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<Archive Obituaries> George Hurrell (May 17th 1992)

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Bill Schenley

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May 17, 2005, 3:14:55 AM5/17/05

FROM: The Independent (May 23rd 1992) ~
By Angela Flowers

George Hurrell, photographer, born Cincinnati Ohio 1904,
died Van Nuys California 17 May 1992.

Of the great Hollywood portrait photographers, George
Hurrell was the most innovative and brilliant. In the 1930s,
he brought to the studio (or ''gallery'', as it was then
known) of the film set, excitement, audacity and technique
that were to make the stars look sexier and more beautiful
than ever before.

Hurrell cut down the diffused Vertone lens used by other
photographers and made his images sharp: he used backgrounds
effectively, photographed his stars without make-up, placed
them on his big bearskin rug. His aim was to portray
character, and the results were magnificent photographs. The
masterpieces of Hurrell's great art are now exhibited in
museums and art galleries the world over, and sell for
thousands of pounds apiece.

George Hurrell was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1904. He
studied painting and drawing at the Chicago Art Institute
and Academy (painting was not only his first love, but a
lasting ambition). In 1922 he joined Eugene Hutchinson, a
fine portrait photographer, as assistant. With his interest
in photography thus launched, in 1925 he moved to Laguna
Beach, California, to paint and photograph. Lack of funds to
pay for lights led to him to experiment with natural light
and to perfect his style, with the great Edward Steichen as
mentor.

In 1930 Hurrell photographed Ramon Novarro, who was so
delighted with the pictures that he showed them to Norma
Shearer. At the time, she was desperate to play the sexy
siren in The Divorcee (1930). Her husband, Irving Thalberg,
who was producing the picture, didn't consider that she had
the on-screen sexiness required - but Hurrell's photographs
of Shearer changed his mind, and she got the part.

From then until 1941, Hurrell photographed amost every major
star, including Garbo (Clara Bow was an exception). Garbo
was set in her ways and not amused by what George called his
''yelling and hollering''. She had previously only sat for
Clarence Sinclair Bull: Hurrell was the one other to
photograph her between 1927 and 1941. He felt she was
probably ''the sexiest among the whole damn bunch of them'',
but didn't want to project it - unlike Mae West, who would
drop her clothes as soon as her hat. But perhaps it was his
long creative working relationship with Joan Crawford that
best epitomises Hurrell's genius. The dramatically beautiful
picture of her in 1929, complete with freckles, shows the
emotional quality she produced before his camera and is
among the finest and most dynamic of many Crawford images.

After service in the US Army, where he was the Pentagon
staff photographer, Hurrell returned to Hollywood, hired by
Columbia, and photographed among others Rita Hayworth,
Claudette Colbert and Mae West, Clark Gable, Ronald Colman,
Johnny Weissmuller and Robert Montgomery. He also made
commercial photographs in New York and television
commercials with Walt Disney.

By 1975 the great days of the Hollywood portrait
photographer were over: gone were the large format stills,
made after day-long sessions with which the ''gallery men''
used to influence producers in their casting. Hurrell was
working on the set of Myra Breckinridge as a freelance
stills photographer when he was introduced to the late John
Kobal, greatest of film buffs, who was building up his
library. From that meeting came the proper recognition owed
to the masters of Hollywood photography. Collectors, museums
and galleries realised the true worth of their superb
pictures of the stars and Hurrell became something of a star
in his own right.

Following semi-retirement in Los Angeles with his third wife
and younger children, the ''Flaubert of the camera''
continued to portray younger stars: there's a picture, taken
for a record sleeve, of Paul McCartney and Linda.

The photographs are the best and lasting memorial for their
creator: the man who composed with a single spotlight,
sometimes on the end of a 15ft hose, so that he could jump
around ''yelling and hollering'' while playing jazz (but not
to Garbo); who knew the importance of balance and
low-quality light in obtaining better skin texture; and who
brought out both the glamour and the character of the stars.
---
Photo: http://www.hurrellphotos.com/images/hurrell-portrait1.jpg
---
George Hurrell; Celebrity Photographer

FROM: The Los Angeles Times (May 20th 1992) ~
By Burt A. Folkart, Staff Writer

Photographer George Hurrell, whose celebrity portraits over
six decades helped dozens of Golden Age Hollywood stars
achieve seeming physical perfection, has died.

