Anthea Sylbert, the twice-Oscar-nominated costume designer behind “Chinatown,” “Shampoo” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” died Tuesday. She was 84 years old.
Sylbert died in Skiathos, Greece, according to media reports and as confirmed by Sakis Lalus, who’s directing a documentary on her life titled “My Life in 3 Acts.”
The documentary follows the costumer as she writes her memoir, delving into three decades of Hollywood history.
“Anthea Sylbert is a real trailblazer, not only as a brilliant Costume Designer two-times Oscar nominated, but as one of the few women in those years of the New Hollywood Era who crossed over from the creative and of moviemaking to the world of producing, first as an executive for Warner Bros., for United Artists and then for the SylbertHawn Film Productions, cofounded with her best friend, actress Goldie Hawn,” the documentary synopsis states.
Her designs were first seen on the big screen in Arthur Hiller’s 1967 contemporary comedy “The Tiger Makes Out,” in which she collaborated with her first husband Paul Sylbert, who was the production designer for the film.
Along with her onscreen designs, some of her work was featured on the Broadway stage — Neil Simon’s “The Prisoner of Second Avenue” (1971) and Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing” (1984), for which she received a Tony nomination.
The storied craftswoman received the Costume Designers Guild’s Lacoste Career Achievement Award in 2005 for her decades working in Hollywood.
Sylbert was born in New York City in 1993. She went on to study at Barnard College and the Parsons School of Design. The Hollywood costumer ultimately moved to Greece in 2000 with her second husband, actor Richard Romanus, who died in December 2023.
Her passing was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
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