Florence Klotz

Florence Klotz (October 28, 1920 – November 1, 2006) was an American costume designer on Broadway and on film.

Biography
Born in Brooklyn, New York, she graduated from Parsons School of Design, and went to work painting fabrics for Brooks Costumes. Originally named as Kathrina Klotz, she later changed her name to "Florence" and was often nicknamed "Flossie".

Klotz began her career in 1951 as an assistant to Irene Sharaff, who designed the costumes for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's The King and I. It was there she met her companion for the next half century Ruth Mitchell who later would co-produce Broadway shows with Hal Prince.

She worked with Jerome Robbins, designing costumes for Madama Butterfly for the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the film version of A Little Night Music. She became friendly with actress Elizabeth Taylor on the set of this last venture, for which Klotz was nominated for an Academy Award — Taylor asked Klotz to design the lavender dress she wore for her wedding to United States Senator John Warner (R-VA) in 1976.

Other musicals she designed for included City of Angels, On the Twentieth Century, It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman, Grind, and The Little Foxes.

Costume design
Klotz designed costumes for many Broadway productions, including:
 * Kiss of the Spider Woman
 * City of Angels
 * Jerry's Girls
 * On the Twentieth Century
 * Side by Side by Sondheim
 * Pacific Overtures
 * A Little Night Music
 * Follies
 * It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman
 * The Best Laid Plans
 * The Owl and the Pussycat (see "Background" re stage version of film)
 * Nobody Loves an Albatross
 * Never Too Late
 * Take Her, She's Mine

Death
Klotz died at her Manhattan home of cardiac arrest, four days after her 86th birthday. Her only immediate survivor was her niece, Suzanne DeMarco. Klotz's partner, producer and stage manager Ruth Mitchell, died in 2000.

Awards
All of the Tony Awards Klotz won were for musicals directed by Hal Prince, with whom she had a long association.


 * 1995: Show Boat
 * 1993: Kiss of the Spider Woman: The Musical
 * 1985: Grind
 * 1976: Pacific Overtures
 * 1973: A Little Night Music
 * 1972: Follies

She won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design five times, three L.A. Critic Circle Awards, and two Outer Critics Circle Awards. In 2002, she received the Patricia Zipprodt Award from the Fashion Institute of Technology; and in 2005, she won the Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award.