Who is Noah Cross Based On? The Robber Baron Connection
Noah Cross is roughly seventy years old in 1937. He came of age with Rockefeller, Stanford, Frick, and Morgan — the men who conquered the American West by controlling its resources, exploiting labor, and buying the law. Costume designer Anthea Sylbert dressed him accordingly: embroidered guayabera, grey suspenders, red sash, silverbelly hat. The costume of a plantation owner. Jake Gittes sees all of it through his windshield arriving at the ranch and doesn't understand what he's looking at. This article breaks down the robber baron DNA encoded in every piece of Noah Cross's wardrobe.
