Edward C. Carfagno

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Edward C. Carfagno (born November 28, 1907 in Los Angeles , California , † December 28, 1996 in Woodland Hills , California) was an American film architect in classic Hollywood entertainment cinema of the 1940s to 1980s.

Life

Carfagno studied at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles before joining the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Company in 1933 as an illustrator or draftsman . In this function he was also involved in the fantasy classic The magic land in 1938/39 . In 1942 he later rose to the position of chief architect.

Shortly thereafter, towards the end of the 1940s, Carfagno became a recognized specialist in opulent, plush upholstery fabrics with spectacular large-scale productions such as the last Astaire - Rogers -Musical Dancer from Broadway and the Esther Williams -Wasserrevue Neptune's daughter . Therefore, in 1949, he was commissioned to design the sets for the MGM Monumental production Quo Vadis . The moral image from ancient Rome with the persecution of the first Christians as the background to the plot was probably the greatest box-office success of this film genre and brought about numerous similar projects such as the true-to-original Shakespeare film Julius Caesar the Carfagno , the second Oscar after Quo Vadis brought in. Carfagno had already received an award the year before, this time for his decoration designs for the Hollywood introspective City of Illusions with Kirk Douglas . When MGM wanted to repeat, if not even exceed, their Quo Vadis success with another silent film remake , Carfagno brought them in 1958 for the old Roman decorations for William Wyler's three and a half hour epic Ben Hur . This work earned Carfagno his third Oscar.

Since the decline of the gorgeous widescreen cinema with classic Hollywood character, Carfagno has mostly been involved in conventional entertainment films that, apart from the homely story-teller biography The Wonder World of the Brothers Grimm , the science fiction utopia year 2022 ... that want to survive and that Disaster film Die Hindenburg , rarely really demanded.

In 1982 Carfagno first worked on a production by and with Clint Eastwood . The actor-director was so impressed by Carfagno's work that he took over the film architect almost exclusively for himself and his films until 1988, the year of his age-related retreat into private life.

Filmography

literature

  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 1: A - C. Erik Aaes - Jack Carson. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 671.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Carfagno, Edward C.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film architect
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 1996
Place of death Woodland Hills , California