She was the link between Hitchcock and Disney

Dorothea Holt Redmond has died in at her home in the Hollywood Hills at age 98. She was an illustrator and production designer who helped visualize seven Alfred Hitchcock films, including Shadow of A Doubt, Rear Window and To Catch A Thief. She also played a key role in Disneyana, joining what's now known as Walt Disney Imagineering in 1964 and helping envision elements of Disneyland and Disney World, including working with Walt Disney himself to design a private apartment in Disneyland's New Orleans Square.


Walt Disney died in 1966 before the elaborate New Orleans Square hideaway could be completed. For decades, the space was used as a gallery, but following Redmond's original renderings, the park recently restored the apartment above Pirates of the Caribbean and turned it into the Disneyland Dream Suite, where randomly chosen park visitors can stay overnight.

Redmond also designed the interior and exterior settings of many restaurants and shops in New Orleans Square.