Biografie

Served as chief hairstylist at MGM from 1934 to the late 1970s. Such was his impeccable reputation that Grace Kelly summoned him to style her hair for her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956. He designed Judy Garland's ponytails for her Dorothy inDas zauberhafte Land (1939). A frantic Marilyn Monroe called him on the night she died--August 4, 1962. He made legal history in 1938 by becoming the first bachelor in the United States to adopt a child.

Claimed in his memoirs, entitled 'Crowning Glory', to have had affairs with both Greta Garbo and Ava Gardner.

Started work as an apprentice stylist at the McAlpin Hotel in New York. Subsequently landed a job at Antoine's, a prestigious salon in Manhattan, where he was 'discovered' by Claudette Colbert in 1928.

For what he termed his 'greatest challenge', the 1938 Norma Shearer film 'Marie Antoinette', he used 2000 court wigs and an additional 3000 wigs for the extras.

First hair stylist to be listed in the credits of a film. Credited with making Lucille Ball a redhead and giving Claudette Colbert her signature bangs.