Biography
A onetime architecture student at Vienna University, Czechoslovakia-born art director Harry Horner became an assistant to Austrian theatrical impresario
Max Reinhardt, working on such spectacular touring productions as
The Eternal Road. Horner came to Hollywood in 1940 as an associate of the celebrated production designer
William Cameron Menzies, earning his first screen credit for
Our Town (1940). While in special services during World War II, he designed the all-serviceman theatrical pageant
Winged Victory. Back in Hollywood, he earned Academy Awards for his work on
The Heiress (1949) and
The Hustler (1961), and received an Oscar nomination for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969). He made his directorial bow with the
Ida Lupino-
Robert Ryan thriller Beware My Lovely; his later assignments included the 1952
Laura remake
Vicki, the propagandistic science fiction drama
Red Planet Mars, and the "canned theatre" musical
New Faces (1954). Harry Horner spent many of his last professional years producing and directing for television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide