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.
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| 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.
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| Norma Shearer by George Hurrell. |
Hurrell photographed every star at MGM, including Lon Chaney.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Dorothy Lamour. |
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| John Barrymore. |
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| Johnny Weismuller. |
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| Marlene Dietrich. |
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| Myrna Loy. |
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| William Powell. |
Articles on George Hurrell published during his career:
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