- Born
- Died
- Classically trained as a painter, Hurrell employed fine art techniques in his compositions. Beginning in 1930, Hurrell worked as a portrait photographer for most of the major Hollywood motion picture studios, first with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. While most of the country suffered during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the movie industry thrived. During this time especially, Hurrell's photographs did more than just promote a film or a celebrity; for many, the glamour, romance, and drama of these photos provided a momentary mental escape from difficult times. Hurrell is credited with creating the standard for the idealized Hollywood glamour portrait. Always an innovator, he invented the boom light and developed several-now standard-lighting techniques. Hurrell's signature use of precision lighting, spotlights, shadows, and hand-retouching on the negatives produced romantic portraits that became his trademark style and the definition of glamour for the movie industry. The very notion is so familiar, and the images that most perfectly illustrate the concept are so readily conjured, that most movie fans are unaware that one man - a single photographer - is largely responsible for the look and feel of the classic film-glamour ideal. That man, a native Kentuckian named George Hurrell (1904-1992), pretty much single-handedly invented the Hollywood glamour portrait, shaping for all time the public image of many of the movies' greatest legends - while defining the visual vernacular of the Golden Age of Hollywood itself.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- Classically trained as a painter, Hurrell employed fine art techniques in his compositions. Beginning in 1930, Hurrell worked as a portrait photographer for most of the major Hollywood motion picture studios, first with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. While most of the country suffered during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the movie industry thrived. During this time especially, Hurrell's photographs did more than just promote a film or a celebrity; for many, the glamour, romance, and drama of these photos provided a momentary mental escape from difficult times. Hurrell is credited with creating the standard for the idealized Hollywood glamour portrait. Always an innovator, he invented the boom light and developed several-now standard-lighting techniques. Hurrell's signature use of precision lighting, spotlights, shadows, and hand-retouching on the negatives produced romantic portraits that became his trademark style and the definition of glamour for the movie industry. The very notion is so familiar, and the images that most perfectly illustrate the concept are so readily conjured, that most movie fans are unaware that one man - a single photographer - is largely responsible for the look and feel of the classic film-glamour ideal. That man, a native Kentuckian George Hurrell (1904-1992), pretty much single-handedly invented the Hollywood glamour portrait, shaping for all time the public image of many of the movies' greatest legends - while defining the visual vernacular of the Golden Age of Hollywood itself. In the 1940s, Hurrell married Walt Disney's niece, Phyllis Bounds, and they had three children. The Hurrell's founded a television production studio-Hurrell Productions-in the 1950s, which was housed independently on The Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank. 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, 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.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- Classically trained as a painter, Hurrell employed fine art techniques in his compositions. Beginning in 1930, Hurrell worked as a portrait photographer for most of the major Hollywood motion picture studios, first with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. While most of the country suffered during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the movie industry thrived. During this time especially, Hurrell's photographs did more than just promote a film or a celebrity; for many, the glamour, romance, and drama of these photos provided a momentary mental escape from difficult times. Hurrell is credited with creating the standard for the idealized Hollywood glamour portrait. Always an innovator, he invented the boom light and developed several-now standard-lighting techniques. Hurrell's signature use of precision lighting, spotlights, shadows, and hand-retouching on the negatives produced romantic portraits that became his trademark style and the definition of glamour for the movie industry. The very notion is so familiar, and the images that most perfectly illustrate the concept are so readily conjured, that most movie fans are unaware that one man - a single photographer - is largely responsible for the look and feel of the classic film-glamour ideal. That man, a native Kentuckian George Hurrell (1904-1992), pretty much single-handedly invented the Hollywood glamour portrait, shaping for all time the public image of many of the movies' greatest legends - while defining the visual vernacular of the Golden Age of Hollywood itself. In the 1940s, Hurrell married Walt Disney's niece, Phyllis Bounds, and they had three children. The Hurrell's founded a television production studio-Hurrell Productions-in the 1950s, which was housed independently on The Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank. 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, 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. By 1925, he had moved to Laguna Beach, where he turned a friend's small shack into a darkroom. 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.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- SpousesElizabeth Willis(1955 - May 17, 1992) (his death, 3 children)Phyllis Bounds Detiege(March 10, 1944 - 1954) (divorced, 3 children)Phyllis Bounds Detiege(March 10, 1944 - May 18, 1955) (divorced, 3 children)Katherine Cuddy(1932 - March 2, 1943) (divorced)
- Hollywood photographer.
- October 1929, Florence Poncho Barnes offered to fly him up to Culver City to MGM's employment office so he could sign his employment contract. Hurrell took her advice and on the flight back to Laguna Beach, Hurrell 'wing walked' on her plane in celebration.
- [on Jean Harlow] Harlow was not frightened of the camera; she reacted to it, and in some strange way, I was the third party - *they* were the conspirators.
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