Orry-Kelly was the professional name of John Orry Kelly (December 31, 1897 - February 27, 1964), a prolific Hollywood costume designer.

Born in Kiama, New South Wales in Australia, he grew up to study art there, becoming a tailor's apprentice and window dresser in Sydney. He journeyed to New York to pursue an acting career. He shared an apartment there with Charlie Spangles and Cary Grant. A job painting murals in a nightclub led to his employment by Fox East Coast studios illustrating titles. He designed costumes and sets for Broadway's Schubert Reviews and George White Scandals. He went to Hollywood in 1932, working for all the major studios (Warner Brothers, Universal, RKO, Fox, and MGM), and designed for all the great actresses of the day, including Bette Davis, Olivia DeHavilland, Katharine Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Ann Sheridan, and Merle Oberon.

He worked on many films now deemed classic, including 42nd Street, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, Arsenic and Old Lace, Harvey, Oklahoma!, Auntie Mame, and Irma La Douce. He won three Academy Awards for costume design (for An American in Paris, Les Girls, and Some Like It Hot) and was nominated for a fourth (for Gypsy).

He died Hollywood, California and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).

Costume design credits

References

• Mann, William J., Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969, Viking Press, New York, 2001. ISBN 0142001147

External link

• Find-A-Grave profile for Orry-Kelly

1897 births | 1964 deaths | Costume designers | Costume Design Academy Award nominees | Costume Design Academy Award winners