Irene Maud Lentz (December 8, 1901 – November 15, 1962), also known mononymously and professionally as Irene, was an American fashion designer and costume designer. Her work as a clothing designer in Los Angeles led to her career as a costume designer for films in the 1930s. Lentz also worked under the name Irene Gibbons. BiographyBorn in Brookings, SD to Emil Lents and Maud Walters, Irene Lentz grew up in Baker, Montana and started out as an actress under her birth name, appearing in secondary roles in silent films beginning with Mack Sennett in 1921. She played ingénue parts opposite Sennett's leading comedians, Ben Turpin and Billy Bevan. Lentz was directed in her first film by Sennett's production chief, F. Richard Jones; their professional relationship matured into a personal one. They had been married for less than a year when Jones succumbed to tuberculosis in 1930. Irene Lentz had been taught sewing as a child and with a flair for style, she decided to open a small dress shop. The success of her designs in her tiny store eventually led to an offer from the Bullocks Wilshire luxury department store to design for their Ladies Custom Salon which catered to a wealthy clientele including a number of Hollywood stars. Lentz's designs at Bullocks gained her much attention in the film community and she was contracted by independent production companies to design the wardrobe for some of their productions. Billing herself simply as "Irene," her first work came in 1933 on the film Goldie Gets Along featuring her designs for star Lili Damita. However, her big break came when she was hired to create the gowns for Ginger Rogers for her 1937 film Shall We Dance with Fred Astaire. This was followed by more designs in another Ginger Rogers film as well as work for other independents such as Walter Wanger Productions, Hal Roach Studios as well as majoHedy Lamarrrs such as RKO, Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures. During the 1930s, Irene Lentz designed the film wardrobe for leading ladies such as Constance Bennett, Hedy Lamarr, Joan Bennett, Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard, Ingrid Bergman, Marlene Dietrich, and Loretta Young among others. She "is generally regarded as the originator of the dressmaker suit" that was popular in the late 1930s. Through her work, Irene Lentz met and married short story author and screenwriter Eliot Gibbons, brother of multi-Academy Award winning Cedric Gibbons, head of art direction at MGM Studios. Irene confided to her close friend Doris Day that the marriage to Eliot was not a happy one. Generally regarded as the most important and influential production designer in the history of American films, Cedric Gibbons hired Lentz when gown designer Adrian left MGM in 1941 to open his own fashion house. By 1943 she was a leading costume supervisor at MGM, earning international recognition for her "soufflé creations" and is remembered for her avant-garde wardrobe for Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). In 1950, Lentz left MGM to open her own fashion house. After Lentz was out of the film industry for nearly ten years, Doris Day requested her services for the production Midnight Lace (Universal, 1960). The following year she did the costume design for another Doris Day film, Lover Come Back (1961), and during 1962 worked on her last production, A Gathering of Eagles (released in 1963). In 1962, after Doris Day noticed that Lentz seemed upset and nervous, Lentz confided in her that she was in love with actor Gary Cooper and that he was the only man that she had ever loved. Cooper had died of cancer in 1961. On November 15, 1962, three weeks before her sixty-first birthday, Irene Lentz took room 1129 at the Knickerbocker Hotel, Los Angeles, checking in under an assumed name. She jumped to her death from her bathroom window. She had left suicide notes for friends and family, for her ailing husband, and for the hotel residents, apologizing for any inconvenience her death might cause. Per her wishes, she is interred next to her first husband, director F. Richard Jones, at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. During her time, she was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, once was Black-and-White for B.F.'s Daughter (1948), and another time in Color for Midnight Lace (1960).
