Florence Klotz, whose career as one of Broadway's most distinguished costume designers spanned five decades, died in New York on November 1 of heart failure at age 86. She won six Tony Awards for Best Costume Design for Follies 1972, A Little Night Music 1973, Pacific Overtures 1976, Grind 1985, Kiss of the Spider Woman 1993 and Show Boat 1995. She was nominated for an seventh Tony in 1990 for City of Angels.
Born in Brooklyn on October 28, 1920 another source lists her birth year as 1928, Klotz began her design career assisting Irene Sharaff on The King and I in 1951. She then worked with Sharaff on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Of Thee I Sing, Do Re Mi, Flower Drum Song and Juno. She also assisted Lucinda Ballard, Alvin Colt, Raoul Pene DuBois and Miles White in the 1950s and early 1960s.
After designing the costumes for It's a Bird… It's a Plane…It's Superman!", Klotz worked often with director Harold Prince. In addition to her Tony-honored work, her Broadway credits include Never Too Late, Take Her She's Mine, The Owl and the Pussycat, On the Twentieth Century, Side by Side by Sondheim, Roza, Rags, Jerry's Girls and The Little Foxes starring Elizabeth Taylor. She also designed ballets for Jerome Robbins, Madame Butterfly for Chicago Lyric Opera and Symphony on Ice for John Curry. Her motion pictures include Something for Everyone starring Angela Lansbury and A Little Night Music starring Elizabeth Taylor, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Subsequently Klotz designed Taylor's ensemble for her wedding to Senator John Warner. In 2005, she was awarded the TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for Theatrical Costume Design.
Klotz is survived by, among others, her niece Suzanne DeMarco and cousin Paula Silbert. No ceremony will be held. Memorial donations should be sent to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
