Harry Oliver

(1888 - 1973) Harry Oliver was a humorist, writer, painter, set designer, architect, and Art Director. Born to parents who ran a general store and lived in pioneer conditions in Hastings, Minnesota, Oliver claimed to have had a “Tom Sawyer” upbringing. As a teenager he worked as a burro driver for the U.S. Forest Service. A self-trained artist and architect, Oliver was one of the first Art Directors to work for Goldwyn in Hollywood, and was sent to Rome to make Ben-Hur (1923). His specialty was creating wilderness settings on studio stages and backlots. Oliver went on to art-direct for Carl Oscar Borg, who was a master painter of American western and Indian scenes. Oliver’s last picture was as the Art Director for M-G-M’s The Good Earth (1937). His first assignment was to go to China to collect research and fill a steamship with set dressing, props, wardrobe, textiles, and livestock. He then designed and supervised the production’s many sets on M-G-M’s stages and backlots, and on locations. He left Hollywood behind in 1941 to pursue his many interests, living in the desert.