Harold Michelson Net Worth
John Parker
Updated on May 16, 2026
Harold Michelson net worth is
$1.4 Million
Harold Michelson Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family
Harold Michelson (February 15, 1920 - March 2, 2007) was an American production designer and art director. In addition, he worked as an illustrator and/or storyboard artist on numerous films from the 1940s through the 1990s.
| Net Worth | $1.4 Million |
| Date Of Birth | February 15, 1920 |
| Died | 2007-03-02 |
| Place Of Birth | New York City, New York, USA |
| Height | 6' (1.83 m) |
| Occupation | Production designer, Art director, Illustrator |
| Profession | Art Director, Art Department, Production Designer |
| Nicknames | Harold Michelson, Michelson, Harold |
| Star Sign | Aquarius |
| # | Fact |
|---|---|
| 1 | Harold Michelson was instrumental in the lay-out of the fore shortened "Irma, la Douce" Parisienne $350,000 "Rue Casanova" street stage set, as designed by the French production designer Alexandre Trauner. Michelson, consulting with Trauner, with Trauner's set designers, scaled the street set's architectural details, as illustrations, for the set designers floor plan, elevation drawings and architectural details. Calculating the plan of the three converging street building facades' false perspective was a major contribution in the sets layout; this was in addition to Michelson's set illustrations and script storyboard analysis illustrations. In Michelson's approach to the 'forced' false perspective analysis, the elevation and plan layouts were back (rear) projected to scales related to actual full scale facades. Harold Michelson's expertise on perspective principles, Michelson's Paris street stage set 'forced' false perspective was built on two stages at the Samuel Goldwyn Film Studio, located in Hollywood. The camera's lens calculated horizon line, positioned as an average height of 5'-6". The set plan was based upon a 'T' floor plan, with the street's forced 'false' perspective at the bottom of the 'T', and at the end tips of the top 'T'. The main center of "Rue Casanova" street set, constructed and designed at standard architectural scale, was positioned at the front center of the Goldwyn studio stage, with the right 'T' tip extending through an inside stage door connecting with the adjacent stage. This side was built with less forced perspective. The bottom part of the 'T' Paris street stage set had the most forced perspective built on the stage. With the floor ramped, raising off the wooden stage floor approximately 2'-6", at the back end of the 'T'. The set's street cobblestone treatment, had the cobblestones size and scale reduced appropriately to the false perspective. Michelson also dictated the heights of street miniature lamp fixtures; atmosphere extras, positioned in the middle of the 'T' rear reduced perspective street set, utilized dwarfs and midgets as background performers. |
| 2 | Harold Michelson, during WWII, flew as a member of a B-17 bomber flight crew over Germany on nightly bombing missions. Nazi Germany armament installations were their priority during the nightly bombing raids. More U.S. service men died in the Army Air Corps than the Marine corps while completing the required 30 missions, as airmen's chance of being killed was 71%. |
| 3 | Michelson was one of the professional Hollywood film cadre teaching at the Chouinard Art School's film program during the early 1960s. Jack Senter taught film and stage set design/drafting. Mentor Huebner taught life drawing. Tad Haworth taught story board/continuity sketching. Harold's class specialized in continuity script story board presentation, and a serious perspective projection layout system for set illustration. This projection system was plotted from a 1/4" set designer's schematic floor plan, pin pointing the camera's floor spotting position, projecting the perspective positions of the floor plan on a horizon line, factoring in the set's elevation wall corners, camera's lens height, to the illustration's horizon line, and then accurately depicting ceiling heights and the scale depth of field within the lens ratio. Conferencing with a director and the director of photography, the plan and plotting for camera determined how much of the set was required to be built, based upon the director's plan for the actor's scene motivation. Harold Michelson's Chouinard Art School's film illustration class was extremely popular, often attended by NYC illustrators making a move to the West Coast, intending on cashing in on studio illustration jobs. Prior to the 1990's computer programs, this perspective projection illustration system was the most accurate drawing tool of the production designer and art director. Presentation set design sketches were the producer's portfolio in raising financing for their film's expenses. |
| 4 | Some of his strikingly illustrative storyboards showing Moses parting the Red Sea for the half-century-old production of The Ten Commandments (1956) were featured in a two-page spread in the Summer 2013 issue of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Quarterly. |
| 5 | Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Art Directors Branch). |
Art Director
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dick Tracy | 1990 | ||
| Planes, Trains & Automobiles | 1987 | ||
| Spaceballs | 1987 | ||
| Terms of Endearment | 1983 | ||
