Anton Furst

Anthony Francis "Anton" Furst (6 May 1944 – 24 November 1991) was an English production designer who won an Academy Award for overseeing design of Gotham City in Tim Burton's Batman (1989).[1][2]

Anton Furst
Born
Anthony Francis Furst

(1944-05-06)6 May 1944
London, England, United Kingdom
Died24 November 1991(1991-11-24) (aged 47)
Hollywood, California, United States
Alma materRoyal College of Art
OccupationProduction designer
Years active1974–1990
AwardsAcademy Award for Best Art Direction for Batman (1989)

Life and career

Born in London, England, he trained at the Royal College of Art, London.[3]

He designed two award-winning television films, Just One Kid and It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow, for director/producer John Goldschmidt. He gained high praise for his work on Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves (1984). He went on to create convincing Vietnam War settings, without leaving England, for Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987), and in 1991 designed the themes for the Planet Hollywood restaurant in New York. His final credited film was Awakenings (1990).[1]

Death

Furst took his own life on 24 November 1991, the same day that Freddie Mercury and Eric Carr died. He had separated from his wife and begun taking Halcion, a sleeping drug that had been banned in Britain due to its possible side effects of amnesia, paranoia and depression. His drinking also became more of a problem.[4] He was scheduled to check into rehab in 1992. On the night of November 24, 1991, he told his friends he was going to the car to fetch his cigarettes. Instead, he jumped off an eight-story parking deck.[5]

He was survived by a daughter, Vanessa King; a son, Nicholas Sergei Furst; his mother, Pamela Furst; and a sister, Jane Wearne.[1]

References
  1. Anton Furst, 47, Dies; Designer of 'Batman', The New York Times, November 26, 1991
  2. "The 62nd Academy Awards (1990) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  3. "Anton Furst, 47, the Set Designer For 'Batman' and 'Awakenings'", The New York Times, November 27, 1991. Retrieved 2012-11-16.
  4. When hell burst through the pavement and grew: Anton Furst conjured up Batman's Gotham City. In England he was a creator of dreams. But in Hollywood his dreams ended. Simon Garfield reports
  5. "GlennShadix.com - The Clock Series - Anton Furst". Archived from the original on 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2013-10-01.
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