Gerry Bachrack

BACHRACK , Gerry
Jan. 4, 1932 - Jan. 21, 2007
Gerry Bachrack, a gifted fashion designer, coordinator and photo stylist for television, motion pictures and the theatre passed away on January 21 in Los Angeles from complications of diabetes shortly after his 75th birthday. Despite his life-long battle with the disease - diagnosed at age four - Gerry's dry wit and charm delighted family and friends throughout his working years in Los Angeles, his hometown, and New York. His elegant creations graced a star-studded cast of women and his lively banter kept them in stitches. Among them: Lena Horne, Mitzi Gaynor, Abbe Lane, Suzanne Pleshette, Barbra Streisand, Ann-Margaret and Hope Lange.
A graduate of Beverly Hills High School, Gerry attended Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and studied at Parsons School of Design and Traphagen School of Fashion Design in New York. In the bygone era of high fashion millinery, Gerry designed hats for Edith Head, Don Loper, Miles White, Howard Shoup, Luis Estevez and Donald Brooks, among others. A partial list of his film and television theatrical production credits included The Way We Were, For Pete's Sake, Manchurian Candidate, the Dean Martin Show, Phyllis Diller Show, Laugh In and the Garry Moore Show. He also designed theatrical costumes for the New York City Center and for the Stage Society Theatre, the Huntington Hartford Theatre and the Players' Ring Theatre in Los Angeles.
Throughout his career Gerry also designed hats, costumes and accessories for private clients on both coasts. Without questions his favorite client was his mother, Belle Bachrack, who died the day after her 95th birthday, in 1993, in her Los Angeles home, Gerry having devoted the previous seven years of his life as her caretaker, nurse, cook and best friend.
Even during his own declining months, which he suffered through with stoicism and courage, Gerry's irrepressible humor would emerge. One of his last memorable lines came during a recent confinement in the Cedars-Sinai pulmonary ICU, where he remained in critical condition and silenced for many days by breathing tubes from a ventilator. The morning the tubes were removed, as doctors, nurses, a family member and an attractive blond social worker stood by, Gerry slowly opened his eyes, looked at the social worker and, smiling mischievously, asked, "Are you married?"
He is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Dr. Stan and Marilyn Bachrack, in Cheviot Hills, his aunt, Paula Blumenfield, in New York City, numerous cousins and his long time roommate, Eddie Bates.
Private interment at Mount Sinai Memorial Park . Gerry's life will be celebrated at a later date.