Michael Woulfe

MICHAEL WOULFE

GOWN AND COSTUME DESIGNER DIES AT 89

WOODLAND HILLS, CA – Glamour Years of Hollywood costume designer Michael Woulfe died on Thursday, August 30, 2007 of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Home. Woulfe has been a resident of the MPTF retirement community for almost five years.

At age 25, he started his career designing gowns for Sylvia Sidney in the James Cagney production of Blood on the Sun. As a result of his work on this film, Woulfe became the youngest gown designer to receive a screen credit.

Woulfe’s career progressed during the popular Hollywood film noir period, from the early 1940’s through the late 1950’s. He worked under contract for RKO Studios. For seven years, he served as head designer on well over 100 films. Working personally for Mr. Howard Hughes, Woulfe concentrated his efforts on designing the gowns to be worn by Hughes’ starlets, including Ava Gardner, Janet Leigh, Jean Simmons, Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe.

Woulfe was most proud of the gown he designed for Judy Garland’s movie premiere of A Star is Born in 1954. In the habit of borrowing clothes from her friends, Garland had borrowed a suit from Jean Simmons which she liked a lot yet didn’t know the name of the designer. Garland’s husband and also producer of A Star Is Born, Sid Luft, searched for the designer and located Woulfe. Woulfe was invited to the Garland-Luft home where he personally received Garland’s request to design her dress for the premiere. Although under contract with RKO at the time, he was given permission to work on this Warner Bros. film.

Woulfe’s most notable films include The Thing From Another World, The Locket, Two Tickets to Broadway, My Forbidden Past, Clash By Night, The French Line and Jet Pilot.

Throughout his career, he designed for actresses including Larraine Day, Barbara Stanwyck, Lizbeth Scott, Janet Leigh, Loretta Young, Claudette Colbert, Susan Hayward, Ida Lupino, Ann Blyth, Dame Judith Anderson, Ann Miller, Marilyn Monroe and Kim Novak, among others.

In addition to working in Hollywood, Woulfe designed costumes and gowns for the Las Vegas nightclub acts of Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Betty Hutton, Jane Russell, Debbie Reynolds and Joey Heatherton.

Michael Woulfe is survived by his good friend David Jervis in Los Angeles, nephew Charles Kaplan & Family of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and nephew Donald Sherman & Family of Pembroke Pines, Florida. A private memorial will be held for family and close friends.