Hurrell, whose clients ranged from Ramon Novarro in 1928
through Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart and Marlene Dietrich in
the 1940s and 1950s and on to Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael
Douglas in the 1980s, was 87.

His son, George Jr., said Tuesday that his father, praised
for his interpretation and technical mastery, had been
working until several weeks ago when he started chemotherapy
for the cancer that claimed his life Sunday in a San
Fernando Valley hospital.

Unlike today, Hurrell labored in an era when celebrities
aspired to appear flawless. While the current crop of actors
strive for an earthy unpretentiousness, it fell to Hurrell
to light his subjects so they appeared mysterious and aloof,
bigger than life and much as they seemed on the motion
picture screen.

Hurrell's female subjects -- Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford,
Katharine Hepburn -- were all radiant, while his male
subjects -- Spencer Tracy, Bogart, Tyrone Power -- were
impeccably clothed and seemingly well mannered, even if some
posed as gentlemen rogues.

Born in Cincinnati, Hurrell studied painting and drawing at
the Chicago Art Institute. But he credited instinct rather
than formal training with his initial successes. By 1925, he
had moved to Laguna Beach, where he turned a friend's small
shack into a darkroom.

His early clients included writer M. F. K. Fisher and her
sister Anne for what were then called "social portraits."

Florence (Pancho) Barnes, the woman flier whose saloon in
the Southern California desert was to become an oasis for
many of the giant figures in pre- and post- World War II
aviation, introduced him to silent screen star Novarro.

Hurrell took several pictures of the star of "Ben-Hur," who
showed them to actress Norma Shearer, whom he also
photographed and who was then married to MGM Vice President
Irving Thalberg.

Hurrell joined the MGM staff as a still photographer in 1930
and began the odyssey that ended only with his death.

Hurrell wasn't above acting to break the tension of his
photo sessions. He said he played jazz in the background,
"jumped and hollered, fell down and carried on because I had
to get reactions. . . ."

But he wanted to shoot all the stars, not just those on the
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot, and soon had opened his own studio
on the Sunset Strip. He tired of the business world,
however, and returned to the studios, this time Warner
Bros., where Bogart, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and James
Cagney worked.

He said in a 1991 Times interview that he found Bogart
"charming in a rough way," Harlow "a joy," Hepburn "a glib
extrovert," Gable "a real human being" and Greta Garbo "a
stone statue."

Hurrell -- who always retouched directly on his negatives, a
difficult task seldom done today -- went to work for
Columbia in 1942, then became part of the First Motion
Picture Unit that made training films for the Air Force in
World War II.

After the war, he worked out of a studio in Beverly Hills,
went to New York on magazine and advertising assignments and
finally formed a commercial department at Walt Disney's
studio (his second wife was a niece of Disney's.)

Through the 1960s and '70s Hurrell photographed publicity
stills for such top TV shows as "MASH," "Gunsmoke" and "Star
Trek" and such films as "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"
and "All the President's Men."

By then signed vintage prints of his pictures were bringing
from $10,000 to $15,000.

His final assignments included photographs of Warren Beatty
and Annette Bening for the publicity campaign for "Bugsy"
and pictures of Natalie Cole for her best-selling
"Unforgettable" album.

David Fahey, the owner of a gallery that represented
Hurrell, said last year "there is a cliche in photography
about photographers 'painting with light.' George Hurrell .
. . is the Rembrandt of photography."

Besides his son, he is survived by his third wife,
Elizabeth, five other children and several grandchildren.
---
George Hurrell Photos:

(Marlene Detrich)
http://www.beautyanalysis.com/images/DetrichMarlene-byGeorge_HurrellBIG.jpg

http://www.aski.org/kb2_00/KB22000Kine6.JPG

http://www.christies.com/promos/dec04/5515/images/5515_lot115.jpg

(Norma Shearer)
http://www.divasthesite.com/images/normahurrell/Norma_Shearer_George_Hurrell_11.jpg

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/27/27_images/precode3.jpg

http://amico.davidrumsey.com/images/amico/Size0/LACM/lacm.ac1994_250_50.jpg

(Joan Crawford)
http://www.artnet.com/artwork_images/112514/116125t.jpg

http://www.joancrawfordbest.com/hurrell32.jpg

http://www.joancrawfordbest.com/hurrell30nn.jpg

http://www.austin360.com/arts/content/news/photogalleries/HollywoodPhotos/03.jpg

(Bette Davis)
http://www.classicactresses.com/bette2.jpg