Beowulf Boritt

Boritt was born to American Civil War scholar Gabor Boritt and his wife, Elizabeth Boritt, an aspiring opera singer. Gabor Boritt fled Hungary for South Dakota after the failure of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The family resided in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Boritt cites his grandmother Anita Marie Wilson Norseen Hooker as a major inspiration for designing sets, as she was an artist and scenic designer at Wellesley College but was told that it was not appropriate for a woman to do in the 1930s. "She encouraged me artistically to express myself and bought me my first set of oil paints. My parents encouraged me, yes, but my grandmother was the big influence." Boritt went on to receive his A.B. from Vassar College where he pursued a degree in literature, not believing he could make it in scenic design: I honestly don't think I meant to become a professional designer. I'm a little disingenuous for saying that, but I don't think I thought it was possible. I don't know if there was ever a moment where I said I'm going to pursue this. I thought I might become a college professor and teach set design somewhere. To do that I needed a master's degree. I started designing around the city a little bit while I was in graduate school and one thing led to another and I had several lucky breaks and started building a career. Then, he received his M.F.A. from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts program for design for stage and film. He is married to actress Mimi Bilinski. == Career ==