Ambra Danon, the Italian costume designer who worked on the three La Cage aux Folles films, which earned an Oscar nomination for the former, has passed away. She turned 75.
Danon died in Rome on April 12 after a long battle with cancer, her niece, Echo Danon, said The Hollywood Reporter.
The original La Cage Aux Folles (1978), based on Jean Poiret’s 1973 play of the same name, was directed by Édouard Molinaro and released by United Artists. The French-language comedy starred Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault as a gay couple who operated a drag nightclub in a French seaside town and was a huge box office success.
Danon, who shared her Academy Award nomination with five-time nominee Piero Tosi, lost to Albert Wolsky on Oscar night All that jazz. She then returned for the La Cage aux Folles sequels released in 1980 and 1985.
The daughter of Marcello Danon, who produced the first two films in the series, she also worked in theater and opera productions and other films such as Il caso Raoul (1975) and Quando eravamo repressi (1992).
(La Cage Aux Folleswas of course also a big Broadway hit written by Harvey Fierstein and an American movie, The Birdcagestarring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, was directed by Mike Nichols and written by Elaine May.)
Echo Danon is a daughter of the late actress Pamela Tiffin (State Fair, The pleasure seekers, Come Fly With Me, Harper). Other Ambra Danon survivors include her brothers, Edmondo and Lorenzo, and another niece, Aurora.
