June 1, 1904
George Edward Hurrell born in Covington, Kentucky.
1920
George
Hurrell enrolls in the Chicago Art Institute.
1923
Hurrell hired as photographic apprentice at Eugene Hutchinson Studio.
1925
Hurrell drives to Laguna Beach, California with Edgar Alwyn Payne,
arrives late May.
1927
Hurrell
gives up landscape painting, opens portrait photography studio in
the Granada Studios and Shoppes at 672 South La Fayette Park
Place in the Westlake District of Los Angeles.
1928
August:
Hurrell
does subcontract work for Edward Steichen, shoots Pasadena and Los
Angeles socialites.
October 20:
Hurrell participates in the grand opening festivities of the Granada
Studios and Shoppes
1929
January:
Socialite Florence "Pancho" Barnes brings film star Ramon
Novarro to Hurrell for portrait sitting.
June - August:
Hurrell shoots two more sittings with Novarro.
October:
Hurrell shoots M-G-M star Norma Shearer. Her husband, Irving Thalberg,
is so pleased with the proofs that he awards a plum role to his wife
and offers Hurrell a job. Hurrell accepts.
1930
January 1, 1930:
Hurrell starts job as Head Portrait Photographer at M-G-M, replaces
his Verito lens with M-G-M's Eastman Kodak Portrait lens.
January - March:
Johnny Mack Brown, Montana Moon
Anita Page
Robert Montgomery
Norma Shearer
Joan Crawford
Lottice Howell
Anita Page, Our Blushing Brides
Wallace Beery
Kay Johnson
Buster Keaton, Free and Easy
Raymond Hackett w/ Dorothy Janis
Lewis Stone, Strictly Unconventional
Dorothy Sebastian
April:
Lon Chaney, The Unholy Three
Ramon Novarro
Greta Garbo, Romance
Joan Crawford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
June-August:
Hurrell invents his famous "boom light."
Subjects:
Robert Montgomery
Harriet Lake
Cliff Edwards
Leila Hyams
Marie Dressler, Min and Bill
Wallace Beery, Min and Bill
Grace Moore
Kay Francis, Passion Flower
October
- December:
Marion Davies
Anita Page at home
Buster Keaton, Parlor, Bedroom, and Bath
Constance Bennett, Robert Montgomery, Adolphe Menjou, The Easiest
Way
Lili Damita
Marie Dressler
1931
January - April:
Lupe Velez
John Gilbert
Anita Page
Buster Keaton
Norma Shearer, Strangers May Kiss
Edwina Booth, outdoor
Neil Hamilton
Norma Shearer, Clark Gable, A Free Soul
Gwen Lee
Robert Montgomery
Ray Milland
May - October:
Hurrell begins using Goerz Celor lens, phases out use of Eastman Kodak
Portrait lens.
Subjects:
Joan Crawford, This Modern Age
Neil Hamilton
Marion Davies, It's A Wise Child
Gwen Lee
Jackie Cooper
Erin O'Brien Moore
Marjorie King
Joan Crawford at home
Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Possessed
Madge Evans
Anita Page
Kathryn Crawford, Bert Lahr, Flying High
Leila Hyams
November
- December:
Ramon
Novarro, Mata Hari
Norma Shearer, Private Lives
Wallace Beery
Dorothy Jordan
1932
January - March:
Joan Crawford,
Wallace Beery,
Lionel Barrymore,
John Barrymore, Grand Hotel
Una Merkel
Joan Crawford (on Mata Hari set)
Madge Evans
Wallace Ford
Alexander Kirkland
Jackie Cooper
Norma Shearer, Strange Interlude
Nils Asther
Norma Shearer,
Clark Gable, Strange Interlude
Joan Marsh
April
- June:
Joan Crawford, Letty Lynton
Eric von Stroheim,
Hedda Hopper,
Melvyn Douglas, As You Desire Me
Robert Young
Jean Harlow, Red-Headed Woman
Anita Page
Thelma Todd, Speak Easily
Robert Montgomery, Letty Lynton
Karen Morley
John Gilbert, Downstairs
Leslie Howard, Smilin' Through
Jean Harlow
Myrna Loy
July:
Norma Shearer, Smilin' Through
Joan Crawford
Lilyan Tashman
Joan Bennett
July
15, 1932:
Hurrell quits M-G-M.
August:
Norma Shearer induces him to return for a special sitting, saves his
Hollywood career.
