GEORGE HURRELL: MASTER HOLLYWOOD PHOTOGRAPHER

George Edward Hurrell (June 1, 1904 – May 17, 1992) was born in Illinois. As a young man, he moved from Chicago to Laguna Beach, CA, an artist's colony about an hour's drive south of Los Angeles.

He originally wanted to be a painter, but after dabbling in photography and receiving encouragement from famous fashion photographer Edward Steichen, he decided it offered more of a living.

Ramon Navarro by George Hurrell (1929).

Hurrell became friends with aviator and stunt pilot Florence "Pancho" Barnes. Barnes had a lot of Hollywood connections and she arranged a photoshoot between Hurrell and Ramon Navarro. Navarro was impressed and spread the word. Soon, Hurrell was hired by production chief Irving Thalberg as the head of the portrait photography department at MGM after seeing a series of photos where his wife, Norma Shearer, had been "glamourized" after she requested to appear more provocative than her usual poses.

Norma Shearer by George Hurrell.

Hurrell photographed every star at MGM, including Lon Chaney.

Lon Chaney (without makeup) by George Hurrell.

In 1932, Hurrell left MGM and opened his own studio at 8706 Sunset Boulevard, which he ran until 1938. His clients loved his work, citing their photographs included a "sheen of mystery".

In the 1940's, Hurrell went to work for Warner Bros. where he photographed every star there, including the now-famous shot of Jane Russell.

George Hurrell captured the untamed beauty of Jane Russell.

In the late 1940's, Hurrell signed on with Columbia Pictures and he also opened a new photography studio of his own, this time on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills where he continued to master his art of glamour photography to clients outside of the Hollywood system.

In his later years, Hurrell photographed album covers for various stars, including Tom Waits' FOREIGN AFFAIRS (1977), Fleetwood Mac's MIRAGE (1982) and Queen's THE WORKS (1984).

George Hurrell's photography was virtually unmatched by any of his peers in Hollywood, and there were a lot of them. We have him to thank for helping to immortalize the actors and actresses of Old Hollywood through his images.

Dorothy Lamour.

John Barrymore.

Johnny Weismuller.

Marlene Dietrich.

Myrna Loy.

William Powell.

Articles on George Hurrell published during his career:

JUNE IN AUGUST

Thought you'd seen the last of June Wilkinson and her big Macumba Love here at WoM? Not a chance! Here she is from CAVALIER (February, 1960) photographed by famed Hollywood portrait photographer George Hurrell.

See more of June HERE.

WHO PHOTOGRAPHED THE FREAKS?

A set of exquisite portrait photographs and production stills from MGM's infamous FREAKS (1932, Tod Browning) has been circulating around the Web (see series below). They are stark, provocative and suggestively perverse; in other words, every bit like the movie itself.

The images range from portraits of the actors and actresses who portrayed the circus freaks, portraits of the leading "big people" in the movie, as well as production shots of the cast either posing for the camera or in action.

A closer examination reveals the clarity and detail that was commonly seen in these types of Hollywood photographs of the 1930s, where a number of unit and studio photographers plied their trade and would later become world-famous for their work.

I did a little digging on this set of stills and found that they had been a part of a series from an 2012-2013 exhibit of the Musee de l'Elysee called "Freaks, The Monstrous Parade". The selection of about 50 of these photographs were from the collection of Zurich-based Enrico Praloran. What struck me, though, was that in all my (admittedly terse) on-line research, I never once came upon the name of the photographer who took the pictures.

I know that legendary photographers like George Hurrell and Clarence Sinclair Bull had worked for MGM, and, since they were both noted for their glamour shots, both had taken portraits of Leila Hyams in the early 1930s. But Hurrell left MGM in 1932 and Bull is known for only a limited amount of horror actors as his subjects (ex. Lugosi, Lorre), which would most likely leave both of them out. Which leaves the cameramen (also unlikely), or an as yet (or undiscovered so far by me) identified person. There is one more possibility -- and a probable longshot at that -- is Tod Browning himself.

Even one of the more authoritative sources on Browning, the duo of David Skal and Elias Sevada fail to mention a unit photographer in the excerpt from their book, "Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning, Hollywood's Master of the Macabre" concerning the making of FREAKS (FILMFAX #52 Sept/Oct 1995),

So, unless I've missed something or if the information is unearthed in new research, it looks like the photographer of these very unusual, but artful photographs will remain unnamed.