Anton Furst


Anthony Francis "Anton" Furst was an English production designer who won an Academy Award for overseeing design of Gotham City in Tim Burton's Batman.

Life and career

Born in London, England, he trained at the Royal College of Art, London.
He designed two award-winning television films, Just One Kid and It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow, for director/producer John Goldschmidt. He gained high praise for his work on Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves. He went on to create convincing Vietnam War settings, without leaving England, for Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, and in 1991 designed the themes for the Planet Hollywood restaurant in New York. His final credited film was Awakenings.

Death

Furst took his own life on 24 November 1991, the same day that Freddie Mercury and Eric Carr died. He had separated from his wife and begun taking Halcion, a sleeping drug that had been banned in Britain due to its possible side effects of amnesia, paranoia and depression. His drinking also became more of a problem. He was scheduled to check into rehab in 1992. On the night of November 24, 1991, he told his friends he was going to the car to fetch his cigarettes. Instead, he jumped off an eight-story parking deck.
He was survived by a daughter, Vanessa King; a son, Nicholas Sergei Furst; his mother, Pamela Furst; and a sister, Jane Wearne.