Wiard Ihnen
Born	(1897-08-05)August 5, 1897[1] Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	June 22, 1979(1979-06-22) (aged 81) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Education	Columbia University École des Beaux-Arts de Paris
Occupation	Art director
Years active	1919–1960
Spouse	Edith Head ​ ​ (m. 1940; died 1979)​

Wiard Boppo "Bill" Ihnen (August 5, 1897^[1] – June 22, 1979) was an Americanart director. He was active from 1919 to 1960 and wonAcademy Awards forBest Art Direction forWilson (1944) andBlood on the Sun (1945). He was married toEdith Head.

Ihnen was born inJersey City, New Jersey. His age and year of birth are uncertain. While some sources indicate he was born in 1897, his obituary in theLos Angeles Times reported his age as 91, indicating that he was born in approximately 1888.^[2]

His father, Henry S. Ihnen, was an architect and painter. Ihnen attended public schools inEast Rutherford, New Jersey.^[3] He worked for a time as the assistant to a prominent New York architect and studied architecture atColumbia University. He also studied atÉcole des Beaux-Arts de Paris, spent a year at the art centers of Spain and France, and studied color and technique at the University of Mexico.^[3][4]

Ihnen first worked in the motion picture business in approximately 1919 atParamount Studios onLong Island.^[3][4] After several years with Paramount in New York, he become an art director at Paramount's Hollywood studios.^[3]

One of his earliest works as an art director was theJosef von Sternberg's 1932 film,Blonde Venus. He drew attention for his design of "fantastically exotic" African nightclub in the film.^[5]

Other early art directing credits include theMarx Brothers'Duck Soup (1933) and a pair ofMae West comedies:Go West, Young Man (1936) andEvery Day's a Holiday. Ihnen received his firstAcademy Awards nomination forBest Art Direction onEvery Day's a Holiday.^[6] He also worked as the associate art director onJohn Ford'sStagecoach which won the Academy Award for art direction forAlexander Toluboff.

During the 1940s, Ihnen twice won the Academy Award for art direction, for the biographical filmWilson (1944) and forBlood on the Sun (1945), a wartime film about a Japanese plot to take over the world.^[7][8]

Ihnen continued as an art director until 1960. His later works include the film noir worksKiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) andI, the Jury (1953),Fritz Lang'sRancho Notorious (1952), the aviation adventure filmTop of the World (1955), and the biographicalThe Gallant Hours (1960).

In 1940, Ihnen was married in Las Vegas to Hollywood dress designerEdith Head.^[9] Ihnen died from cancer in 1979.^[2] He is interred atForest Lawn Memorial Park inGlendale, California, next to his wife.^[10]

• Wiard Ihnen atIMDb
• Wiard Ihnen atFind a Grave
• Wiard Ihnen papers at theMargaret Herrick Library

• 1897 births
• 1979 deaths
• American art directors
• Artists from Jersey City, New Jersey
• Best Production Design Academy Award winners
• Deaths from cancer in California
• Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni
• Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
• 20th-century American people

• CS1: unfit URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from November 2019
• Articles with hCards