Sydney Gilarov - hair stylist of the Golden Era of Hollywood

We know a lot about famous actors and actresses. There is also information about costume designers. But we know nothing about make-up artists and hair stylists who worked with movie stars... Meanwhile, among them there is a man - a legend, to whom they owe their amazing images of Marilyn Monroe, Vivien Leigh, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich. His name is Sydney Guilaroff.

Although in Hollywood it was customary to call the legendary hairdresser “Russian,” in fact, Sidney Gilarov was born in London in 1906 into a family of Russian Jews who later moved to Winnipeg, Canada, where he spent his entire childhood.

In 1920, he left Canada for New York, where he knew no one and was even forced to sleep on benches in Central Park. His whole life changed the day he read an advertisement that a hair salon was looking for cleaners to sweep hair.

The owner saw young Sydney's interest in hairdressing and took him on as an apprentice. It turned out that the guy had talent, and already the sixteen-year-old boy had a huge clientele, and his fame as a hair stylist grew by leaps and bounds. Eventually, he was hired as a member of the famous Manhattan beauty salon Antoines.

There he created the famous bob hairstyle for actress Louise Brooks.

He later became a stylist for silent film stars such as Corinne Griffith, Miriam Hopkins and Claudette Colbert.

Colbert's rave reviews helped the hairdresser skyrocket in the New York theater world and attract the attention of many iconic clients such as Libby Holman, Ginger Rogers and Clare Booth Luce.

The actress who changed Gilarov's life was Joan Crawford. Her attention and persistence prompted the American film producer, one of the founders of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the initiator of the annual Oscar film award, Louis Bart Mayer, to take Gilarov to Hollywood in 1934.

Before each film, she traveled from California to New York to have Sydney do her hair, then photographed her from all angles and brought the photographs to the film studio hairdressers. Louis B. Mayer finally broke down and hired Guilaroff at MGM in the hair and makeup department in 1934, although his name did not appear in the credits until 1937. He continued to work at MGM for forty years, and eventually did hair for a huge number of films.

Gilarov's favorite clients were Marilyn Monroe, Vivien Leigh, Ava Gardner, Hedy Lamarr and Elizabeth Taylor. He worked with Garbo on the films “The Lady of the Camellias” and “Ninochka.”

He made Jean Harlow blonde

Sydney is the creator of stunning wigs and hairstyles for films such as Marie Antoinette,

Together with the costume designer, he researched the archives of costumes and wigs from the time of Marie Antoinette in Paris. The work required the creation of 2,000 court wigs (some with real birds in cages), 3,000 smaller wigs for additional needs, and a grand creation with feathers and jewels for Norma Shearer.

The hairstylist designed an updo on blonde hair that transitioned into twists and braids for Jamilla in Kismet (1944), played by Marlene Dietrich.

Vivien Leigh was dissatisfied with the work of the hair stylist on the film “Gone with the Wind” and David Selznick asked Gilarov to work with her in the film.

Sydney was connected with Marilyn Monroe not only by work, but also by friendship.

She called him on the night of her death, but half asleep, Gilarov only waved it off: “Marilyn, okay, but do you know what time it is?”

He was one of those who carried the coffin with her body...

Grace Kelly appreciated the work of the talented hairdresser so highly that she entrusted him with doing her wedding hairstyle. For her wedding with Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956, the master created a low bun and smoothly gathered hair for Grace, which was covered with a veil and a lace headband.

Sidney Gilarov died at the age of ninety, having lived a vibrant life in which he could fully realize himself as an artist. And it would be nice for us to know his name.