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Richard Hornung

American production designer (1950-1995)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ5852515 ↗
Source-derived summary

Richard Hornung (February 16, 1950 – December 30, 1995) was an American costume designer best known for his work with the Coen brothers on films such as The Hudsucker Proxy, Raising Arizona, and Barton Fink for which he was nominated for an Oscar.

His other credits include Broadway shows Sunday in the Park With George, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The News (musical), and Candida (play).

Life and career

He was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on February 16, 1950. He was an Allentown, Pennsylvania native.

Hornung graduated from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. He later received a master's degree in costume design from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Prior to becoming a costume designer, he was a substitute English teacher. When he moved to New York City, he worked for various theaters, including regional, Off-Broadway, On-Broadway, and the Juilliard Drama School.

He has mentored costume designers such as Mark Bridges and Mary Zophres. Zophres has since taken over as the Coen Brother's main costume designer.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Richard Hornung” as american production designer (1950-1995). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1950, 1995—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1950-02-16. The account is most persuasive where Richard, Hornung and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american production designer (1950-1995). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5852515. VIAF identifies the subject as 6689775. The Library of Congress control number is n97846308. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950 and 1995.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Richard Hornung”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Richard Hornung primary sources, Richard Hornung archive and Richard research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Richard Hornung”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Richard Hornung” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.