Maria Elena Björnson (16 February 1949 – 13 December 2002) was a theatre designer. She was born in Paris to a Norwegian father and Romanian mother, and was the great-granddaughter of the Norwegian playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1903.[1]
Björnson was born in Paris on 16 February 1949. Her father Bjørn was a businessman from Norway; her mother, Mia Prodan (full name Maria Prodan de Kisbunn), was from Romania.[2] Both were from theatrical families.[3] Björnson was raised by her mother in London.[4] She studied at the Lycée Français, and then at the Byam Shaw School of Art and at the Central School of Art and Design.[1][3]
Björnson was course director for theatre design at the Central School of Art and Design.[citation needed] She died of epilepsy at her home in Hammersmith on Friday 13 December 2002, and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.[4] She was 53.[3]
