Florence Klotz | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kathrina Klotz October 28, 1920 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 1, 2006(2006-11-01) (aged 86) |
| Known for | Costume designer |
| Awards | Tony Award for Best Costume Design |
Florence Klotz (October 28, 1920 – November 1, 2006) was an Americancostume designer onBroadway and on film.
Born inBrooklyn, New York, to parents who owned a millinery store, she graduated from Parsons School of Design, and went to work painting fabrics for Brooks Costumes, one of the best known theatre costume companies. In 1951, while working there she was approached by famed designerIrene Sharaff to assist her with the costumes forRichard Rodgers andOscar Hammerstein II'sThe King and I. She subsequently worked for other leading designers includingLucinda Ballard andRaoul Pene Du Bois before embarking on designing for plays on her own in the 1960s.[1] It was there she met her companion for the next half century Ruth Mitchell who later would co-produce Broadway shows withHal Prince.[2]
Klotz won the first of her sixTony Awards for costume design for the 1971Stephen Sondheim musicalFollies. In her Broadway career she worked on 58 Broadway shows, as an assistant on 26 and the designer on 32.[1]
In addition she worked on opera and ballet, notably withJerome Robbins, designing costumes forMadama Butterfly for theLyric Opera of Chicago and the film version ofA Little Night Music. She became friendly with actressElizabeth Taylor on the set of this last venture, for which Klotz was nominated for an Academy Award — Taylor asked Klotz to design the lavender dress she wore for her wedding to United States SenatorJohn Warner (R-VA) in 1976.[1]
Other musicals she designed for includedCity of Angels,On the Twentieth Century,It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman,Grind, andThe Little Foxes.
Originally named asKathrina Klotz, she later changed her name to "Florence" and was often nicknamed "Flossie".[3][4]
Klotz designed costumes for many Broadway productions, including:
Klotz died at her Manhattan home ofcardiac arrest, four days after her 86th birthday. Her only immediate survivor was her niece, Suzanne DeMarco. Klotz'spartner, producer and stage managerRuth Mitchell, died in 2000.[5][6]
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All of the Tony Awards Klotz won were for musicals directed byHal Prince, with whom she had a long association. Her sixth award, for the 1994 revival ofShow Boat, gave her more Tonys than any previous costume designer.[1]
She won theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design five times, three L.A. Critic Circle Awards, and twoOuter Critics Circle Awards. In 2002, she received the Patricia Zipprodt Award from theFashion Institute of Technology; and in 2005, she won the Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award.
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