Anthony Furst; Won Oscar as Art Designer for ‘Batman’

Anthony Francis Furst, known to his friends as Anton and to his profession as the Academy Award-winning art designer of “Batman,” is dead.

Mark Gill, spokesman for Columbia Pictures, said Furst committed suicide on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Furst jumped to his death from a parking garage about eight floors high, said Scott Carrier, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

Furst, 47, was a native of England. He graduated from London’s Royal College of Art and shortly afterward designed a holography show he called “The Light Fantastic.” It was featured during performances by the rock group The Who.

He then developed a special effects firm, Holoco, which worked on such films as “Star Wars,” “Superman” and “Aliens.”

Furst moved into production design, working on films that included “Company of Wolves,” “Full Metal Jacket” and “Batman.”

Furst, along with set designer Peter Young, won the 1989 Academy Award for best art direction for the latter film.

Furst moved to Los Angeles from New York 18 months ago and established The Furst Co. at Columbia Pictures on the Sony Pictures Studios lot. The company was developing films to produce with Furst as designer and director.

Twice married, he is survived by a daughter, a son, his mother and a sister.