Harry Lange

Harry Lange

Production designer. Born 7 December 1930 in Eisenach, Weimar Republic [now Germany]. Died 22 May 2008.

Production designerGerman
1
Title on Fi1m
Born
7 December 1930, Eisenach, Weimar Republic [now Germany]
Died
22 May 2008

Biography

Harry Lange (1930–2008) was a German production designer and art director. Born in Eisenach, Thuringia, he studied art in West Germany after escaping East Germany and moved to the United States in 1951. He worked as an illustrator for the US military during the Korean War and later at NASA, where he contributed to spacecraft designs with Wernher von Braun. While at NASA he met Arthur C. Clarke, who introduced him to Stanley Kubrick.

Lange served as production designer on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); the design team received an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction and won a BAFTA for Best Production Design. He settled in England and worked on numerous films, including art direction on The Empire Strikes Back (1980), for which he received a second Oscar nomination, set decoration on Return of the Jedi (1983), and production design on The Dark Crystal (1982), The Great Muppet Caper (1981) and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983). He also contributed to Moonraker (1979) as space art director.

Films and series

Beyond what we have reviewed, Harry Lange is known for The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983), The Dark Crystal (1982), The Great Muppet Caper (1981) and Z.P.G. (1972).