E. Jay Krause, an Emmy Award-winning art director and set designer who worked on many of the biggest variety shows of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, has died. He was 98.
Krause died Saturday in Los Angeles.
Over this three-decade career, Krause designed sets for more than 180 productions, work on TV specials featuring such iconic performers as Bob Hope, Diana Ross, Mitzi Gaynor, Shirley Temple, Bing Crosby, Jerry Lewis, Esther Williams, Milton Berle, Danny Thomas, the Jacksons, Don Knotts, Wayne Newton, Carol Channing, Pat Boone and Rudolf Nureyev.
He also designed the original sets for for The Hollywood Squares and Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In andreceived two Primetime Emmy Awards for best art direction — one for The Diana Ross Special and another for The Mitzi Gaynor Special.
In 1983, Krause founded Omega Cinema Props, which went on to become one of the industry’s largest independent prop houses. Alongside his wife, Doris, Krause spent more than three decades sourcing rare and distinctive set dressing from around the world, curating a collection that remains integral to film and television productions today.
A Los Angeles native, Krause served with distinction in the U.S. Navy during World War II, taking part in the harrowing 82-day Battle of Okinawa. After his military service, he attended Pepperdine University, where he studied design, and he began his professional career at NBC in 1951.
He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Carson and Barry Pritchard; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
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