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Green-Wood Cemetery Brooklyn, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, USA

Raoul Pene Du Bois - IMDbRaoul Pene Du Bois (November 30, 1912 – January 1, 1985) was an American costume designer and scenic designer for the stage and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction: Louisiana Purchase (1941) and Lady in the Dark (1944).[2] The work of Broadway's gay and lesbian artistic community went on display in 2007 when the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation Gallery presents "StageStruck: The Magic of Theatre Design." The exhibit was conceived to highlight the achievements of gay and lesbian designers who work in conjunction with fellow gay and lesbian playwrights, directors, choreographers and composers. Original sketches, props, set pieces and models — some from private collections — represent the work of over 60 designers, including Raoul Pène Du Bois.

Du Bois was born on Staten Island in New York City, the son of René Pène Du Bois, a banker. He was the grandson of Henri Pene du Bois, a music and art critic for the Hearst publications, and nephew of Guy Pene du Bois, the painter. Children's book writer and illustrator William Pène du Bois was a cousin. He started his career as a costume designer when he was 14, by designing four showgirl costumes for the Ziegfeld Follies.[3] He went on to design the costumes for the Broadway revues Ziegfeld Follies of 1934, his first show and Ziegfeld Follies of 1936. Du Bois designed the costumes and/or the scenery for some 48 Broadway shows, starting in 1934 with the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 and his last, Reggae in 1980; his designs were used in Jerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989. Among his work was Gypsy (1959) and many other musicals starring Ethel Merman. He worked on Billy Rose's Aquacade for the New York World's Fair (1939–40). He won the 1971 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award, Best Costume Design for No, No, Nanette and the 1953 Tony Award, Best Scenic Design, for Wonderful Town and was nominated for the Tony Award, Costume Design, for Sugar Babies (1980), Doctor Jazz (1975) and Gypsy (1960), and for scenic design for The Student Gypsy (1964).

Du Bois died on January 1, 1985, in New York City, New York, from a stroke.[4]

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