Set, Costume Designer Pene du Bois Dies
NEW YORK — Raoul Pene du Bois, a theatrical set and costume designer whose career spanned half a century and brought him two Tony awards, died Tuesday after a stroke. He was 70.
Pene du Bois, who died at Lenox Hill Hospital, was only 14 when he designed costumes for four “Ziegfeld Follies” showgirls. Two years later he designed his first Broadway show, a version of “Garrick Gaities.”
His later credits included “One for the Money,” “Life Begins at 8:40,” Billy Rose’s spectacular “Jumbo,” “Carmen Jones,” “The Music Man,” “Call Me Madam,” “New Faces of 1952,” “Charley’s Aunt,” “Bells Are Ringing,” “Gypsy” and “Irene.”
He also did costumes for the Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
Pene du Bois’ last Broadway show was “Sugar Babies,” which premiered in 1979 and is still touring.
He won an Antoinette Perry Award, or Tony, for set design in the 1953 production of “Wonderful Town.” He won again in 1971 for costume design in the production of “No, No Nannette.”
His movie credits include set and costume designs for “Lady in the Dark,” “Louisiana Purchase,” “Kitty,” “Dixie” and “Frenchman’s Creek.”
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