Max Rée

Danish-born art director and costume designer. Initially a law and philosophy graduate, Ree studied architecture at the Royal Academy of Copenhagen. He then worked as a stage designer for Max Reinhardt in Berlin during the early 1920's. Moving to the United States in 1925, Ree had a brief stint with MGM, designing costumes for two of Greta Garbo's films. He then returned to theatrical stage design, creating sets for hit Broadway shows, including Earl Carroll's 'Vanities' and the 'Greenwich Village Follies'. By 1927, was back in Hollywood as head of the costume department for First National, proving himself a master at creating gowns for varied historical periods. Following the merger with Warner Brothers, Ree joined RKO in the dual capacity of supervising art director (1929-31) and costume designer (1929-32). He did some of his best work on the creation of historically authentic costumes and, especially, the building of a replica of 'Cayetano's Circus Theatre' in 1840's New Orleans, for the big-budget musical Dixiana (1930). Ree won the 1930 Academy Award for Best Art Direction for the western Cimarron (1931). He pretty much retired from films a year later, except to rejoin Max Reinhardt for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), his costume design contributing greatly to the picture's visual splendour.