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Ida Lvovna Rubinstein (5 October 1883 – 20 September 1960) was a Russian dancer, actress, art patron and Belle Époque figure. She performed with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes from 1909 to 1911 and then quit to form her own company. Boléro by Ravel (1928) was among her commissions. BiographyRubinstein was born into one of Russia's richest families, to Jewish parents in Kharkov, Russian Empire, and grew up in Saint Petersburg. For many years, it was a mystery whether she was born in Kharkov or Saint Petersburg, complicated by the rumour that "Ida" was short for "Adelaida". Rubinstein herself would not confirm where she was born, nor if Ida was a nickname, preferring the aura of mystery. Ida's grandfather, Ruvim (Roman) Rubinstein, had been a successful sugar trader in Kharkov. He moved to Saint Petersburg, where he founded the company Roman Rubinstein & Sons with his two sons, Lev (Leon) and Adolf (Anton). The family multiplied their investment many times over, becoming millionaires. By the time Ida was born, the family expanded to own several banks, including the First Bank of Kharkov, sugar mills and breweries. The family donated large sums of money to charities, particularly the arts. Lev and Adolf were both well educated; they regularly hosted prominent intellectuals and artists in their home. Adolf's son Iosif became a successful pianist who studied under Franz Liszt. Her mother died when Ida was very young, and in 1892, her father Lev died in Frankfurt, leaving her a vast fortune. In 1893, the 8-year-old Ida was sent to Saint Petersburg to live with her aunt, socialite "Madame" Gorvits (Horwitz). Rubinstein grew up in her aunt's mansion on the city's famed Promenade des Anglais, where she was given the best education. She became fluent in English, French, German and Italian. When she became interested in Ancient Greece, a Greek professor was invited to tutor her in Saint Petersburg. In Paris, Ida Rubinstein began her career as an actress, appearing on stage in various stages of "indecent" garb. While it was perfectly respectable for the upper class to be seen at the theatre, being an actress was no different from being a prostitute in the eyes of her horrified relatives. Her brother-in-law, a Parisian doctor had her declared legally insane in order to commit her to a mental asylum to save the family's honor. Her family in Kharkov and Saint Petersburg, unhappy with her being in an asylum, demanded she be released and sent home. Once in Saint Petersburg, she was chaperoned at all times by her governess, as was customary for an unmarried young woman of her social class. To earn her freedom and right to control her fortune, she married her first cousin Vladimir Gorvits, who was madly in love with her and allowed her to travel and perform. She had, by the standard of Russian ballet, little formal training. Tutored by Mikhail Fokine, she made her debut in 1908. This was a single private performance of Oscar Wilde's Salomé, in which she stripped nude in the course of the Dance of the Seven Veils. Sergei Diaghilev took her with the Ballets Russes and she danced the title role of Cléopâtre in the Paris season of 1909, and Zobéide in Scheherazade in 1910. Both exotic ballets were choreographed by Fokine, and designed by Léon Bakst. Her partner in Scheherazade was the great Vaslav Nijinsky. Scheherazade was admired at the time for its racy sensuality and sumptuous staging, but these days it is rarely performed; to modern tastes, it is considered too much of a pantomime and its then fashionable Orientalism appears dated. Ida Rubinstein left the Ballets Russes in 1911. After leaving the Ballets Russes, Rubinstein formed her own dance company, using her inherited wealth, and commissioned several lavish productions. In 1911, she performed in Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien. The creative team was Fokine (choreography); Bakst (design); Gabriele d'Annunzio (text) and score by Debussy. This was both a triumph for its stylized modernism and a scandal; the Archbishop of Paris prohibited Catholics from attending because St. Sebastian was being played by a woman and a Jew. After the First World War, Ida Rubinstein appeared in a number of plays, and in Staat's Istar at the Paris Opera in 1924. She also played the leading role in the 1921 silent film La Nave based on D'Annunzio's play of the same name and directed by his son. Between 1928 and 1929, she directed her own company in Paris with Nijinska as choreographer. She commissioned and performed in Maurice Ravel's Boléro in 1928. The repertoire also included The Firebird (L'Oiseau de Feu) with music by Stravinsky, and choreography by Fokine; this had been one of the most sensational creations for the Ballets Russes. The company was revived in 1931 and 1934, with new works. In 1934, the French government awarded her the Légion d'honneur. Ida Rubinstein closed her company in 1935, and she was awarded honorary French citizenship that same year. In 1939 she gave her last performance in the play Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher in Paris and that same year, she was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion, the highest honor awarded by French Government. Ida Rubinstein