Orry-Kelly

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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

• 20,000 Years in Sing Sing
• 42nd Street
• A Dispatch from Reuters
• A Lost Lady
• A Majority of One
• A Modern Hero
• A Stolen Life
• A Very Honorable Guy
• A Woman's Vengeance
• Affectionately Yours
• All This and Heaven Too
• Always in My Heart
• An American in Paris
• Angels with Dirty Faces
• Another Dawn
• Arsenic and Old Lace
• As the Earth Turns
• Auntie Mame
• Babbitt
• Baby Face
• Bedside
• Berlin Express
• Big-Hearted Herbert
• Blondie Johnson
• Bordertown
• Bright Lights
• British Agent
• Broadway Gondolier
• Broadway Hostess
• Cain and Mabel
• Call It a Day
• Captured!
• Casablanca
• Caught
• Ceiling Zero
• Central Airport
• Central Park
• China Clipper
• Colleen
• College Coach
• Comet Over Broadway
• Confession
• Conflict
• Convention City
• Crooner
• Dames
• Dangerous
• Dark Hazard
• Dark Victory
• Deported
• Desirable
• Devil Dogs of the Air
• Dr. Monica
• Easy to Love
• Edge of Darkness
• Elmer, the Great
• Employees' Entrance
• Ever Since Eve
• Ex-Lady
• Family Honeymoon
• Fashions of 1934
• Female
• First Lady
• Five Finger Exercise
• Flirtation Walk
• Fog Over Frisco
• For the Love of Mary
• Four Daughters
• Four's a Crowd
• Freshman Love
• Friends of Mr. Sweeney
• Frisco Jenny
• Frisco Kid
• Gambling Lady
• Gentlemen Are Born
• George Washington Slept Here
• Girl Missing
• Give Me Your Heart
• Go Into Your Dance
• Going Highbrow
• Gold Diggers of 1933
• Gold Diggers of 1935
• Gold Diggers of 1937
• Goodbye Again
• Grand Slam
• Green Light
• Happiness Ahead
• Hard to Handle
• Harold Teen
• Harvey
• Havana Widows
• He Was Her Man
• Hearts Divided
• Heat Lightning
• Here Comes Carter
• Here Comes the Navy
• Heroes for Sale
• Hi, Nellie!
• Hollywood Hotel
• Honeymoon for Three
• Housewife
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
• I Am a Thief
• I Found Stella Parish
• I Live for Love
• I Married a Doctor
• I Sell Anything
• In Caliente
• In the Cool of the Day
• In This Our Life
• Indianapolis Speedway
• Irma la Douce
• Isle of Fury
• It's Love I'm After
• I've Got Your Number
• Ivy
• Jail Break
• Jezebel
• Jimmy the Gent
• Johnny Stool Pigeon
• Journal of a Crime
• Juarez
• Kansas City Princess
• Kid Galahad
• King of the Underworld
• Kings Row
• Ladies They Talk About
• Lady Killer
• Larceny
• Lawyer Man
• Les Girls
• Life Begins
• Lilly Turner
• Little Big Shot
• Living on Velvet
• London Town
• Madame DuBarry
• Mandalay
• Marked Woman
• Mary Stevens, M.D.
• Massacre
• Maybe It's Love
• Merry Wives of Reno
• Midnight Alibi
• Million Dollar Baby
• Miss Pacific Fleet
• Mission to Moscow
• Mother Wore Tights
• Mr. Skeffington
• Murder by an Aristocrat

• Murder in the Big House
• Murder in the Clouds
• My Bill
• My Love Came Back
• Mystery of the Wax Museum
• Night Song
• No Time for Comedy
• Now, Voyager
• Oil for the Lamps of China
• Oklahoma!
• Old Acquaintance
• On Your Toes
• Once More, My Darling
• One Touch of Venus
• One Way Passage
• One Way Street
• Page Miss Glory
• Parachute Jumper
• Pat and Mike
• Personal Maid's Secret
• Picture Snatcher
• Polo Joe
• Princess O'Rourke
• Private Detective
• Registered Nurse
• Return of the Terror
• Rogues' Regiment
• Satan Met a Lady
• Scarlet Dawn
• Secrets of an Actress
• She Had to Say Yes
• Shipmates Forever
• Side Streets
• Silver Dollar
• Smarty
• Snowed Under
• So Big!
• Some Like It Hot
• Something in the Wind
• Son of a Sailor
• Sons o' Guns
• South Sea Sinner
• Stage Struck
• Stars Over Broadway
• Stolen Holiday
• Stranded
• Sunday in New York
• Sweet Adeline
• Sweet Bird of Youth
• Take One False Step
• Temptation
• That Certain Woman
• The Adventures of Mark Twain
• The Big Shakedown
• The Bride Came C.O.D.
• The Cabin in the Cotton
• The Case of the Curious Bride
• The Case of the Howling Dog
• The Chapman Report
• The Circus Clown
• The Corn Is Green
• The Crash
• The Dolly Sisters
• The Dragon Murder Case
• The Firebird
• The Florentine Dagger
• The Girl from th Avenue
• The Go Getter
• The Golden Arrow
• The Goose and the Gander
• The Great Lie
• The Hanging Tree
• The Hard Way
• The House on th Street
• The Irish in Us
• The Kennel Murder Case
• The Key
• The Keyhole
• The King and the Chorus Girl
• The King's Vacation
• The Lady and the Lug
• The Lady Gambles
• The Lady Says No
• The Law in Her Hands
• The Letter
• The Life of Jimmy Dolan
• The Little Foxes
• The Little Giant
• The Maltese Falcon
• The Man Who Came to Dinner
• The Match King
• The Mayor of Hell
• The Merry Frinks
• The Mind Reader
• The Narrow Corner
• The Oklahoma Kid
• The Old Maid
• The Pay-Off
• The Personality Kid
• The Petrified Forest
• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
• The Rich Are Always with Us
• The Right to Live
• The Sea Hawk
• The Secret Bride
• The Shocking Miss Pilgrim
• The Silk Express
• The Singing Kid
• The Singing Marine
• The Sisters
• The St. Louis Kid
• The Star
• The Strawberry Blonde
• The Walking Dead
• The White Angel
• The White Cockatoo
• The Widow from Monte Carlo
• The Woman in Red
• The Working Man
• They Call It Sin
• This Is the Army
• Three Men on a Horse
• Three on a Match
• Throwing a Party
• Tiger Shark
• 'Til We Meet Again
• Times Square Playboy
• Too Much, Too Soon
• Tovarich
• Traveling Saleslady
• Twenty Million Sweethearts
• Two Against the World
• Two for the Seesaw
• Under the Gun
• Undertow
• Upperworld
• Virginia City
• Voltaire
• Watch on the Rhine
• We're in the Money
• When Tomorrow Comes
• While the Patient Slept
• Wild Bill Hickok Rides
• Wings of the Navy
• Winner Take All
• Woman in Hiding
• Women Are Like That
• Women in the Wind
• Wonder Bar
• Wonderful Town
• You Said a Mouthful