Hurrell
shoots Fox Film Corp. players in Westwood Gallery:
Warner Baxter, Six Hours to Live
Irene Ware, Chandu the Magician
Boots Mallory
Miriam Jordan
September:
Hurrell signs lease with Montgomery Leasing Corp. for commercial space
at 8706 Sunset Boulevard, now "Hurrell Photography."
October
- December:
Clients at new studio:
Lupe Velez
Norma Shearer
Sally Eilers
Laurence Olivier, A Perfect Understanding (United Artists)
Joan Crawford
1933
January - March:
Hurrell is promoted and publicized by Helen Ferguson.
Joan
Crawford
Mae West
Carole Lombard
Hedda Hopper
Helen Hayes, Another Language (M-G-M)
Marian Nixon
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
April
- July:
Eugenie Leontovich (for El Capitan stage production of Twentieth
Century)
Helen Chandler
Myrna Loy
Sally O'Neil
Jean Harlow, Dinner At Eight
Maureen O'Sullivan, Stage Mother
Nancy Carroll
August - December:
Jean
Harlow for first issue of Esquire
Norma
Shearer
Madge
Evans
Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Dancing Lady
Loretta Young, The House of Rothschild (Twentieth Century
Pictures)
Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone (at her home)
Jean Harlow, Bombshell
Anna Sten, Nana, (Samuel Goldwyn)
Mary
Pickford
Jean Harlow (at Bullock's [1])
Jeanette MacDonald, The Cat and the Fiddle
Loretta Young
Constance Bennett, Moulin Rouge
Karen Morley
1934
January - June:
Wallace Beery, Viva Villa!
Mae Clarke, This Side of Heaven
Janet Beecher, Gallant Lady
Norma Shearer, Riptide
Mary Carlisle
Constance Bennett, The Affairs of Cellini
Fay Wray
Joan Crawford, Sadie McKee
Ginger Rogers, Change of Heart
Alice Faye
Franchot Tone
Marian Nixon, The Line Up
Jean Harlow, The Girl From Missouri
Anna Sten, We Live Again
Mary Brian, A Private Scandal
July - October:
Joan Crawford, Chained
Norma Shearer, The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Jean Harlow
Paulette Goddard, Modern Times (Chaplin)
Ethel Merman, Kid Millions
Mary Pickford
Jean Parker
Robert Montgomery
Jean Harlow (home)
Norma Shearer (Irene gowns)
Jean Harlow (Vanity Fair)
Doris Kenyon
Ralph Bellamy
Joan Crawford, Forsaking All Others
November:
Hurrell takes off for New York.
1935
January - March:
Hurrell shoots portraits in New York, then goes to Mexico, shoots
with columnist Ted Cook.
April
- July:
Hurrell
Photography continues:
Myrna Loy
Frances Dee
Joel McCrea
Merle Oberon, Dark Angel
Joan Crawford, No More Ladies
Mary Pickford (book jacket portrait: My Rendezvous with Life)
Franchot Tone
Clifton Webb
Margo
Jean Harlow, Reckless/China Seas
Shirley Temple, John Boles, The Littlest Rebel
Charles Farrell, Forbidden Heaven
Johnny Weissmuller
Jeanette MacDonald
Rosalind Russell
Joan Crawford, I Live My Life
August
- September:
Hurrell working out of rented studio in Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York
October
- December:
Carole Lombard (color cover for Photoplay)
Jean Harlow (at Bullock's [2])
William Powell
Gene Raymond
Nelson Eddy
Norma Shearer
Bill Robinson
Miriam Hopkins, These Three
Merle Oberon
Joel McCrea
Fritz Lang
Kitty Carlisle
Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone (home sitting)
1936
January:
Hurrell shooting with Edward Weston.
February
- April:
Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Romeo and Juliet
Simone Simon (for Twentieth Century-Fox)
Ida Lupino
Luise Rainer
Jeanette MacDonald (Color)
Rosalind Russell, Trouble For Two
Carole Lombard, The Princess Comes Across
Josephine Hutchinson
Joan Crawford, The Gorgeous Hussy
Irene Dunne, Show Boat (Universal)
May
- June:
Hurrell's second trip to Mexico with Ted Cook
July
- August:
Hurrell shooting in New York, makes deal with Esquire magazine
for monthly "Hurrell Girl"
September
- November:
Frances Dee for Esquire
Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Love On The Run
Joan Bennett (Paramount Pictures)
Madeleine Carroll (Selznick International Pictures)
Robert Taylor
Constance Bennett (Hal Roach Pictures)
1937
January - April:
Hurrell accepted into camera union, Local 659, begins writing articles
for International Photographer, also shoots in gallery at
Twentieth Century-Fox:
Shirley Temple
Alice Faye
Loretta Young
Tyrone Power
Warner Baxter
Ronald
Colman,
Madeleine Carroll, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., The Prisoner of Zenda
(Selznick)
May
- June:
Hurrell shoots his last few M-G-M players before being replaced by Laszlo
Willinger:
Robert Taylor
Jean Harlow, Saratoga
William Powell
Robert Montgomery
Joan Crawford, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Paramount:
Marlene Dietrich
Carole Lombard
Patricia Morison
Mary Carlisle
Anna May Wong
Betty Grable
July
- December:
Hurrell begins shooting in Paramount gallery as well as at Hurrell Photography.
