Edith Head

Edith Head (October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American costume designer who had a long career in Hollywood that garnered her more Academy Awards than any other woman in history.

Related Topics:
October 28 - 1897 - October 24 - 1981 - America - Costume designer

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She was born Edith Claire Posener in Searchlight, Nevada, the daughter of Max Posener and Anna E. Levy. Whether her parents were married is unknown, but in 1901, her mother married Frank Spare and Edith was passed off as his child. Though her birth parents were Jewish, Head would claim to be a Catholic later in life.

Related Topics:
Jewish - Catholic

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She graduated from university in 1919 and became a school teacher in Los Angeles, California. On July 25, 1923, she married Charles Head, whom she would divorce in 1936. With no experience, Head answered an advertisement to work for Paramount Studios in the costume department. She borrowed another's sketches and passed them off as her own. She began designing costumes for silent films and by the thirties had established herself as one of the leading designers. She worked at Paramount for forty-four years until she went to Universal Pictures on March 27, 1967.

Related Topics:
July 25 - 1923 - Paramount Studios - Universal Pictures - March 27 - 1967

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Head was a very private woman, a trait well illustrated by the dark sunglasses that became her trademark. Originally the lenses were blue, but later they were increasingly dark shades of gray. The glasses and her unchanging hair style helped aid her in hiding her true age. In the 1920s, she wore a Colleen Moore Dutch boy cut, but in the 1930s she noticed Anna May Wong's style and copied it: flat bangs with a chignon at the back. She would wear it for the rest of her life.

Related Topics:
Colleen Moore - Anna May Wong

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She married set designer Wiard Ihnen, nicknamed Bill, on September 8, 1940. Their marriage would last until his death in 1978.

Related Topics:
September 8 - 1940

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During her long career she was nominated for thirty-four Academy Awards and won eight times, more Oscars than any other woman has won. She was responsible for some of the best known Hollywood fashion images of her day, with her costumes being worn by the most glamorous and famous actresses of the day in films seen by millions. Head's influence on world fashion was far reaching, especially in the 1950s when she began appearing on Art Linkletter's television program and writing books on fashion.

Related Topics:
Academy Awards - Art Linkletter

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Ms. Head was known for her no-nonsense, assertive working style. Despite her own accomplishments, she also had a reputation for taking credit for others' work--but in the studio days a department head not uncommonly claimed credit for everything in her department. Privately, she was a warm and loving hostess, presiding over fabulous soirees at her Benedict Canyon hacienda, with her husband.

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She died in 1981 from a rare bone marrow disease at the age of 83 and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

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She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6504 Hollywood Blvd.

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Head was a lifelong friend of actress Anne Baxter. Upon Head's death, Baxter's daughter Melissa Galt was bequeathed Head's extraordinary collection of jewelry. Other bequests by Head included prominent artworks to Roddy McDowall and to Elizabeth Taylor. The last film she worked on was the Steve Martin comedy Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, released shortly after her death and dedicated to her memory.

Related Topics:
Anne Baxter - Roddy McDowall - Elizabeth Taylor - Steve Martin - Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

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As part of a series of stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service in February 2003 commemorating the behind-the-camera personnel who make movies, Head appeared on an American postage stamp honoring costume design.

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To many viewers of the 2004 Pixar/Disney computer-animated film The Incredibles, the personality and mannerisms of the film's fictional superhero costume designer Edna Mode suggest a colorful caricature of Edith Head. Edna Mode's sense of style, round glasses, and assertive no-nonsense character are very likely a direct homage to Head's legendary accomplishments and personal traits, but the film's director, Brad Bird, has not yet confirmed or denied thishttp://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,735650_1_0_,00.html.

Related Topics:
Pixar - Disney - The Incredibles - Edna Mode

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Edith Head's interview was included in Boze Hadleigh's book about his interviews with 10 Hollywood lesbians, and while she wasn't talking too bluntly, the gossip about Head from other sources such as actress Elsa Lanchester, who was also a lesbian, indicated that she preferred relationships with women to those with men.

Related Topics:
Boze Hadleigh - Elsa Lanchester

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