daughter recounted how "She just loved his personality and his taste" and that Hitchcock was "one of her very favorite people to work with". In 2008, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
presented an exhibit titled Casting a Shadow: Creating the Alfred Hitchcock Film, that showed how Hitchcock worked with the other professionals on the set in his movie, with details of how he collaborated with Redmond on seven of his films such as the 1940 movie Rebecca, 1954's Rear Window
and the 1955 film To Catch a Thief
.
and Charles Luckman
. There, she did designs for interiors of Los Angeles International Airport
and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
. She also helped to design the Seattle Space Needle.
in 1966. There she helped design portions of Disneyland and the Walt Disney World Resort
, including a residence in New Orleans Square
intended for Walt Disney himself. The area was used as a gallery after Disney's death in 1966, but the space above the Pirates of the Caribbean
attraction was converted into an apartment called the Disneyland Dream Suite
based on her original design that has been used by randomly-selected guests at the resort since January 2008. She also designed many other aspects of the stores and eateries in New Orleans Square.
She designed Fantasyland
at Disney World in Florida, as well as portions of Main Street and mosaic murals in the archway of Cinderella Castle
that were implemented there an in Tokyo Disneyland
.
In Fall 2008 she was honored by the firm's Disney Legends
program, honoring her achievements on behalf of The Walt Disney Company
. Marty Sklar
described how "Her watercolor sketches were extraordinary place-making". An exhibit of her work opened at the company's Information Research Center in Glendale, California
.
, at Selznick International Pictures
studio during the late 1930s. She was designing the pre-production interior sets for Gone With The Wind
and Rebecca, while Redmond was working for David O. Selznick
on the set of The Prisoner of Zenda
at the time of their meeting. The couple married in 1940. Together, they designed and constructed a home in the Hollywood Hills
based on a design that she completed with her husband after the original architect had died.
Holt Redmond died at age 98 on February 27, 2009 due to congestive heart failure
at her home in the Hollywood Hills
. She was survived by her husband, a son and daughter, three granddaughters and three great-grandsons. Her husband, Harry Redmond, died on May 23, 2011, at the age of 101.
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
films. Known as the first woman production designer, Redmond entered the industry in 1938. She worked on more than 30 films, including Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
and The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...
, as well as seven Hitchcock productions, among them Rebecca, Rear Window
Rear Window
Rear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder"...
and To Catch a Thief
To Catch a Thief (film)
To Catch a Thief is a 1955 romantic thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis and John Williams. The movie is set on the French Riviera, and was based on the 1952 novel of the same name by David Dodge...
.
She was born in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
on May 18, 1910 to Mary and Harry Holt, who was a co-owner Western Lithograph Co. She attended the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, where she studied architecture and was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
degree in 1933. She attended what is now the Art Center College of Design
Art Center College of Design
Art Center College of Design is a private college located in Pasadena, California, and was cited by BusinessWeek as one of the 60 best design schools in the world. The college’s industrial design program is consistently ranked number one by both DesignIntelligence and U.S...
, and was awarded a degree in illustration in 1936, and later taught at the school.
Motion pictures
She was hired by Selznick International PicturesSelznick International Pictures
-Origin:It was founded in 1935 by producer David O. Selznick and investor John Hay "Jock" Whitney after Selznick left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and leased a section of the RKO Pictures lot in Culver City, California...
in 1938, making her what the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reported that year as the first woman to work in the "heretofore exclusively male field" of motion-picture production design. Out of resentment, male co-workers demanded that she work in a walled-off area separated from theirs.
Tania Modleski, a professor of English at the University of Southern California, emphasized how Redmond was responsible for influencing the German Expressionist aesthetic that Hitchcock was credited with, and that Redmond was widely considered one of the most talented illustrators in the film industry.
Redmond's illustrations would be used by Hitchcock and his art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
s to define the tone of a scene for cameramen and other crew members. The 2007 book Casting a Shadow described how her renderings of a sequence in Hitchcock's 1943 film Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell...
were influential in adding suspense by adding an element of threat to a quiet town.
Redmond's daughter recounted how "She just loved his personality and his taste" and that Hitchcock was "one of her very favorite people to work with". In 2008, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
presented an exhibit titled Casting a Shadow: Creating the Alfred Hitchcock Film, that showed how Hitchcock worked with the other professionals on the set in his movie, with details of how he collaborated with Redmond on seven of his films such as the 1940 movie Rebecca, 1954's Rear Window
Rear Window
Rear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder"...
and the 1955 film To Catch a Thief
To Catch a Thief
To Catch a Thief is a 1952 thriller novel by David Dodge. John Robie is a retired American jewel thief, formerly known as Le Chat , who now spends his time tending to the rose garden in his villa on the Côte d'Azur. Following a series of recent jewel robberies on the Riviera that resemble his...
