Paul Sylbert
Encyclopedia
Paul Sylbert is an American
Academy Award-winning production designer
, art director, and set designer who directed
on occasion.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Sylbert fought in the Korean War
and attended the Tyler School of Art
at Temple University
in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
with his identical twin brother Richard
. Early in their careers, they collaborated on Baby Doll
and A Face in the Crowd.
Sylbert's additional design credits include The Wrong Man
, The Tiger Makes Out
, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
, The Drowning Pool
, Heaven Can Wait
, Kramer vs. Kramer
, Wolfen
, Blow Out
, Gorky Park
, The Pope of Greenwich Village
, Ishtar
, Biloxi Blues
, Fresh Horses
, The Prince of Tides
, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home
, The Grass Harp
, Rosewood
, Conspiracy Theory
, and To End All Wars
.
Sylbert's one foray into writing and directing for feature film
s was The Steagle (1971) starring Richard Benjamin
. (The screenplay
for the 1981 film Nighthawks
was adapted from a story he wrote.) He directed episodes of the television series The Defenders, The Nurses
, and The Reporter.
Sylbert's lone theatre
credit is a 1990 revival of the Elmer Rice
play Street Scene
at the New York State Theatre in Lincoln Center.
Sylbert won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction
for Heaven Can Wait and was nominated for The Prince of Tides.
Sylbert's first marriage was to artist Victoria Delacorte and they had one child named Christopher. His second marriage was to costume design
er Anthea Sylbert; the couple had no children. His third marriage was to Jeanette D'Ambrosio; they have two children a girl named Olivia and a boy named Christian.
Sylbert currently is a member of the faculty at the Film and Media Arts department of Temple University in Philadelphia, PA where he teaches courses in film studies.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Academy Award-winning production designer
Production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
, art director, and set designer who directed
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
on occasion.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Sylbert fought in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and attended the Tyler School of Art
Tyler School of Art
The Stella Elkins Tyler School of Art, usually just referred to as Tyler School of Art is Temple University's school of art, which confers BFA and MFA degrees. The school was originally founded by sculptors Stella Elkins Tyler and Boris Blai on a separate 14-acre estate in Elkins Park...
at Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
Elkins Park is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is split between Cheltenham and Abington Townships in the suburbs of Philadelphia, roughly from Center City, Philadelphia.-Points of interest:...
with his identical twin brother Richard
Richard Sylbert
Richard Sylbert was an Academy Award-winning production designer and art director, primarily for feature films....
. Early in their careers, they collaborated on Baby Doll
Baby Doll
Baby Doll is a 1956 black comedy /drama film directed by Elia Kazan. It was produced by Kazan and Tennessee Williams, and adapted by Williams from his own one-act play 27 Wagons Full of Cotton...
and A Face in the Crowd.
Sylbert's additional design credits include The Wrong Man
The Wrong Man
The Wrong Man is a 1956 film by Alfred Hitchcock which stars Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. The film is based on a true story of an innocent man charged for a crime he did not commit...
, The Tiger Makes Out
The Tiger Makes Out
The Tiger Makes Out is a 1967 comedy film about a kidnapper and his unintended victim, starring Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson and directed by Arthur Hiller. This is Dustin Hoffman's film debut.-Plot:...
, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman and based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey....
, The Drowning Pool
The Drowning Pool (film)
The Drowning Pool is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, and based upon Ross Macdonald's novel The Drowning Pool. The film stars Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Anthony Franciosa, and is a sequel to Harper...
, Heaven Can Wait
Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)
Heaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...
, Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 American drama film adapted by Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman, and directed by Benton. The film tells the story of a married couple's divorce and its impact on everyone involved, including the couple's young son...
, Wolfen
Wolfen (film)
Wolfen is the title of a 1981 horror film starring Albert Finney, Diane Venora, Gregory Hines and Edward James Olmos based on Whitley Strieber's 1978 novel The Wolfen...
, Blow Out
Blow Out
Blow Out is a 1981 thriller film, written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-budget slasher film, serendipitously captures audio evidence of an assassination involving a...
, Gorky Park
Gorky Park (film)
Gorky Park is a 1983 film based on the novel Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith. It was directed by Michael Apted from a screenplay by Dennis Potter ....
