Edith Head From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2013) Edith Head Edith Head in 1976 Born Edith Claire Posener October 28, 1897 San Bernardino, California Died October 24, 1981 (aged 83) Los Angeles, California Years active 1927–1981 Spouse(s) Charles Head (1923–1938) Wiard Ihnen (1940–1979) Edith Head (October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American costume designer who won eight Academy Awards, more than any other designer. Contents [hide] 1 Early life and career 2 The Paramount years 3 The Universal years 4 Death 5 Hollywood Walk of Fame 6 Actors and actresses designed for 7 Academy Awards 8 Guest appearances 9 Posthumous references 10 References 11 Sources 12 External links Early life and career She was born Edith Claire Posener in San Bernadino, California, the daughter of Jewish parents, Max Posener and Anna E. Levy. Her father was a naturalized American citizen from Prussia, who came to the United States in 1876. Her mother was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of an Austrian father and a Bavarian mother. It is not known where Max and Anna met, or if they ever married. Just before Ediths birth, Max Posener opened a small haberdashery in San Bernardino which failed within a year. In 1905 Anna married mining engineer Frank Spare, from Pennsylvania. The family moved frequently as Spares jobs moved, and the only place whose name Head could later recall from her early years was Searchlight, Nevada. Frank and Anna Spare passed Edith off as their mutual child. As Frank Spare was a Catholic, Edith ostensibly became one as well.[1] Edith received a bachelor of arts degree in letters and sciences with honors in French from the University of California, Berkeley in 1919, and earned a master of arts degree in romance languages from Stanford University[2] in 1920. She became a language teacher with her first position at Bishops School in La Jolla teaching French as a replacement. After one year, she took a position teaching French at the Hollywood School for Girls. Wanting a slightly higher salary, she told the school that she could also teach art, even though she had only briefly studied the discipline in high school.[3] To improve her drawing skills, which at this point were rudimentary, she took evening art classes at the Chouinard Art College. On July 25, 1923, she married Charles Head, the brother of one of her Chouinard classmates, Betty Head. Although the marriage ended in divorce in 1936 after a number of years of separation, she continued to be known professionally as Edith Head until her death. The Paramount years In 1924, despite lacking art, design, and costume design experience, Head was hired as a costume sketch artist at Paramount Pictures in the costume department. Later she admitted to borrowing another students sketches for her job interview. She began designing costumes for silent films, commencing with The Wanderer in 1925 and, by the 1930s, had established herself as one of Hollywoods leading costume designers. She worked at Paramount for 43 years until she went to Universal Pictures on March 27, 1967, possibly prompted by her extensive work for director Alfred Hitchcock, who had moved to Universal, in 1960. Heads marriage to set designer Wiard Ihnen, on September 8, 1940, lasted until his death from prostate cancer in 1979. Over the course of her long career, she was nominated for 35 Academy Awards, including every year from 1948 through 1966, and won eight times – more Oscars than any other woman.[4] Although Head was featured in studio publicity from the mid-1920s, she was originally over-shadowed by Paramounts head designers, first Howard Greer, then Travis Banton. It was only after Bantons resignation in 1938, that she achieved fame as a designer in her own right. Her association with the sarong dress designed for Dorothy Lamour in The Hurricane made her well-known among the general public, although Head was a more restrained designer than either Banton or Adrian. In 1944, she gained public attention for the top mink-lined gown she created for Ginger Rogers in Lady in the Dark, which gained notoriety due to its being counter to the mood of wartime austerity. The establishment, in 1949, of the category of an Academy Award for Costume Designer further boosted her career, because it began her record-breaking run of Award nominations and wins, beginning with her nomination for The Emperor Waltz.[5] Head was known for her low-key working style and, unlike many of her male contemporaries, usually consulted extensively with the female stars with whom she worked. As a result, she was a favorite among many of the leading female stars of the 1940s and 50s, such as Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Sophia Loren, Barbara Stanwyck, Shirley MacLaine, Anne Baxter, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Natalie Wood. In fact, Head was frequently loaned out by Paramount to other studios at the request of their female stars.[6] The Universal years In 1967, she left Paramount Pictures and joined Universal Pictures, where she remained until her death in 1981. As studio-based feature film production declined and many of her favored stars retired, Head became more active as a television costume designer, often designing outfits for film actors, such as Olivia De Havilland, who were now involved in television series or film work. In 1974, Head received a final Oscar win for her work on The Sting. During the late 1970s, Edith Head was asked to design a womans uniform for the United States Coast Guard, because of the increasing number of women in the Coast Guard. Head called the assignment a highlight in her career and received the Meritorious Public Service Award for her efforts.[7] Her designs for a TV mini-series based on the novel Little Women were well received. Her last film project was the black-and-white comedy Dead Men Dont Wear Plaid, starring Steve Martin and Carl Reiner. For the production, she re-created fashions of the 1940s, extensively referencing the film clips from classic film noir motion pictures. It was released shortly after her death and dedicated to her memory. Death Head died on October 24, 1981, four days before her 84th birthday, from myelofibrosis, an incurable bone marrow disease.[6]
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 00:20:15 +0000
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