Hungarian-born Wilmos Bela Sandorhaji arrived in the U.S. in 1910 with
qualifications from the Royal Academy of Art in Budapest and the Ecole
de Beaux Arts in Paris. He enjoyed his first success as a portrait
painter in New York prior to the outbreak of World War I. By the time
he relocated to Hollywood ten years later, he had adopted his wife's
maiden name of Darling. After a brief stint with the American Film
Company, he signed a contract with (20th Century) Fox in 1922. Until
his departure in 1946, Darling held a position as the pre-eminent
supervising art director at the studio, involved in equal measure with
prestige releases and B-pictures. He provided striking sets for a
variety of exotic subjects, from
Revolte im Zoo (1933) to
Nacht über Indien (1939), on several
occasions working with the illustrious director
John Ford. Darling was nominated for
seven Academy Awards, winning three times: for
Kavalkade (1933),
Das Lied von Bernadette (1943)
and for
Anna und der König von Siam (1946).
After his retirement from film work in the mid-1950s, Darling devoted
himself to painting idyllic desert landscapes and coastal scenes in
oil or watercolour on canvas. Until his death in September 1964,
Darling was strongly involved in local arts communities in Laguna
Beach and Palm Springs, maintaining residencies in both. He was
inducted into the Art Director's Guild Hall of Fame in 2011.
