Hollywood Studio Magazine (September 1969)

THE OUTLA W - Because of a battle of the bosom with censors, Jane Russell became one of the big stars of the 1940’s and set the trend for well endowed ladies. Hurrell’s lens mastery helped promote an unknown actress into an international sex symbol. In the last 30-odd years, George Hurrell of Van Nuys, has come to the conclusion life is a snap — and small wonder, he has photographed almost every major star in Hollywood at least once, and sometimes more often. His subjects have ranged from Garbo to Raquel Welch, from Mae West to Clark Gable, and Humphrey Bogart. He is still busy with the leading stars of our era, including Elizabeth Taylor who just finished “The Only Game in Town” with Warren Beatty. While most of his peers have retired, Hurrell is still looking forward to the next assignment. As times have changed, Hurrell has adjusted his techniques to conform. Once a star would spend hours in a still gallery to get two or three exceptional shots. Elaborate props would be brought in, and great care would be taken with the pose, hair styling and costume. Now, taking a stars picture is usually confined to a few minutes on the set where the still man is hard pressed to even get his subject to look at him. Naturally this results in a certain loss of formal quality, but Hurrell is philosophical about the results. “If they like the modern, casual approach,” he explained recently, “fine. I will do anything that makes my subjects happy.” A tireless craftsman, Hurrell is never satisfied with himself. “There is always room for improvement,” he says, “but sometimes you must settle for less because of circumstances.” He regrets not having longer sittings with his famous subjects. But figures it is their loss, not his. One of his first assignments was Garbo. During the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, the studios ruled the lives of their stars with an iron fist. The famous Swedish beauty was asked by the publicity department to pose in a track suit for a publicity shot. No matter what she might have thought about the idea personally, Garbo donned a track suit and went out to pose for Hurrell. No questions asked. By contrast, the average young star today figures he is above such tactics and resents being asked to do them. This makes life for Hurrell a trifle more difficult. “I have an assignment to finish from the publicity department,” he grinned, “but the shrimp I am supposed to shoot figures she knows more about taking a picture than I do.” A few even try to tell Hurrell how to light their faces for best advantage, or where they should pose. “This is silly,” he snorts, “it is impossible to tell how you look without a mirror. The only star I ever met who was capable of posing herself was Marlene Dietrich. She used a mirror to get just the right expression and it worked great.” But she was very unusual. Most stars couldn’t do it.” The main difference between the movie queens of the 1930’s and today, Hurrell thinks, is their attitude toward the camera. “I never had any trouble getting the big names to pose. They knew it was in their best interest to cooperate. The sessions would last hours, and not once did I get a complaint. We worked as a team. The bigger the star, the easier it was to photograph them.” “Humphrey Bogart for instance didn’t like to have his pictures retouched. He prefered to have his pictures shot straight. He was a very honest type of person,” Hurrell went on, “he lived much like he acted on the screen. Blunt, but honest. He always tried hard to help me do my job, and his pictures showed it.” “Clark Gable was much the same way,” Hurrell pointed out, “he didn’t have a bad angle. You could shoot him from any side. It didn’t matter. He went out of his way to be nice and to assist me in shooting the pictures we needed.” The great love of Gables life was Carole Lombard. The actress was a frequent visitor to the Hurrell studio, and would arrive with Gable on many occasions. “Carole liked to swear at Clark,” Hurrell remembers, “tq tease him.” The actor \vould try to silence Miss Lombard’s blue language because he found it embarassing. “But the more he tried to stop her, the more she swore,’” the cameraman recalled, “it was her way of being affectionate, and teasing him.” Mae West was one sitting Hurrell will never forget. The star came with her manager and changed into a revealing outfit. After several hours of work, Hurrell thought he was through, when the star asked to have the gallery door locked so she could be photographed in the nude. The photographer is still wondering how the actress used the negatives. She took them with her. Joan Crawford loved to pose for photographs and was constantly asking for new sittings. “It was a pleasure to work with Joan,” he recalls, “she would do a pose over and over again until we were sure it was right. Sometimes an actress would get impatient with the deliberate way I shot pictures, but not Joan. She was willing to take as much time as needed.” He recently took stills of Raquel Welch, and may be assigned to the stars new picture, “Myra Breckinridge” at 20th Century-Fox. If this happens, it will be a virtual reunion for Hurrell and one of his pet subjects, Mae West, who will also star in the picture. Perhaps now he will have a chance to find out what happened to those nude pictures he took of Mae almost 30 years ago. Page 4