The Sydney Film Festival is now in full swing and there is one movie that should not be missed. Produced and directed by Academy Award winner Gillian Armstrong, it is the story of one of Hollywood's most celebrated artistes Orry-Kelly who died in 1964. |
| Gillian Armstrong |
The chances are you have watched a movie where Orry George Kelly-his birth name, designed unforgettable costumes for the most famous legends of the day from Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca. Kelly is also Australia's most prolific Oscar winner having won three for costume design and nominated numerous times.Kelly (left) was born in Kiama NSW in 1897 before he embarked for New York in 1923 where he shared an apartment with Cary Grant and then to LA and a Hollywood career. In many ways he is similar to Aussie legends Sir Robert Helpmann and Peter Allen, both born in rural communities but with fathers who actively encouraged them in their pursuit of the arts.
Armstrong's film is titled Women I've Undressed after an unpublished manuscript Kelly wrote which reputedly detailed his affair with movie legend and his former flat mate Cary Grant.
