Biography

American costume designer and producer Anthea Sylbert was born Anthea Giannakouros in Brooklyn of Greek ancestry to Nicholas T. Giannakouros (1912-1979) and his wife Georgia (1915-1985). She studied art at Barnard College and the Parsons School of Design in New York, but abandoned plans for a Master's Degree after being offered a research position with a Broadway costume designer. She continued her career working odd jobs off-Broadway for little pay, making ends meet designing shoes for Capezio. Her first feature film as costume designer was the modestly-budgeted Eli Wallach comedy The Tiger Makes Out (1967), which had found no takers among the established costumers. Her then-husband Paul Sylbert also worked as production designer on the picture. She subsequently enjoyed a fruitful working relationship with Paul's twin brother Richard Sylbert (who worked in the same capacity). Their collaboration included the iconic films Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Chinatown (1974). Jack Nicholson (who nicknamed her 'Ant') reputedly liked his Chinatown wardrobe so much that he kept it. Another frequent collaborator, the director Mike Nichols, said her design work was "brilliantly alive, witty, recognizable and has a very strong sense of character and story. She is an important member of a production in that she supports and helps to define the entire film."

Sylbert received both Oscar and BAFTA nominations for her work on Chinatown and for Julia (1977), eventually winning a Career Achievement Award from the Costume Designers Guild in 2005. Her work for the stage included costumes for Neil Simon's Broadway production The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971-73).

From 1977, Sylbert worked in various executive positions at Warner Brothers and United Artists, a rare female representative in the traditionally male-dominated industry of the era. In 1978, then-Warner Brothers studio boss John Calley promoted her to Vice president of Production. Two years later, she rose to the same position at United Artists. An independent producer from 1982, she formed a partnership with actress Goldie Hawn which resulted in the formation of the Hawn/Sylbert Movie Company. Among their joint output were the Goldie Hawn comedies Protocol (1984), Wildcats (1986) and Overboard (1987). Sylbert won a 1996 Primetime Emmy in the Outstanding Made for Television Movie category for the biopic Truman (1995), starring Gary Sinise.

Sylbert retired from film work in 1999. She and her second husband, the actor Richard Romanus, moved to the small Greek island of Skiathos in the northern Aegean, where she died on June 18 2024 at the age of 84. Her husband had predeceased her in December 2023, also on Skiathos. A documentary on her career, entitled Anthea Sylbert: My Life in 3 Acts, is said to be in post-production.