Ernst Fegté (28 September 1900 – 15 December 1976) was a German art director. He was active in the American cinema from the 1920s to the 1970s, he was the art director or production designer on more than 75 feature films. He worked at Paramount Studios at the height of his career and won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for Frenchman's Creek (1944). He was also nominated in the same category for three other films: Five Graves to Cairo (1943), The Princess and the Pirate (1944), and Destination Moon (1950). He also worked in television in the 1950s and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1956 for his work on the series, Medic.

Early years

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Fegté studied art at Hamburg University. He worked in the German cinema and created set murals for Ernst Lubitsch. Fetgé moved to the United States in the 1920s and initially worked in New York, creating backgrounds for various motion pictures produced in that city.

Paramount years

By the late 1920s, Fegté had relocated to Los Angeles where he worked at Paramount Studios for approximately 20 years. He worked under Hans Dreier, Paramount's supervising art director and "developed a more classical, almost baroque sense of set design and decoration." Fegté's notable films included The Cocoanuts (1929), Animal Crackers (1930), The General Died at Dawn (1936), The Lady Eve (1941), I Married a Witch (1942), The Palm Beach Story (1942), The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943), and The Uninvited (1944). He won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for Frenchman's Creek (1944) and was nominated in the same category for Five Graves to Cairo (1943), The Princess and the Pirate (1944), and Destination Moon (1950). He worked with Paramount's top directors, including Ernst Lubitsch (Design for Living), Fritz Lang (You and Me), Preston Sturges (The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek), Billy Wilder (Five Graves to Cairo), René Clair (And Then There Were None, I Married a Witch), and King Vidor (So Red the Rose).

Later years and family

Fegté left Paramount in the mid-1940s. His later works included psychological thrillers and science fiction fare, including Specter of the Rose (1946) and Destination Moon. In the 1950s, Fegté also worked in television, including Adventures of Superman (1952-1953), General Electric Theater (1953), Your Jeweler's Showcase (1953), Cavalcade of America (1953-1954), Medic (1955-1956), and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (1957-1958). He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1956 for art direction on Medic. He also designed sets for the opera. Fetge was married to Eileen O'Kane. They had three children: Peter, Quita Lou, and Carol. He died in Los Angeles in 1976.

Filmography

Awards

Fegté won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction and was nominated for three more: