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IMDbPro

Robert M. Haas(1889-1962)

  • Art Director
  • Cinematographer
  • Art Department
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A graduate in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, Haas spent his first two years in Hollywood at the art department of Famous Players Lasky (1919-21), as a set designer and builder. He received early acclaim from the journal American Architect for a town in Elmhurst, New York, he had constructed for the movie The Copperhead (1920), and subsequently detailed to show its ageing process over a period of six decades. After several years of freelance work, Haas joined First National (1925-26) and Fox (1927-28), before settling at Warner Brothers in 1929. Until his retirement in 1950, he handled most of the A-grade output at Warners, along with Anton Grot. This included many of Bette Davis's lavishly produced, popular melodramas, such as Dark Victory (1939), Now, Voyager (1942) and Mr. Skeffington (1944).

Haas's best work is exemplified by Jezebel (1938), a romantic period drama set around the time of the Civil War, for which he built an authentic-looking Louisiana plantation house on the Warner Brothers ranch, some thirty miles from the main studio. The picture cost $1,073,000 to make, but still brought in a substantial profit. By contrast, for The Maltese Falcon (1941), Haas and director John Huston were allocated the standard gangster film budget of $300,000 (and a shooting schedule of six weeks). Still, Haas managed to fulfill the studio's missive of 'not overlooking a single detail'. He effectively established the standard for the look and atmosphere of subsequent films noir, particularly in terms of his claustrophobic sets, and in juxtaposing the austere, somewhat seedy interiors of Spade's office with the opulence of the hotel rooms and lobby.
BornJanuary 3, 1889
DiedDecember 17, 1962(73)
BornJanuary 3, 1889
DiedDecember 17, 1962(73)
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  • Nominated for 2 Oscars

Known for

Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Maltese Falcon
8.0
  • Art Director(as Robert Haas)
  • 1941
Johnny Belinda (1948)
Johnny Belinda
7.7
  • Art Director(as Robert Haas)
  • 1948
William Powell, Irene Dunne, Johnny Calkins, Jimmy Lydon, Martin Milner, and Derek Scott in Life with Father (1947)
Life with Father
7.1
  • Art Director(as Robert Haas)
  • 1947
Humphrey Bogart, Pat O'Brien, Gabriel Dell, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Bernard Punsly, and The Dead End Kids in Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Angels with Dirty Faces
7.9
  • Art Director(as Robert Haas)
  • 1938

Credits

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IMDbPro

Art Director

  • The Glass Menagerie (1950)
    The Glass Menagerie
    • (as Robert Haas)
  • Joan Crawford and David Brian in The Damned Don't Cry (1950)
    The Damned Don't Cry
    • (as Robert Haas)
  • Danny Kaye in The Inspector General (1949)
    The Inspector General
    • (as Robert Haas)
  • Milton Berle, Bert Lahr, Virginia Mayo, and Ruth Roman in Always Leave Them Laughing (1949)
    Always Leave Them Laughing
    • (as Robert Haas)
  • Beyond the Forest (1949)
    Beyond the Forest
    • (as Robert Haas)
  • Doris Day, Eve Arden, Jack Carson, Lee Bowman, Adolphe Menjou, and S.Z. Sakall in My Dream Is Yours (1949)
    My Dream Is Yours
    • (as Robert Haas)
  • Ronald Reagan, Jack Carson, Edward Arnold, Virginia Field, Wayne Morris, and Patricia Neal in John Loves Mary (1949)
    John Loves Mary
    • (as Robert Haas)
  • Johnny Belinda (1948)
    Johnny Belinda
    • (as Robert Haas)
  • Lilli Palmer and Sam Wanamaker in My Girl Tisa (1948)
    My Girl Tisa
  • Ronald Reagan and Eleanor Parker in The Voice of the Turtle (1947)
    The Voice of the Turtle
    • (as Robert Haas)
  • William Powell, Irene Dunne, Johnny Calkins, Jimmy Lydon, Martin Milner, and Derek Scott in Life with Father (1947)
    Life with Father
    • (as Robert Haas)
  • Robert Hutton and Joan Leslie in Janie Gets Married (1946)
    Janie Gets Married
  • Bette Davis, Walter Brennan, Glenn Ford, Dane Clark, and Charles Ruggles in A Stolen Life (1946)
    A Stolen Life
    • (as Robert Haas)
  • Olivia de Havilland, Sydney Greenstreet, Paul Henreid, and Ida Lupino in Devotion (1946)
    Devotion
  • Jack Carson and Rosalind Russell in Roughly Speaking (1945)
    Roughly Speaking
    • (as Robert Haas)

Cinematographer

  • John Holland and Lupe Velez in Hell Harbor (1930)
    Hell Harbor
    • (as Robert M. Hass, photography)

Art Department

  • John Barrymore and Nita Naldi in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Personal details

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    • January 3, 1889
    • Newark, New Jersey, USA
    • December 17, 1962
    • Costa Mesa, California, USA
    • June 16, 1917 - ?
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Articles

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    He was the art director on both The Maltese Falcon (1931) and The Maltese Falcon (1941).

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