Albert Hurter

Designing Snow White

Joe Grant revealed in an interview that Albert Hurter was responsible for designing Snow White’s iconic costume. This is only one of his many contributions to the overall design and atmosphere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. “He had a certain touch and they wanted that. They wanted his ability to do that. It was important. I would say he was important. (…) As a matter of fact, he would be the first visualization of a sequence.” says Thor Putnam.

He was already much older than the rest of the crew, which probably set him somewhat apart, but was also an asset that gave him knowledge and references that others would not have. Dick Lundy, who shared an office with him, remembered that “he knew all the uniforms of all the Europeans from way back”.

James Algar described him best: “Albert Hurter had been trained in the German school of drawing, had come from Europe. He was an older person than most of us, a funny, solid little man, never said anything, would sit hunched over his drawing board with a little stubby cigar in his face, and all he did was noodle doodle all day long. He would invent little newel posts with faces on or he would do carved stairways or bedposts. It wasn’t his job to figure out how they were to be used. He just created the furniture and furnishings.