Cecil Beaton

Legendary photographer and theatrical designer of sets, costumes and anything else worth looking at. With his flamboyant talent, equally outsize wit and temperament, and an all-but-certified talent for living, Beaton put his distinctive stamp on not only some of the most famous fashion and movie-star portraits ever taken, but also on a number of lavish stage productions and a handful of films. Beaton's best known works in the cinema are his costumes for Vincente Minnelli's delightful adaptation of the stage musical based on Colette's fin de siecle novel "Gigi" (1958) and his costumes and sets (based on his original stage conceptions) for George Cukor's less successful adaptation of another Broadway hit, "My Fair Lady" (1964).