His last M-G-M sitting is with Joan Crawford, for Mannequin,
but done in his own gallery.
Twentieth
Century-Fox:
Paul Muni
Shirley Temple, Heidi
Dolores Del Rio, Lancer Spy
Alice Faye
1938
January - June:
Hurrell shoots for all studios but M-G-M.
Jean
Muir
Errol Flynn, The Adventures of Robin Hood (Warner Brothers)
Ronald Colman, If I Were King (Paramount)
Claudette Colbert, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
Joan Bennett, The Texans
Anna May Wong, Dangerous To Know
Ram Gopal
Charles Boyer
Janet Gaynor, The Young At Heart (Selznick)
Katharine Hepburn (RKO-Radio)
July:
Hurrell signs a two-year exclusive contract with Warner Brothers, closes
Hurrell Photography.
September
- December:
Ann Sheridan, Angels With Dirty Faces
John Garfield
Humphrey Bogart
George Brent
James Cagney
Olivia DeHavilland
John Payne
Paul Muni
Errol Flynn,
Bette Davis, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
1939
Warner Brothers publicity and monthly Esquire exposure make Hurrell
a household word. Burbank subjects include:
Bette
Davis, Dark Victory
Vera Zorina, On Your Toes
John Payne, Kid Nightingale
Ann Sheridan, The "Oomph" Campaign
Priscilla Lane,
Humphrey Bogart,
James Cagney, The Roaring Twenties
Bette Davis, Juarez
Margaret Lindsay
Olivia DeHavilland
Bette Davis,
George Brent,
Miriam Hopkins, The Old Maid
John Garfield,
Nell O'Day, Saturday's Children
1940
October:
Hurrell leaves Warner Brothers, goes to New York, rents space in Waldorf.
1941
January - June:
Hurrell returns to Hollywood, does home sitting for Joan Crawford.
Construction
begins on new studio in Beverly Hills.
July
- December:
Hurrell photographs "adult" Shirley Temple for Life
Magazine.
Hurrell shoots for Goldwyn, Warners, Paramount, and Universal.
Bette Davis, The Little Foxes
Barbara Stanwyck,
Gary Cooper, Ball of Fire
Barbara Stanwyck, Meet John Doe
Alexis Smith
Veronica Lake, I Wanted Wings
Paulette Goddard
Betty Hutton
Hurrell
is West Coast Photographic Head of Esquire magazine.
Hurrell
shoots Jane Russell for Howard Hughes production, The Outlaw.
(Second sitting -- with hay -- follows.)
Hurrell
opens new Hurrell Photography at 333 North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
1942
January - June:
Maria Montez
July
- October:
Hurrell works for Columbia Pictures as a contract employee, but shoots
in his own studio on weekends.
Fred Astaire
Rita Hayworth
Rosalind Russell
Loretta Young
Mae West
November:
Hurrell drafted into First Motion Picture Unit of United States Army
Air Force.
1943
January - February:
Hurrell photographs generals at Pentagon, makes training films at Hal
Roach Studios in Culver City.
March:
Hurrell returns to Columbia Pictures Portrait Gallery.
August:
Hurrell shoots Joan Crawford's first sitting under her new contract
with Warner Brothers.
October:
Hurrell finishes Columbia contract, returns to 333 North Rodeo Drive.
1944
January - March:
Hurrell acts in film The Hairy Ape. Scene later cut for time.
Hurrell
shoots Joan Crawford in Adrian couture to publicize new salon.
1945
Hurrell shoots Errol Flynn.
Hurrell continues to shoot for Esquire.
1946
Hurrell shoots his thirty-third and last sitting with Joan Crawford,
portraits for the Twentieth Century-Fox film, Daisy Kenyon.
Hurrell sublets his Beverly Hills studio . . .