Adorable Story #129: Cecil Beaton - Part 2
A Life in Portraits
“One’s life and personality are defined not only by friends, but even more by enemies.”
— Cecil Beaton, The Years Between: Diaries 1939–44 (1965).
Cecil Beaton was more than a photographer: he was a diarist, designer, and chronicler of personalities who shaped art, fashion, and history. His career stretched from the pages of Vogue to the stages of Broadway and Hollywood, and from intimate portraits to grand official commissions.
Along the way, while capturing a dazzling cast of characters, Cecil Beaton became the photographer and tastemaker of an era spanning at least four decades.
[This is Part 2 of the Adorable Story #129. Part 1 can be found here].
Table of Contents:
Part 1: Beginnings in Hampstead / Education and Early Experiments / The First Clients and the First Studio / Rise of a Fashion Photographer / The Camera and the Crown / WWII
Part 2: Stage and Screen Designer / Writing and Diaries / Personal Life / Garbo / Reputation and Personality / Later Years
If you aren’t subscribed yet, hit the subscribe button below to receive the Adorable Stories every weekend, directly in your inbox:
Stage and Screen Designer
Photography was only a part of Cecil Beaton’s professional empire. He had a deep love of theatre and design and his sets and costumes for stage and screen earned him international acclaim.
He designed for Broadway productions such as Quadrille (1952) and Kiss Me, Kate.
His crowning triumph was designing costumes and scenery for My Fair Lady (1956). The Ascot scene’s restrained black and white palette remains legendary.
He repeated the feat in Hollywood with the film version of My Fair Lady (1964), starring Audrey Hepburn. This won him Academy Awards for both Costume Design and Art Direction.
In 1958, his designs for Gigi earned him another Oscar for Costume Design.
If photography gave Beaton instant impact, theatre and film created a lasting cultural legacy.
Writing and Diaries
Words mattered as much as images to Beaton. He published numerous books of photographs, including The Book of Beauty (1930), Portrait of New York (1938), and Royal Portraits (1963).
Perhaps most significant, though, are his diaries, published in six volumes from the 1960s onward. These provide candid reflections on his contemporaries: blunt, witty, and occasionally cruel.
