Biography
Willy Holt (30 November 1921 – 22 June 2007) was an American-born production designer and art director who worked extensively in the French film industry. Born in Quincy, Florida, he moved to France as a child and became a French citizen. He began working in television in 1946 and entered cinema as an art director.
Holt received an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction for Is Paris Burning? (1966). He won the César Award for Best Production Design for Au Revoir les Enfants (1987). His other credits include production design or art direction on The Train (1964), Two for the Road (1967), Love and Death (1975), Julia (1977), Bitter Moon (1992) and Santa Claus Is a Stinker (1982). He also appeared as an actor in several films, including Zelig (1983).
During the Second World War, Holt served in the French Resistance and was deported to Auschwitz; he survived and later wrote about his experiences in the 1995 book Femmes en deuil sur camion.
