This is the last of my Christmas gift dolls whose photos I’ve shared. Recently David Puterbaugh mailed me the Oscar issue of Entertainment Weekly because he knew I’d be excited to read their tribute to designer Edith Head.
Of all the old movies I love, I’d have to say that Rear Window is the perfect conflux of talent: Alfred Hitchcock as a director, with a cast that includes Jimmy Stewart, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr, and the incomparable Grace Kelly. The movie has humor, romance, and suspense, and as if all that weren’t enough, Edith Head did the costumes–as she did for ten more Hitchcock films, and more than 400 other movies for the big screen and television, as well as for several TV series. What a phenomenal career that inspired the style of countless actresses including Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, and Natalie Wood.
You may recall that I once created my own homage to Edith Head’s fashion based on one of her sketches.
Prompt from FMS Photo A Day.
Oh my, we have similar views on perfection. Rear Window is one of my all time favorite Hitchcock movies. And Grace Kelly or Jimmy Stewart in ANYTHING is perfect. ( I love High Society with G.K.)
I could watch High Society any day of the week (no matter how many people tell me it’s just The Philadelphia Story Light).
I’m also a Thelma Ritter fan and think she was as close to perfect as perfect can be in Pillow Talk with Doris Day and Rock Hudson.
Totally agree on Rear Window and all the talent involved. Hopefully no one will ever try to remake it using today’s talent.
It was remade as a TV movie a few years ago. I didn’t see it, though, I just remember they did it.
Hey, I remember that homage!
Rear Window is one of my faves too. As always Thelma Ritter was terrific. I can’t believe she never won an Oscar (6 Best Supporting Actress nominations, no wins). If any performer ever deserved a posthumous honorary Oscar, it’s Ms. Ritter.
They need to let you run that Oscar thing. Though I know the first thing you’d do is retroactively redo Best Picture from the 2006 awards.