Albert Wolsky, Oscar-Winning Costume Designer for All That Jazz and Bugsy, Dies at 95

Costume designer Albert Wolsky died on May 23 at age 95. Known for his extensive research and attention to detail, Wolsky received seven Oscar nominations during the course of his decades-spanning career, winning for All That Jazz in 1980 and Bugsy in 1992. He earned his sole Tony nomination in 2013 for The Heiress, having begun his career on Broadway in the early ‘60s.

Born in Paris, Wolsky’s family fled Europe for New York during World War II. After a brief stint in the Army, Wolsky was poised to take over his father’s travel business but opted to pursue a career in the arts instead. His big break came in 1960 when he was hired by costume maker Helene Pons to assist on the original Broadway production of Camelot. Wolsky stepped into the role of costume designer in 1965 with the Henry Fonda Broadway vehicle Generation. He designed 13 other Broadway productions in the years that followed.

At the referral of costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge, Wolsky ventured into film with the 1968 tearjerker The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. The ‘70s were a particularly fruitful decade for Wolsky, designing costumes for films like Turning Point, Woody Allen’s Manhattan, Bob Fosse’s Lenny and Paul Mazursky’s An Unmarried Woman. Fosse recruited Wolsky for two additional films: the autofiction fantasia All That Jazz in 1979 and the true crime biopic Star 80 in 1983. Wolsky’s working relationship with Mazursky amounted to 11 filmic collaborations, including Harry and Tonto, Next Stop, Greenwich Village and Down and Out in Beverly Hills.

In 1977, Wolsky designed the costumes for Grease. The ‘50s-set movie musical boasts some of Wolsky’s most iconic work, including the slinky ensemble that Olivia Newton John sports when her character undergoes a good-girl-gone-bad makeover. Following All That Jazz, Wolsky earned his second Oscar nomination for Sophie’s Choice in 1982. Wolsky described the experience of designing this particular film as cathartic due to his family’s history with Nazi occupation.

On screen, Wolsky’s work ranged from romantic comedies (You’ve Got Mail, Runaway Bride) to science fiction (Meteor, Galaxy Quest) to crime dramas (The Pelican Brief, The Manchurian Candidate remake). Wolsky continued designing well into his nineties, lending his expertise to Birdman (or, the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) in 2014 and Ad Astra in 2019. His last film was the 2022 Depression era caper Amsterdam. Wolsky spent his final years in a Hollywood Hills estate, which he had shared with his longtime partner James Mitchell, who died in 2010.