| Mommie Dearest | 1981 | ||
| Can't Stop the Music | 1980 | ||
| Mame | 1974 | ||
| Two People | 1973 | ||
| Johnny Got His Gun | 1971 | ||
| Catch-22 | 1970 | ||
| The Thousand Plane Raid | 1969 | ||
| Pretty Poison | 1968 | ||
| Gomer Pyle: USMC | 1965-1967 | TV Series 48 episodes | |
| The Andy Griffith Show | 1965-1967 | TV Series 48 episodes |
Art Department
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duplex | 2003 | storyboard artist - uncredited | |
| Death to Smoochy | 2002 | visual consultant | |
| Matilda | 1996 | art department visual consultant | |
| Three Wishes | 1995 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| A Walk in the Clouds | 1995 | visual consultant - uncredited | |
| Screen Two | 1995 | TV Series illustrator - 1 episode | |
| Josh and S.A.M. | 1993 | storyboard artist - as Harold Michaelson | |
| Hoffa | 1992 | art department visual consultant | |
| Graveyard Shift | 1990 | visual consultant - uncredited | |
| The Two Jakes | 1990 | storyboard artist | |
| The Earth Day Special | 1990 | TV Special storyboard artist | |
| The Fly | 1986 | art department visual consultant | |
| Running Scared | 1986 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| White Nights | 1985 | visual continuity | |
| The Cotton Club | 1984 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| Firestarter | 1984 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| History of the World: Part I | 1981 | artistic advisor | |
| Winter Kills | 1979 | production illustrator | |
| Ravagers | 1979 | storyboard artist | |
| Hair | 1979 | art director: California | |
| The Big Fix | 1978 | production illustrator - uncredited | |
| The Turning Point | 1977 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| Cross of Iron | 1977 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| The Master Gunfighter | 1975 | continuity artist - uncredited | |
| The Day of the Locust | 1975 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| Portnoy's Complaint | 1972 | assistant art director | |
| Fiddler on the Roof | 1971 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker | 1971 | production illustrator | |
| Catch-22 | 1970 | storyboard artist - uncredited | |
| The Graduate | 1967 | storyboard artist - uncredited | |
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | 1966 | storyboard artist - uncredited | |
| Ship of Fools | 1965 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| Marnie | 1964 | storyboard artist - uncredited | |
| Wild and Wonderful | 1964 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| Cleopatra | 1963 | storyboard artist - uncredited | |
| Irma la Douce | 1963 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| The Birds | 1963 | storyboard artist - uncredited | |
| X-15 | 1961 | storyboard artist - uncredited | |
| General Electric Theater | 1960 | TV Series illustrations by - 1 episode | |
| The Apartment | 1960 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| Journey to the Center of the Earth | 1959 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| Ben-Hur | 1959 | storyboard artist - uncredited | |
| Teacher's Pet | 1958 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| The Ten Commandments | 1956 | storyboard artist - uncredited | |
| Track of the Cat | 1954 | illustrator - uncredited | |
| Miss Sadie Thompson | 1953 | illustrator - uncredited / storyboard artist - uncredited | |
| The Fountainhead | 1949 | illustrator - uncredited |
Production Designer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intersection | 1994 | ||
| History of the World: Part I | 1981 | ||
| Star Trek: The Motion Picture | 1979 | ||
| The Outside Man | 1972 | ||
| Johnny Got His Gun | 1971 |
Miscellaneous
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Throw Momma from the Train | 1987 | continuity consultant | |
| Quicksilver | 1986 | continuity consultant | |
| WarGames | 1983 | continuity consultant | |
| High Anxiety | 1977 | continuity sequences |
Actor
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graveyard Shift | 1990 | Man in Restaurant (uncredited) |
Thanks
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Boneyard Collection | 2008 | in memory of | |
| All About 'The Birds' | 2000 | Video documentary special thanks | |
| House of Cards | 1993 | thanks - as Harold Michaelson |
Self
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story | 2015 | Documentary | Himself |
| Something's Gonna Live | 2010 | Documentary | Himself |
| Dalton Trumbo: Rebel in Hollywood | 2006 | Video documentary | Himself |
| All About 'The Birds' | 2000 | Video documentary | Himself |
| The Man on Lincoln's Nose | 2000 | Documentary | Himself |
Archive Footage
Won Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Hollywood Film Award | Hollywood Film Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Production Design | |
| 1999 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Art Directors Guild |
Nominated Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Art Direction-Set Decoration | Terms of Endearment (1983) |
| 1980 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Art Direction-Set Decoration | Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) |
Known for movies
Spaceballs (1987)
as Art Director
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
as Art Director
Terms of Endearment (1983)
as Art Director
Dick Tracy (1990)
as Art Director