, The Pope of Greenwich Village
The Pope of Greenwich Village
The Pope of Greenwich Village is a 1984 American film starring Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Geraldine Page, Kenneth McMillan and Burt Young. Page earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her two-scene role. The film was adapted by screenwriter Vincent Patrick...
, Ishtar
Ishtar
Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...
, Biloxi Blues
Biloxi Blues
Biloxi Blues is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon. The second chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy, it follows Brighton Beach Memoirs and precedes Broadway Bound....
, Fresh Horses
Fresh Horses
Fresh Horses is a 1988 drama film starring Andrew McCarthy and Molly Ringwald, directed by David Anspaugh.-Plot:A Cincinnati college student breaks off his engagement to his wealthy fiancée after he falls in love with a backwoods Kentucky girl he meets at a party...
, The Prince of Tides
The Prince of Tides
The Prince of Tides is a 1991 romantic drama film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Pat Conroy; the film stars Barbra Streisand and Nick Nolte. It tells the story of the narrator's struggle to overcome the psychological damage inflicted by his dysfunctional childhood in South Carolina...
, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home is a 1995 family film, directed Dwight H. Little, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment banner. It is a sequel to the 1993 film Free Willy, also starring Jason James Richter and August Schellenberg. Free Willy 3: The Rescue, was subsequently...
, The Grass Harp
The Grass Harp
The Grass Harp is a novel by Truman Capote published on October 1, 1951 It tells the story of an orphaned boy and two elderly ladies who observe life from a tree...
, Rosewood
Rosewood (film)
Rosewood is a 1997 feature film, directed by John Singleton. While based on historic events of the 1923 Rosewood massacre in Florida, the film introduces fictional characters and changes from historic accounts. It stars Ving Rhames as a man who travels to the town and becomes a witness...
, Conspiracy Theory
Conspiracy Theory (film)
Conspiracy Theory is a 1997 American action thriller film directed by Richard Donner.The original screenplay by Brian Helgeland centers on an eccentric taxi driver who believes many world events are triggered by government conspiracies, and the U.S...
, and To End All Wars
To End All Wars
To End All Wars is a 2001 war film starring Robert Carlyle, Kiefer Sutherland and Sakae Kimura and directed by David L. Cunningham.- Storyline :...
.
Sylbert's one foray into writing and directing for feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
s was The Steagle (1971) starring Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus , based on the novella by Philip Roth, and Westworld .-Life and career:...
. (The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
for the 1981 film Nighthawks
Nighthawks (film)
Nighthawks is a 1981 thriller film starring Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, Rutger Hauer, Lindsay Wagner, Persis Khambatta, and Nigel Davenport. It was directed by Bruce Malmuth. The original music score was composed by Keith Emerson.-Storyline:...
was adapted from a story he wrote.) He directed episodes of the television series The Defenders, The Nurses
The Nurses
The Nurses is a soap opera that aired on ABC from September 27, 1965 to March 31, 1967. The show was a continuation of a serialized primetime drama which aired on CBS originally called The Nurses when it premiered in 1962, later called The Doctors and the Nurses.The setting was Alden General...
, and The Reporter.
Sylbert's lone theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
credit is a 1990 revival of the Elmer Rice
Elmer Rice
Elmer Rice was an American playwright. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his 1929 play, Street Scene.-Early years:...
play Street Scene
Street Scene (play)
Street Scene is a play by Elmer Rice that opened at the Playhouse Theatre in New York City on January 10, 1929 and ran for a total of 601 performances. The action of this ambitious, groundbreaking play takes place entirely on the front stoop of a New York City brownstone and in the adjacent street...
at the New York State Theatre in Lincoln Center.
Sylbert won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
for Heaven Can Wait and was nominated for The Prince of Tides.
Sylbert's first marriage was to artist Victoria Delacorte and they had one child named Christopher. His second marriage was to costume design
Costume design
Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
er Anthea Sylbert; the couple had no children. His third marriage was to Jeanette D'Ambrosio; they have two children a girl named Olivia and a boy named Christian.
Sylbert currently is a member of the faculty at the Film and Media Arts department of Temple University in Philadelphia, PA where he teaches courses in film studies.