Login
Login

Wiard Ihnen

{{short description|American art director}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2019}}

{{Infobox person

| image = Blood on the Sun (1945) 2.jpg

| name = Wiard Ihnen

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1897|8|5}}

| birth_place = Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|6|22|1897|8|5}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)

| education = {{hlist|Columbia University|École des Beaux-Arts de Paris}}

| occupation = Art director

| yearsactive = 1919–1960

| spouse = {{marriage|Edith Head|1940|1979|reason=died}}

}}

Wiard Boppo "Bill" Ihnen (August 5, 1897Note: His obituary in the Los Angeles Times suggests he was born in approximately 1888. – June 22, 1979) was an American art director. He was active from 1919 to 1960 and won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction for Wilson (1944) and Blood on the Sun (1945). He was married to Edith Head.

Early years

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

His father, Henry S. Ihnen, was an architect and painter. Ihnen attended public schools in East Rutherford, New Jersey. He worked for a time as the assistant to a prominent New York architect and studied architecture at Columbia University. He also studied at École 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.

Art direction

Ihnen first worked in the motion picture business in approximately 1919 at Paramount Studios on Long Island.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ruRZAAAAMAAJ&q=Wiard+Boppo+Ihnen|title=Just watch!: Sternberg, Paramount and America|first=Peter J.|last=Baxter|date=November 13, 1993|publisher=British Film Institute|isbn=9780851703862|via=Google Books}} After several years with Paramount in New York, he become an art director at Paramount's Hollywood studios.{{cite news|title=Wirad B. Ihnen Leaves for the Coast After Visit Here|newspaper=The Herald-News|date=August 14, 1935|page=12|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59336257/wiard-ihnen/|via=Newspapers.com}}

One of his earliest works as an art director was the Josef von Sternberg's 1932 film, Blonde Venus. He drew attention for his design of "fantastically exotic" African nightclub in the film.{{cite web|title=Art Director: The Vision of Wiard Ihnen|date=February 24, 2019|publisher=Backstory: New Looks at Classic Films|access-date=September 15, 2020|url=https://backstoryclassic.com/2019/02/art-director-the-vision-of-wiard-ihnen/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201007203403/https://backstoryclassic.com/2019/02/art-director-the-vision-of-wiard-ihnen/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=October 7, 2020}}

Other early art directing credits include the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup (1933) and a pair of Mae West comedies: Go West, Young Man (1936) and Every Day's a Holiday. Ihnen received his first Academy Awards nomination for Best Art Direction on Every Day's a Holiday.{{cite web|title=The 10th Academy Awards 1938|work=Oscars.org|access-date=September 15, 2020|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1938}} He also worked as the associate art director on John Ford's Stagecoach which won the Academy Award for art direction for Alexander Toluboff.

During the 1940s, Ihnen twice won the Academy Award for art direction, for the biographical film Wilson (1944) and for Blood on the Sun (1945), a wartime film about a Japanese plot to take over the world.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1945 |title=The 17th Academy Awards (1945) Nominees and Winners |access-date=August 14, 2011|work=oscars.org| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110706093748/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/17th-winners.html| archive-date=July 6, 2011 }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1946 |title=The 18th Academy Awards (1946) Nominees and Winners |access-date=August 16, 2011|work=oscars.org| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110706093754/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/18th-winners.html| archive-date=July 6, 2011 | url-status= live}}

Ihnen continued as an art director until 1960. His later works include the film noir works Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) and I, the Jury (1953), Fritz Lang's Rancho Notorious (1952), the aviation adventure film Top of the World (1955), and the biographical The Gallant Hours (1960).

Personal life and later years

In 1940, Ihnen was married in Las Vegas to Hollywood dress designer Edith Head.{{cite news|title=Film Fashions Expert Married|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|author=Hedda Hopper|date=September 30, 1940|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59338450/film-fashions-expert-married/|via=Newspapers.com}} Ihnen died from cancer in 1979.{{cite news|title=Wiard Ihnen Dies; Won Oscars for Movie Art Direction Work|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=June 26, 1979|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59324115/obituary-for-wiard-b-ihnen-aged-91/|via=Newspapers.com}} He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, next to his wife.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bOJCgAAQBAJ|title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory|last=Ellenberger|first=Allan R.|date=May 1, 2001|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786409839|language=en}}

Filmography

{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}

{{Div col end}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name|407311}}
  • {{Find a Grave|12730}}
  • {{MHL catalog|66600}}

{{Academy Award Best Production Design}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ihnen, Wiard}}

Category:1897 births

Category:1979 deaths

Category:American art directors

Category:Artists from Jersey City, New Jersey

Category:Best Art Direction Academy Award winners

Category:Deaths from cancer in California

Category:Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni

Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)