is not considered to be in the top tier of ballerinas; She did, however, have tremendous stage presence and was able to act. She was also a significant patron and she tended to commission works that suited her abilities, works that mixed dance with drama and stagecraft. In 1940, she left France during the German invasion, and made her way to England via Algeria and Morocco. There she helped wounded Free French soldiers until 1944. Walter Guinness (later Lord Moyne), her long-term lover and sponsor, remained supportive, providing a suite at the Ritz Hotel, until he was assassinated by the Stern Gang in late 1944. Ida Rubinstein returned to France after the war, living finally at Les Olivades in Vence, France. She died there in 1960 and is buried nearby. It was Ida Rubinstein's elusive quality that fascinated. She expressed an inner self that had no particular denomination. Her beauty belonged to those mental images that demand manifestation, and whatever period she represented she became its image. In reality she was the crystallization of a poet's image, a painter's vision, and as such she possessed further significance ... It was her gift for impersonating the beauty of every époque, that marked Ida Rubinstein as unique. Further interestArticles
ProfileIngrid Bergman (29 August 1915 – 29 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.With a career spanning five decades, she is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cinematic history. She won numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, four Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Award. Born in Stockholm to a Swedish father and a German mother, Bergman began her acting career in Swedish and German films. Her introduction to the American audience came in the English-language remake of Intermezzo (1939). Known for her naturally luminous beauty, she starred in Casablanca (1942) as Ilsa Lund, her most famous role, opposite Humphrey Bogart's Rick Blaine. Bergman's notable performances from the 1940s include the dramas For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) with Gary Cooper, Gaslight (1944), The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), and Joan of Arc (1948), all of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress; she won the award for Gaslight. She made three films with Alfred Hitchcock; Spellbound (1945), with Gregory Peck, Notorious (1946), opposite Cary Grant and Under Capricorn (1949), alongside Joseph Cotten. In 1950, she starred in Roberto Rossellini's Stromboli, following the revelation that she was having an extramarital affair with the director. The affair and subsequent marriage to Rossellini created a scandal in the United States that forced her to remain in Europe for several years, during which she starred in Rossellini's Europa '51 and Journey to Italy (1954), now critically acclaimed. She made a successful return to working for a Hollywood studio in the drama Anastasia (1956), winning her second Academy Award for Best Actress. In her later years, Bergman won her third Academy Award, this one for Best Supporting Actress, for her small role in Murder on the Orient Express (1974). In 1978, she worked with director Ingmar Bergman in the Swedish-language Autumn Sonata, for which she received her sixth Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In her final acting role, she portrayed the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the television miniseries A Woman Called Golda (1982) for which she posthumously won her second Emmy Award for Best Actress. Bergman died of breast cancer on her sixty-seventh birthday (29 August 1982). According to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Bergman quickly became "the ideal of American womanhood" and a contender for Hollywood's greatest leading actress. In the United States, she is considered to have brought a "Nordic freshness and vitality" to the screen, along with exceptional beauty and intelligence; David O. Selznick once called her "the most completely conscientious actress" he had ever worked with. In 1999, the American Film Institute recognised Bergman as the fourth greatest female screen legend of Classic Hollywood Cinema. BiographyIngrid Bergman was born on 29 August 1915 in Stockholm, to a Swedish father Justus Bergman, and his German wife Frieda Henriette Auguste Louise Bergman. She was named after Princess Ingrid of Sweden. Although she was raised in Sweden, she spent her summers in Germany and spoke fluent German. Bergman suffered a succession of crucial losses in her infancy and childhood. When she was around two and a half years old, her mother died. Her father had wanted her to become an opera star and had her take voice lessons for three years. He sent her to the Palmgrenska Samskolan, a prestigious girls' school in