Florence Klotz, six-time Tony Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated costume designer, died Wednesday, November 1, at her home in Manhattan. She was 86.
The cause was heart failure.
Know as Flossie to friends, Klotz was born Kathrina E. Klotz, on October 28, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York.
In a career in the theater that spanned more than 4 decades, Klotz worked on 60 Broadway productions. Her first was in 1951 as assistant to Irene Sharaff on the original production of
The King and I. She also often worked as assistant costume designer to Lucinda Ballard.
Klotz won six Tony Awards as Best Costume Designer, her first in 1972 for her legendary designs for
Follies. 1973 she won her second Tony for
A Little Night Music, followed by a third win in 1976 for
Pacific Overtures. Her other Tony Awards came for her costume designs for 1985's
Grind, Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1993, and
Hal Prince's rethinking of
Show Boat in 1995, for which Klotz designed 585 costumes.
Klotz's other Broadway costume design credits include
On the Twentieth Century, City of Angels, Never Too Late, Take Her She's Mine, The Owl and the Pussycat, It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman, Side by Side by Sondheim, Roza, Rags, Jerry's Girls, and
The Little Foxes starring
Elizabeth Taylor.
Klotz has recreated her designs, including City of Angels and Kiss of the Spider Woman, for London's West End. For her work in the theater she has also won five Drama Desk Awards, three L.A. Critic Circle Awards and two Outer Critics' Circle Awards. In 2002, Klotz received the Patricia Zipprodt Award from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and in 2005, Klotz received the Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award.
In addition to her designs for the theater, Klotz has also designed for other areas of the arts, including ballets for Jerome Robbins, Madama Butterfly for
Chicago Lyric Opera and Symphony on Ice for John Curry. Her film costume design credits include "Something for Everyone" starring
Angela Lansbury and "A Little Night Music" starring
Elizabeth Taylor; she was nominated for an Academy Award for the latter. Subsequently, Klotz designed Ms. Taylor's wedding ensemble for her wedding to Senator John Warner.
Klotz is survived by, among others, her niece Suzanne DeMarco, and cousin Paula Silbert. No ceremony will be held. Please make donations in Klotz's name to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
