Aleksandr Anatolyevich Tolubov (1882-1940) was a Russian-born art director who, with Cedric Gibbons, helped refine the Art Deco lushness of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the early 1930s.
Toluboff studied architecture before leaving Russia after the October 1917 revolution. After working his way into the film industry, he joined MGM in 1926, initially as a set dresser. By the time of Grand Hotel (1932), he was engaged in comprehensive set design, though Gibbons took sole credit.
His first art direction credit, shared with Gibbons, was on the Barrymore family home movie Rasputin and the Empress (1933). He subsequently designed the essential work in Greta Carbo’s canon, Queen Christina (1934).
After leaving MGM, Toluboff worked for independent producer Walter Wanger on films including History is Made at Night (1937) and Blockade (1938). One of his final credits was for designing the John Ford masterpiece Stagecoach (1939), though he also did uncredited work on Wyler’s Wuthering Heights (1939) at around the same time.
While still at MGM, Toluboff did excellent work on the design of The Cat and the Fiddle.
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