Sobotka, Ruth, 1925-1967

Ruth Sobotka was the art director for the film, The Killing, written and directed by Stanley Kubrick.

Designer, dancer and actress, Ruth A. Sobotka, was born in Vienna in 1925. She emigrated to the United States with her family when she was 14. Sobotka attended the University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Institute of Technology. She also studied ballet at the School of American Ballet and was a dancer for Ballet Society and New York City Ballet. Sobotka designed costumes for both theater and dance. She appeared as "The girl" in Man Ray's segment of the Hans Richter avant-garde film, Dreams that money can buy (1947) and later worked on several films in various capacities. In 1955, she married film director Stanley Kubrick; they divorced in 1961. After retiring from dancing, Sobotka focused on acting and designing. She died after a brief illness at Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospital in June1967, at the age of 42.