Anthea Sylbert is an American film producer and award-winning costume designer who was active during the "modern era" of American film. She was nominated twice for Academy Awards for best costume design, first at the 47th Academy Awards for Chinatown, and then at the 50th Academy Awards for her work on Julia. In addition, she has more than ten credits as producer or executive producer, including for such works as CrissCross and the television film Truman, the latter of which earned Sylbert an Emmy. At the 7th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards in 2005, Sylbert was an honoree, receiving the Lacoste Career Achievement award for film.
Biography
Early life and education
Anthea Sylbert was born Anthea Gianna Kouros in Brooklyn, NY, on October 6, 1939, to what has been described as a "close-knit Greek family". She was interested in artistic activities as a child, and is reported to have learned to sew from a grandmother. Kouros went on to study art at Barnard College.
Career
Following her long period of costume design work, Sylbert took on executive production management roles at the vice president level, first at Warner Borothers, then at United Artists, where she was known, in particular, for her skills at conflict resolution when filmmakers were at odds with the studios. After this period she began a deepening partnership with Goldie Hawn, beginning with the film, Private Benjamin. Ultimately, the two of them would create the Hawn/Sylvebert Movie Company, which would produce a number of films, including Protocol and Something to Talk About.
Sylbert worked with Chinatown from its earliest days, after her brother-in-law, Richard Sylbert, introduced and recommended her to director Roman Polanski. Sylber was affectionately know in that close-working, small group of accomplished film-makers as "Ant", for her penchant for "stringently straight" dark skirts and black turtlenecks. She was further valued because, in a context of a profession where co-worker honesty was not always a given, Sylbert was known to be "utterly unafraid to speak truth, no matter how ugly, to anyone, no matter how powerful". In this important film context, Sylbert's work was described as breaking with past in its aim at being, "not for beauty or for chic", but rather "to amplify character". Sylbert was nominated for the 1975Academy Award for Best Costume Design for her work on the film, which went to Theoni V. Aldredge for her work on The Great Gatsby.
In addition to the 1975 and 1978 Academy Award nominations for best costume design, Sylbert won an Emmy for her production of Truman. In 1999, Sylbert and Richard Romanus were nominated for Best Original Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America for the Christmas film they co-wrote, If You Believe. As well, Sylbert was an honoree at the 7th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards, where she received the Lacoste Career Achievement award for film.
Personal life
Sylbert has been married to actor and writer Richard Romanus since August 11, 1985. In 2004, Sylbert and Romanus moved to the Greek island of Skiathos.
