Ambra Danon, Oscar-nominated costume designer for ‘La Cage aux Folles,’ dies at 75

Ambra Danon, the Italian costume designer who worked on the three La Cage aux Folles film, earning an Oscar nomination for the first, is dead. He was 75 years old.

Danon died April 12 in Rome after a long battle with cancer, said her granddaughter, Echo Danon. 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 distributed by United Artists. The French-language comedy starred Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault as a gay couple who run a drag nightclub in a French resort town and was a huge box office success.

Danon, who shared his Oscar nomination with five-time nominee Piero Tosi, lost Oscar night to Albert Wolsky of All that jazz. Then she came back 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, has also worked on theater and opera productions and on other films such as The Raul case (1975) and When we were repressed (1992).

(La Cage Aux Follesof course, it also became a big Broadway hit written by Harvey Fierstein and an American film, The bird cagestarring 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). Ambra Danon’s other survivors include her brothers, Edmondo and Lorenzo, and another niece, Aurora.