.
Architecture
Redmond worked with the architectural firm of William PereiraWilliam Pereira
William Leonard Pereira was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, of Portuguese ancestry who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco...
and Charles Luckman
Charles Luckman
Charles Luckman was a businessman and an American architect, famous as the "Boy Wonder of American Business" when he was named president of the Pepsodent toothpaste company in 1939 at the age of thirty...
. There, she did designs for interiors of Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...
and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
. She also helped to design the Seattle Space Needle.
Work with Walt Disney
She was hired by what is now Walt Disney ImagineeringWalt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering is the design and development arm of the Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation and construction of Disney theme parks worldwide...
in 1966. There she helped design portions of Disneyland and the Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...
, including a residence in New Orleans Square
New Orleans Square
New Orleans Square is a themed land found exclusively at Disneyland, though a similarly themed area can be found within Tokyo Disneyland's Adventureland. Based on 19th-century New Orleans, it was the first new land to be added to Disneyland after the park's opening. The land was opened to the...
intended for Walt Disney himself. The area was used as a gallery after Disney's death in 1966, but the space above the Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean (theme park ride)
Pirates of the Caribbean is a log flume type of dark ride at the Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris theme parks....
attraction was converted into an apartment called the Disneyland Dream Suite
Disneyland Dream Suite
The Disneyland Dream Suite is a luxury apartment located in the New Orleans Square area of Disneyland Park at the Disneyland Resort. It was created as part of the "Year of a Million Dreams" promotion that ran from October 1, 2006, through December 31, 2008....
based on her original design that has been used by randomly-selected guests at the resort since January 2008. She also designed many other aspects of the stores and eateries in New Orleans Square.
She designed Fantasyland
Fantasyland
Fantasyland is one of the "themed lands" at the many Magic Kingdom-style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the world. Each Fantasyland has a castle as well as several gentle rides themed after Disney movies...
at Disney World in Florida, as well as portions of Main Street and mosaic murals in the archway of Cinderella Castle
Cinderella Castle
Cinderella Castle is the fairy tale castle at the center of two Disney theme parks: the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort, and Tokyo Disneyland at the Tokyo Disney Resort. Both serve as worldwide recognized icons and the flagship attraction for their respective theme parks.-Inspiration...
that were implemented there an in Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo Disneyland
is a 115 acre theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be built outside of the United States and opened on April 15, 1983...
.
In Fall 2008 she was honored by the firm's Disney Legends
Disney Legends
Established in 1987, the Disney Legends program recognizes people who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. The honor is awarded annually during a special ceremony....
program, honoring her achievements on behalf of The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
. Marty Sklar
Marty Sklar
Martin A. "Marty" Sklar was The Walt Disney Company's International Ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering, the subsidiary of the company which designs and constructs the Disney theme parks and resorts across the world...
described how "Her watercolor sketches were extraordinary place-making". An exhibit of her work opened at the company's Information Research Center in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
.
Personal
Holt met her future husband, Harry Redmond, Jr.Harry Redmond, Jr.
Harry Redmond, Jr. was an American special effects artist and film producer whose career spanned decades in the entertainment industry...
, at Selznick International Pictures
Selznick International Pictures
-Origin:It was founded in 1935 by producer David O. Selznick and investor John Hay "Jock" Whitney after Selznick left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and leased a section of the RKO Pictures lot in Culver City, California...
studio during the late 1930s. She was designing the pre-production interior sets for Gone With The Wind
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
and Rebecca, while Redmond was working for David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
on the set of The Prisoner of Zenda
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 film)
The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1937 black-and-white adventure film based on the Anthony Hope 1894 novel of the same name and the 1896 play. Of the many film adaptations, this is considered by many to be the definitive version....
at the time of their meeting. The couple married in 1940. Together, they designed and constructed a home in the Hollywood Hills
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...
based on a design that she completed with her husband after the original architect had died.
Holt Redmond died at age 98 on February 27, 2009 due to congestive heart failure
Congestive heart failure
Heart failure often called congestive heart failure is generally defined as the inability of the heart to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the needs of the body. Heart failure can cause a number of symptoms including shortness of breath, leg swelling, and exercise intolerance. The condition...
at her home in the Hollywood Hills
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...
. She was survived by her husband, a son and daughter, three granddaughters and three great-grandsons. Her husband, Harry Redmond, died on May 23, 2011, at the age of 101.