Stockholm. Bergman was neither a good student nor popular one. Since Justus was a photographer, he loved to document all her birthdays with his camera. He made his daughter one of his favorite photographic subjects. She enjoyed dancing, dressing up and acting in front of her father's lenses. In 1929, when Bergman was around 14, her father died of stomach cancer. After his death, she was sent to live with his sister, Ellen Bergman, who also died of heart disease only six months later. Bergman then lived with her maternal aunt Hulda and her husband Otto, who had five children of their own. She also visited her other maternal aunt, Elsa Adler, whom the young girl called Mutti (Mom) according to family lore. Bergman received a scholarship to the state-sponsored Royal Dramatic Theatre School, where Greta Garbo had some years earlier earned a similar scholarship. After several months, she was given a part in a new play, Ett Brott (A Crime), written by Sigfrid Siwertz. This was "totally against procedure" at the school, where girls were expected to complete three years of study before getting such acting roles. During her first summer break, Bergman was hired by a Swedish film studio, which led to her leaving the Royal Dramatic Theatre after just one year to work in films full time. Ingrid Bergman's first film experience was as an extra in the 1932 film Landskamp, an experience she described as "walking on holy ground". Her first speaking role was a small part in Munkbrogreven (1934). Bergman played Elsa, a maid in a seedy hotel, being pursued by the leading man, Edvin Adolphson. Critics called her "hefty and sure of herself" and "somewhat overweight . . . with an unusual way of speaking her lines." The unflatteringly striped costume that she wore, may have contributed to the unfavorable comments regarding her appearance. Soon after Munkbrogreven, Bergman was offered a studio contract and placed under director Gustaf Molander. Bergman left the Royal Dramatic Theater to pursue acting full time. After playing in a few films, she appeared in Intermezzo in 1936, her first lead performance, where she was reunited with Gösta Ekman, her idol. This was a pivotal film for the young actress, and allowed her to demonstrate her talent. In 1937, Bergman was voted Sweden's most admired movie star and received top-billing. That same year, On 10 July 1937, at the age of 21, in Stöde,Bergman married a dentist, Petter Aron Lindström (1 March 1907 – 24 May 2000). Bergman signed a three-picture contract with UFA, the German major film company, although she only made one picture. At the time, she was pregnant but she arrived in Berlin in 1938 to begin filming The Four Companions (Die vier Gesellen)(1938), directed by Carl Froelich. The film was intended as a star vehicle to launch Bergman's career in Germany. In the film she played one of four ambitious young women, attempting to set up a graphic design agency. By September, she was back in Sweden, and gave birth to her daughter, Pia. She was never to work in Germany again. Bergman appeared in eleven films in her native Sweden before the age of twenty-five. Her characters were always plagued with uncertainty, fear and anxiety. The early Swedish films were not masterpieces, but she worked with some of the biggest talents in the Swedish film industry such as Gösta Ekman, Karin Swanström, Victor Sjöström, and Lars Hanson. It showcased her immense acting talent, as a young woman with a bright future ahead of her. Ingrid Bergman accepted the invitation of Hollywood producer David O. Selznick, who wished her to star in the English-language remake of her earlier Swedish film Intermezzo (1936) directed by Gregory Ratoff. Unable to speak English, and uncertain about her acceptance by the American audience, she expected to complete this one film and return home to Sweden. Her husband, Dr. Petter Aron Lindström, remained in Sweden with their daughter Pia who was born in 1938. In Intermezzo, she played the role of a young piano accompanist, opposite Leslie Howard, who played a famous violin virtuoso. Bergman arrived in Los Angeles on 6 May 1939, and stayed at the Selznick home until she could find another residence. Miss Bergman is the most completely conscientious actress with whom I have ever worked, in that she thinks of absolutely nothing but her work before and during the time she is doing a picture ... She practically never leaves the studio, and even suggested that her dressing room be equipped so that she could live here during the picture. She never for a minute suggests quitting at six o'clock or anything of the kind ... All of this is completely unaffected and completely unique and I should think would make a grand angle of approach to her publicity ... so that her natural sweetness and consideration and conscientiousness become something of a legend ... and is completely in keeping with the fresh and pure personality and appearance which caused me to sign her. The film Intermezzo premiered on 22 September 1939. It became an enormous success and as a result Bergman became a star. Bergman made her stage debut in 1940 with Lilliom opposite Burgess Meredith, at a time when she was still learning English. Selznick was worried that his new starlet's value would diminish if she received bad reviews. Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times reviewed that Bergman seemed at ease, and commanded the stage that evening. On 30 July 1941 at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, Bergman made her second stage appearance in Anna Christie. She was praised for her performance as a whore in the play based on Eugene O'Neill's work. A San Francisco paper said she was as unspoiled as a fresh Swedish snowball. Selznick called her "The Palmolive Garbo", a reference to a popular soap, and a well-known Swedish actress of the time. On 26 November 1942, the film Casablanca by Michael Curtiz premiered at New York's Hollywood Theater. It went into more general release, in January 1943. The film starred Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart; this remains her best-known film. In the film she played the role of Ilsa, the former love of Rick Blaine and wife of Victor Laszlo, fleeing with Laszlo to the United States Next year, on 14 July 1943, another film starring Ingrid Bergman For Whom the Bell Tolls had its New York premiere. It was her first color film. The film was adapted from Ernest Hemingway's novel of the same title and co-starred Gary Cooper. When the book was sold to Paramount Pictures, Hemingway stated that "Miss Bergman, and no one else, should play the part". His opinion came from seeing her in her first American role, Intermezzo. They met a few weeks later, and after studying her, he declared, "You are Maria!". Bergman received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her role of Maria in the film. But she won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in another film Gaslight which premiered on 4 May 1944. Under the direction of George Cukor, she portrayed a "wife driven close to madness" by her husband, played by Charles Boyer. Next year, Ingrid Bergman received her third consecutive nomination for Best Actress for her role in The Bells of St. Mary's where she played a nun. The film premiered on 6 December 1945 and was the biggest box office hit of that year. That same month, on 28 December, another film of Bergman Spellbound also premiered, and it would be the first of three collaborations she had with Alfred Hitchcock. The second film of Bergman by Hitchcock was Notorious, which on premiered on 6 September 1946. In the film, Bergman played a US spy, Alicia Huberman, who had been given an assignment to infiltrate the Nazi sympathizers in South America. Along the way, she fell in love with her fellow spy, played by Cary Grant. According to Roger Ebert, Notorious is the most elegant expression of Hitchcock's visual style. Notorious was selected by the National Film Registry in 2006 as culturally and significantly important. On 5 October 1946, Bergman appeared in the play Joan of Lorraine by Maxwell Anderson at the Alvin Theatre in New York. Tickets were fully booked for a twelve-week run. It was the greatest hit in New York. After each performance, crowds were in line to see Bergman in person. Newsweek called her 'Queen of the Broadway Season.' She reportedly received roughly $129,000 plus 15 percent of the grosses. The Associated Press named her 'Woman of the Year'. Gallup certified her as the most popular actress in America. Two years later, Bergman starred in the film Joan of Arc which was based on the play. The film had its world premiere on 11 November 1948. The film was not a big hit with the public and received disastrous reviews, and although nominated for several Academy Awards, including Bergman's Best Actress nomination, it did not receive a Best Picture nomination. Ingrid Bergman had greatly admired two films by Italian director Roberto Rossellini. She wrote to him in 1949, expressing her admiration and suggesting that she make a film with him. As a consequence, she was cast in Stromboli. During the production in Italy, they began an affair, and Bergman became pregnant with their first child. On 9 September 1949, Under Capricorn premiered. It was the third and last film Ingrid Bergman made with Hitchcock. And shortly after the film's release, the scandalous relationship between Bergman and Rossellini became apparent. Bergman and Rossellini's affair caused a huge scandal in the United States, where it led to Bergman being denounced on the floor of the United States Senate. As a result, Bergman returned to Italy, leaving her first husband and went through a publicized divorce and custody battle for their daughter. In the same month the Stromboli was released, Bergman gave birth to a boy, Renato Roberto Ranaldo Giusto Giuseppe Rossellini (born 2 February 1950). Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini were married on 24 May 1950. On 18 June 1952, Bergman gave birth to the twin daughters Isotta Ingrid Rossellini and Isabella Rossellini. Isabella became an actress and model, and Isotta Ingrid became a professor of Italian literature. Apart from Stromboli, the couple made a few more films together: Europa '51 which was released in 1952; Viaggio in Italia (Journey to Italy) in 1954; and La Paura (Fear) in 1955 based on a play by Austro-Jewish writer Stefan Zweig's 1920 novella Angst about adultery and blackmail.all commercial failures. The films were all commercial failures but they have garnered a great appreciation and attention in the recent times. The Venice Film Festival ranked Stromboli among the 100 most important Italian films ("100 film italiani da salvare") from 1942–1978. In 2012, the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound critics' poll also listed it as one of the 250 greatest films of all time. According to John Patterson of The Guardian, the film Viaggio in Italia (Journey to Italy) started The French New Wave. Martin Scorsese picked this film to be among his favorites in his documentary short in 2001. After separating from Rossellini, Ingrid Bergman returned to the United States, and made a triumphant return to Hollywood with the film Anastasia directed by Anatole Litvak. Anastasia (1956) tells the story of a woman who may be the sole surviving member of the Romanov family. Yul Brynner is the scheming general, who tries to pass her off as the single surviving daughter of the late Tsar Nicholas II. He hopes to use her to collect a hefty inheritance.Anastasia was an immediate success. For her performance as a fake Russian princess, Bergman won the Academy Award for Best Actress for a second time. Cary Grant, her co-star in film Notorious(1946) and her friend, accepted her award for her. The two friends Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant reunited next year i a light comedy directed by Stanley Donen Indiscreet(1958). In 1957, Rossellini had an affair with Sonali Das Gupta while filming in India. Bergman and Rossellini divorced that same year. 0n 21 December 1958, Bergman married Lars Schmidt, a theatrical entrepreneur from a wealthy Swedish shipping family. After almost two decades of marriage, the couple divorced in 1975. In 1975, Ingrid Bergman became one of the few actresses ever to receive three Oscars when she won her third (and first in the category of Best Supporting Actress) for her performance in Murder on the Orient Express (1974). Director Sidney Lumet had offered Bergman the Bergman the important part of Princess Dragomiroff, with which he felt she could win an Oscar. In 1976, Bergman was the first person to receive France's newly created Honorary César, a national film award. In 1978, Ingrid Bergman appeared in Autumn Sonata (Höstsonaten), by Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman with whom she had wanted to work for decades. Bergman was battling cancer at the time of the filming. On 15 June 1974, she entered a London clinic and had her first operation. While working on Autumn Sonata, Bergman discovered another lump, and flew back to London for another surgery. The final two weeks of the shooting schedule required adjustment, because she required additional surgery. Bergman received her seventh—and final—Academy Award nomination. She did not attend the awards, due to her illness. This was her final cinema performance. In 1980, Bergman's autobiography, Ingrid Bergman: My Story, was written with the help of Alan Burgess. In it, she discusses her childhood, her early career, her life during her time in Hollywood, the Rossellini scandal, and subsequent events. Bergman could speak Swedish and German as first languages, English and Italian (acquired while living in the US and Italy), and French (learned in school). She acted in each of these languages at various times. Bergman’s her final acting role is the starring role in a television mini-series, A Woman Called Golda (1982), about the late Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. She agreed to take the challenge despite her illness. Four months after the filming was completed, she died in London from breast cancer, on 29 August 1982 at 12:00 am, her 67th birthday. Ingrid Bergman was honored posthumously with a second Emmy Award for Best Actress for her performance in A Woman Called Golda and her daughter Pia accepted her Emmy on her behalf. Further interestArticles |
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