Harry Lange

{{Short description|German production designer (1930–2008)}} '''Harry Hans-Kurt Lange''' (December 7, 1930 – May 22, 2008) was a German film [[production designer]] and [[Art director#In film|art director]].

Lange was born in 1930 in [[Eisenach]], [[Thuringia]]. After [[World War II]], Thuringia became part of [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]-controlled [[East Germany]]; Lange went across the border to [[West Germany]], where he studied art before moving to the [[United States]] in 1951. Upon arriving in the United States, Lange worked in [[advertising]]. During the [[Korean War]], Lange worked for the U.S. military, illustrating flying manuals.<ref name="times">{{Cite web|title=Harry Lange: film production designer |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4250001.ece| date= July 2, 2008|access-date=2023-02-19|website=www.thetimes.co.uk|language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524031920/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4250001.ece |archive-date=May 24, 2010}}</ref>

Subsequently, he began working at the [[Army Ballistic Missile Agency]] and then headed the future projects section at [[NASA]], working on spacecraft designs alongside [[Wernher von Braun]]. Whilst at NASA, Lange met the author [[Arthur C. Clarke]], who introduced him to the film director [[Stanley Kubrick]].<ref name="bbc">{{Cite news|date=2002-01-03|title=Turning sci-fi into fact|website=BBC News|language=en-GB|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1247163.stm|access-date=2023-02-19}}</ref> Kubrick offered Lange a job at his production company, using his astronautical design experience to produce authentic prop and set designs for a project Kubrick and Clarke were working on entitled ''Journey to the Stars''. The project was renamed as ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' (released in 1968), and the film's design team, including Lange, were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction. Although ''2001'' lost to ''[[Oliver! (film)|Oliver!]]'', Lange and his team did win the [[BAFTA Award for Best Production Design]] in that year.

Although best known for ''2001'', Lange worked on a number of well-known films during his career. He was art director for the [[James Bond]] film ''[[Moonraker (film)|Moonraker]]'', and an astronautical consultant on ''[[Superman II]]''. He worked on the three first ''[[Star Wars]]'' films, as an art director and set decorator for ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'' (for which he was again nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Art Direction Oscar]]) and ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'' respectively; he also worked on the original Star Wars, although his work was uncredited. He worked as a [[production designer]] on two films for the [[Jim Henson Company]]: ''[[The Great Muppet Caper]]'' (1981) and ''[[The Dark Crystal]]'' (1982). He was also production designer for the last [[Monty Python]] film ''[[Monty Python's The Meaning of Life]]''.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|name=Harry Lange|id=0486127}} * [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/jul/08/obituaries.culture Obituary at the Guardian]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lange, Harry}} [[Category:1930 births]] [[Category:2008 deaths]] [[Category:American art directors]] [[Category:American production designers]] [[Category:Best Production Design BAFTA Award winners]] [[Category:Emigrants from West Germany to the United States]] [[Category:NASA people]] [[Category:People from Eisenach]]