 A surrealist painter, and a production designer for German theatre and ballet, Hein Heckroth emigrated to Britain in 1935. He entered British films as costume designer for Caesar And Cleopatra (d. Gabriel Pascal, 1945), and then worked in the same capacity for Powell and Pressburger, before becoming their principal production designer in 1948. His best work, on The Red Shoes (1948, an Oscar) and The Tales Of Hoffman (1951), reveals Heckroth's formative influences in surrealism, as well as his affinities to the ballet, to striking effect. On Black Narcissus (1947), he memorably created the Himalayan palace/convent at Pinewood. His later work, including Hitchcock's Torn Curtain (1966), remained meticulous, but tended more towards the conventional. Bibliography
Catherine A. Surowiec, Accent on Design: Four European Art Directors, 1992. Tim Bergfelder, Encyclopedia of British Film
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