Ronald Verne Strang

In 1952, after graduating from high school, Ron Strang became an apprentice at Warner Bros. Drafted into the Korean War, he served as an illustrator in the Eighth Army. Upon his return to Los Angeles in 1956, he rejoined Warner Bros. He refined his craft, working alongside veteran scenic artists by day and studying at the Chouinard Art Institute at night. Strang painted on more than six hundred films during his career at Warner Bros., including My Fair Lady (1964), Camelot (1967), Cool Hand Luke (1967), 1941 (1979), The Exorcist (1973), and The Shoes of a Fisherman (1968). In 1970, following in his father’s footsteps, he became the supervisor of the Warner Bros. scenic studio. Strang left the studio in 1987 to set up Superior Backings to capitalize on the emerging rock show market, providing backdrops for performers such as Madonna, the Eagles, and Fleetwood Mac. His son Ed Strang replaced him as scenic art supervisor of Warner Bros., overseeing paintings for Ghostbusters (1984), Lethal Weapon (1987), Die Hard (1988), Batman Returns (1992), What Dreams May Come (1998), and The Perfect Storm (2000). Ed Strang left Warner Bros. in 2010 to open TRIO Entertainment Services Group.