- When he was engaged as a stage designer at the German Theater in Berlin in 1906 he became a busy designer who took part in numerous plays. Later he was also responsible for the set for many operas, operettas and revues.
- His first movie as a production designer was "Das schwarze Los" (1913) and from 1918 he became a regular production designer in the film business.
- Beside his activity as a production designer Ernst Ernst also created numerous costumes for many movies.
- The production designer Ernst Stern finished his education at the art academy in Munich before he began to work as an illustrator for the magazine "Jugend und Simplicissimus". Beside it he also workes for the "Die lustigen Blätter".
- His activity in the film business as a production designer ended with the raise of the soundfilm, he only was engaged for "Ludwig der Zweite, König von Bayern" (1930) for a last time.
- He continued his activity as a costume designer in the 30s before he left Germany because of the rise of the National Socialists. He continued his career in the USA and England with "Caravane" (1934), "Whom the Gods Love" (1936), "Der Bajazzo/Pagliacci" (1936) and "Champagne Charlie" (1944).
- When the Nazi Party seized power in Germany in 1933, Stern was in Paris attending a performance of The White Horse Inn. He remained in the city for a time and then settled permanently in London in 1934.
- For the rest of his life he primarily collaborated with British writers at the Savoy Theatre, Aldwych Theatre, and Adelphi Theatre. He also designed the displays for Selfridges for the coronation of King George VI and collaborated with Donald Wolfit on several Shakespeare productions during World War II.
- In the late 1920s, Stern also began spending considerable time in London, where he designed the sets for Noël Coward's Bitter Sweet (1929) and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's Ever Green (1930). His submitted designs to Rupert D'Oyly Carte for new settings for "The Gondoliers" and "The Yeomen of the Guard" , which contain many traditional qualities at variance with his reputation for expressionism, but they were never put into production (the paintings still survive).
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