Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/A/A2/14a/104
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 8 May 1951 (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
2 p. paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Photographer, artist, writer, and designer of scenery and costumes. Educated at Harrow and St John's College, Cambridge, 1922-5. Made his name as a photographer through portraits of the Sitwells. Employed by Vogue in London and New York. Published 'The Book of Beauty' (1930). Photographed the Duke of Windsor's wedding, 1937. War photographer, 1939-45. Designed 'Lady Windermere's Fan', 1945. Designed costumes for 'An Ideal Husband' and 'Anna Karenina', 1948. Worked on 'The School for Scandal', 1949, 'Quadrille' for Noel Coward, 1952, 'Turandot', 1961, and 'La Traviata', 1966. Designed costumes for 'My Fair Lady', 1956, and for the film version in Hollywood, 1963. His play 'The Gainsborough Girls', 1951 and 1959, was unsuccessful. Published 'The Glass of Fashion' (1954), and six volumes of diaries. Exhibited photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, 1968. Knighted 1972.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Details his difficulties in phoning Garbo. Sympathises with her situation with the 'poor man', George Schlee. Hopes she will visit Reddish in August/September, which he is keeping free for her. Mentions the sale of Garbo's house in California. Asks what will happen to Gertrude. Mentions that he has been writing short stories, including one about Americans in Spain and one about children and strawberry beds. Reports that the Festival Exhibition in London a success. Describes his meeting with the actress, Constance Collier.