One legend pays tribute to a different: Deborah Nadoolman Landis (“Raiders of the Misplaced Ark,” “The Blues Brothers”) writes about Albert Wolsky, who died in Might.
Albert Wolsky created a number of the most indelible pictures in common tradition: his costumes for “Grease”—from John Travolta’s swaggering black leather-based to Olivia Newton-John’s unforgettable good-to-bad woman transformation and the candy-colored jackets of the Pink Girls—have change into Halloween staples. Maybe his excellent collaboration with Bob Fosse was on “All That Jazz,” with Ann Reinking topped with a black bowler hat, black tights, and pure perspective. That continues to be the picture that defines Fosse’s model.
Though Wolsky was born in France, he grew up uptown in Washington Heights. We have been each graduates of George Washington Excessive Faculty, separated by half a technology in a various neighborhood the place everybody performed on the road. An inauspicious begin: his household ran a journey company, and his father wished him to affix the enterprise, which he did, although not for lengthy. What adopted was one of the vital distinguished and enduring careers in costume design. Drawn first to the theater, Albert discovered his creative dwelling on Broadway, the place he developed a eager eye for character, interval, and storytelling that may change into his hallmark. He introduced that very same intelligence and sensitivity to movie, constructing a physique of labor spanning greater than 5 a long time and encompassing a unprecedented vary of genres, kinds, and collaborators.
Albert’s filmography reads like a survey of recent American cinema. From the downtown grit of Lenny (1974), the now-iconic Grease (1978) and the good theatricality of All That Jazz (1979) to the 40s magnificence of Bugsy (1991), the hilarious Galaxy Quest (1999), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), the restrained interval costuming of Revolutionary Street (2008), groundbreaking Birdman (2014, and the visionary way forward for Advert Astra (2019), Albert’s costumes by no means known as consideration to themselves. As an alternative, they served the story – as he did. Albert understood that the best costume design will not be ornamental—it’s persona made seen.
His lengthy collaborations with administrators corresponding to Paul Mazursky, Bob Fosse, and Sam Mendes communicate to the belief he impressed amongst filmmakers. Administrators returned to Albert as a result of he was elegant, critical in regards to the work, listener, understood narrative, and possessed the uncommon potential to translate concepts into garments that felt genuine, inevitable, and alive. His contribution helped outline performances and form audiences’ understanding of the world unfolding on display. His actors received awards, and so did he, together with two Oscars and the Costume Designers Guild Life Achievement Award.
But Albert’s contribution to our career extends effectively past his outstanding credit. For many years, he devoted himself to the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences as a governor and consultant of our Department, earlier than we had one. He believed deeply within the worth of our function on each manufacturing and labored tirelessly to make sure that costume designers had a voice inside the establishment and the broader movie group. His stewardship helped increase our status and strengthen the visibility and standing of costume design throughout a interval of profound change within the movement image business.
Those that knew Albert communicate as readily of his heat and kindness as of his accomplishments. He was all the time beneficiant together with his time, considerate in his recommendation, and inspiring to rising designers. College students and younger professionals regarded him as a grasp practitioner and a affected person mentor. He understood that every technology inherits the accountability to nurture the following and embraced that obligation with grace. Albert Wolsky’s legacy extends past awards, celebrated movies, and historic productions, encompassing the numerous artists whose lives he touched. He has strengthened our subject—making it extra revered, linked, and humane. Albert was an artist; we are going to miss him, and we’re profoundly grateful.
