Orry-Kelly

John Orry-Kelly born 31 December 1897 (d. 1964)

Orry-Kelly was the professional name of John Orry Kelly, a prolific Hollywood costume designer. Some sources cite his name as George Orry Kelly.

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 Shubert Revues and George White's Scandals.

He went to Hollywood in 1932, working for all the major studios (Warner Brothers, Universal, RKO, 20th Century 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 Some Like It Hot.

He won three Academy Awards for costume design (for An American in Paris, Cole Porter's Les Girls, and Some Like It Hot) and was nominated for a fourth (for Gypsy).

A longtime alcoholic, he died of liver cancer in Hollywood, California and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).