Rites Planned for Paul Groesse, Oscar-Winning Art Director

Academy Award-winning art director Paul Groesse died Monday at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills. He was 80 and had lived at the retirement home for film industry craftsmen and artists since 1984.

A native of Hungary who was nominated for 11 Oscars and won three, Groesse came to Hollywood from Chicago where he had been a designer of the Century of Progress exposition from 1931 to 1934.

A 1930 fine arts graduate of Yale University, Groesse was a past president of the Society of Motion Picture Art Directors who won his first Academy Award for “Pride and Prejudice” in 1940. Working with artist-designer Cedric Gibbons, Groesse won twice more--for “The Yearling” in 1946 and “Little Women” in 1949.

His other pictures for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the RKO and Walt Disney studios included “The Great Waltz,” “Madame Curie,” “The Human Comedy,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “King Solomon’s Mines,” “Lili,” “The Music Man,” “The Merry Widow” and “Catered Affair.”

Groesse retired in 1971 and is survived by a son and daughter. A memorial service will be held at 12:30 p.m. Monday at the John Ford Chapel of the Motion Picture and Television Country Home.