The Biography

Paul Sylbert (April 16, 1928 – November 19, 2016) was an American Academy Award-winning production designer, art director, and set designer who directed on occasion. Born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a dressmaker, Sylbert grew up in the borough's Flatbush neighborhood and graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1946. He fought in the Korean War and attended the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania with his identical twin brother Richard. Early in their careers, they collaborated on Baby Doll and A Face in the Crowd. Sylbert also attended the Hans Hoffman School of Art and The Actors Studio. He is a veteran of the United States Army and served in Korea. Sylbert was a member of the faculty at the Film and Media Arts department of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he taught courses in film studies. He also taught a course called Film: The Creative Process at Temple University in the Spring of 2014. Sylbert died on November 19, 2016, at the age of 88.