Irene Sharaff

Irene Sharaff (January 23 1910 - August 10 1993) was an American award-winning costume designer.

Biography

Sharaff was born in Boston and studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, the Art Students League of New York, and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.

After working as a fashion illustrator in her youth, Sharaff turned to set and costume design. Her debut production was the 1931 Broadway production of "Alice in Wonderland", starring Eva Le Gallienne.

Sharaff's work was featured in the movies "West Side Story" (Academy Award, 1961), "Cleopatra" (Academy Award, 1963), "Meet Me in St. Louis", "Hello, Dolly!", "Mommie Dearest", "The Other Side of Midnight", "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (Academy Award, 1966), "Guys and Dolls", "The Best Years of Our Lives", "The King and I" (Academy Award, 1956), "An American in Paris" (Academy Award, 1951),"Funny Girl" and "Porgy and Bess".

She also designed sets and costumes for American Ballet Theater, the New York City Ballet, and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, and contributed illustrations to fashion magazine's such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Among Broadway design credits include "Idiot's Delight", "Lady in the Dark", "As Thousands Cheer", "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", "Flower Drum Song", and "Jerome Robbins's Broadway".

Her use of silks from Thailand for the movie version of "The King and I" created a trend in fashion and interior decoration.

Private life

Sharaff's companion was Mai-Mai Sze (d. 1992), a China-born fashion model turned actress, painter, and writer. [ Leo Lerman, "The Grand Surprise: The Journals of Leo Lerman", NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007, p. 152 ]

Sze was one of the six children of Dr. Sao-Ke "Alfred" Sze (né Shih Chao-chi, 1877-1958) [ Howard Lyon Boorman and Joseph K.H. Cheng, "Biographical Dictionary of Republican China", New York: Columbia University Press, 1970 ] , a Cornell University graduate who served as China's minister to the Court of St. James's (1914-1921, 1929-1932), its minister (1921-1923, 1924-1929, 1933-1935) and ambassador to the United States (1933-1937), and China's minister of foreign affairs. [http://www.nysoclib.org/collections/index_sharaff_sze.html] ["Alfred Sze Dies; Diplomat was 80", The New York Times, 5 January 1958] . Sze's mother, the former Yu-hua "Alice" Tang (b. 1886), had been a lady in waiting to Empress Dowager Cixi of China, her uncle Tang Shaoyi was a prime minister of the Republic of China, and her cousin Pao-yu Tang was the first wife of the Chinese diplomat and prime minister Dr. V.K. Wellington Koo. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,751602,00.html Wise Wives - TIME ] ]

Irene Sharaff died of congestive heart failure, complicated by emphysema, at the age of 83.

Awards and nominations

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award was named for her. Sharaff was its first recipient in 1993. The award is now bestowed annually to a costume designer who, over the course of his or her career, has achieved great distinction and mastery of the art in theatre, film, opera or dance.

*1968 Tony Award for "Hallelujah, Baby!" (nominee)
*1964 Tony Award for "The Girl Who Came to Supper" (nominee)
*1959 Tony Award for "Flower Drum Song" (nominee)
*1958 Tony Award for "West Side Story" (nominee)
*1957 Tony Award for "Shangri-La", "Candide", "Happy Hunting", and "Small War on Murray Hill" (nominee)
*1952 Tony Award for "The King and I" (winner)

Filmography

*1938 "Vivacious Lady"
*1939 "Eternally Yours"
*1941 "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"
*1941 "The Devil and Miss Jones"
*1941 "You'll Never Get Rich"
*1943 "A Stranger in Town"
*1943 "I Dood It"
*1943 "Madame Curie"
*1943 "Swing Shift Maisie"
*1943 "The Human Comedy"
*1944 "Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble"
*1944 "Broadway Rhythm"
*1944 "Gaslight"
*1944 "Gentle Annie"
*1944 "Meet Me in St. Louis"
*1944 "The Thin Man Goes Home"
*1945 "Adventure"
*1945 "Her Highness and the Bellboy"
*1945 "The Picture of Dorian Gray"
*1945 "The Hidden Eye"
*1945 "The Valley of Decision"
*1945 "Twice Blessed"
*1946 "Courage of Lassie"
*1946 "Easy to Wed"
*1946 "Love Laughs at Andy Hardy"
*1946 "The Best Years of Our Lives"
*1946 "The Dark Mirror"
*1946 "The Green Years"
*1946 "The Hoodlum Saint"
*1946 "The Secret Heart"
*1946 "Two Sisters from Boston"
*1946 "Ziegfeld Follies" (Production Designer)
*1947 "Fiesta"
*1947 "If Winter Comes"
*1947 "Living in a Big Way"
*1947 "Song of the Thin Man"
*1947 "The Arnelo Affair"
*1947 "The Beginning or the End"
*1947 "The Bishop's Wife"
*1947 "The High Barbaree"
*1947 "The Hucksters"
*1947 "The Romance of Rosy Ridge"
*1947 "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"
*1947 "The Unfinished Dance"
*1948 "A Song Is Born"
*1948 "Every Girl Should Be Married"
*1949 "In the Good Old Summertime"
*1950 "Key to the City"
*1950 "Shadow on the Wall"
*1951 "An American in Paris"
*1951 "The Guy Who Came Back"
*1953 "Call Me Madam"
*1954 "A Star is Born" (Production Designer)
*1954 "Brigadoon"
*1955 "Guys and Dolls"
*1956 "The King and I"
*1959 "Porgy and Bess"
*1960 "Can-Can"
*1961 "Flower Drum Song"
*1961 "West Side Story"
*1963 "Cleopatra"
*1965 "The Sandpiper"
*1966 "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
*1967 "Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park"
*1967 "The Taming of the Shrew"
*1968 "Funny Girl"
*1969 "Hello, Dolly!"
*1969 "Justine"
*1970 "The Great White Hope"
*1977 "The Other Side of Midnight"
*1981 "Mommie Dearest"

References

*Marvine Howe, "Irene Sharaff, Designer, 83, Dies; Costumes Won Tony and Oscars", The New York Times, 17 August 1993.
*Irene Sharaff, "Broadway and Hollywood: Costumes Designed by Irene Sharaff", Van Nostrand Reinhold Co (1976)

External links

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