A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD

Susan Claassen stars in her internationally acclaimed portrayal of legendary costume designer, Edith Head. A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD, based on EDITH HEAD'S HOLLYWOOD by Edith Head and Paddy Calistro, is a feast of delicious behind-the-scenes stories about Hollywood's greatest stars that provide an intimate portrait of Hollywood's legendary costume designer. In her six decades of costume design, Edith Head worked on over eleven hundred films; dressed the greatest stars of Hollywood; received 35 Academy Award® nominations and won an unprecedented eight Oscars®.

Hear Miss Head tell her own story, which is as fascinating as the history of the film industry itself. It is a story filled with humor, frustration and, above all, glamour. This diva of design helped to define glamour in the most glamorous place in the world -- Hollywood! Edith Head spent more than sixty years as a motion picture costume designer. Of those, forty-four years were spent at Paramount Studios. There she worked with the most famous actors of the time, from Mae West and Clara Bow to Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, and Bette Davis. When Paramount failed to renew her contract in 1967, Alfred Hitchcock stepped in and Ms. Head was invited to join Universal Studios. At Universal she costumed Robert Redford and Paul Newman in The Sting and won the first-ever Oscar® for a film without a female lead.

Her eight Academy Awards® celebrated her artistry in The Heiress (1950), Samson and Delilah (1951), All About Eve (1951), A Place in the Sun (1952), Roman Holiday (1954), Sabrina (1955), The Facts of Life (1961) and The Sting (1974). Edith Head died in October 1981, still under contract to Universal Studios, having just completed working on the Carl Reiner film, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid starring Steve Martin. Susan Claassen was inspired to write and star in the show while watching a television biography of Ms. Head. The petite, dark-haired actress immediately imagined herself playing Edith Head, "...a perfect fit," as Claassen describes it. "I discovered that not only do I bear a striking resemblance to Edith Head, but we share the same love for clothes and fashion," Claassen notes.

Much of the dialogue in A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD comes directly from the famed designer. When she was asked to write the authorized posthumous autobiography, Edith Head's Hollywood, Ms. Calistro acquired more than thirteen hours of recollections recorded by Edith Head, which she and Ms. Claassen painstakingly reviewed to gather the remarkable "Edithisms" - as Ms. Head referred to her own sayings - that abound in the show.

In addition, Claassen and Calistro collected insights from Hollywood insiders who knew Ms. Head best: costume designer Bob Mackie, who once worked as Ms. Head's sketch artist; her dear friend Edie Wasserman, wife of the late Universal Studio head Lew Wasserman; and Art Linkletter, award-winning host of "House Party", the daytime television show of the 1950s that brought Edith Head into the homes of America. Susan Claassen as Edith Head Photo Credit: Courtesy of A Conversation with Edith Head

Susan Claassen (Suz) is celebrating her 49th anniversary with Tucson's Invisible Theatre celebrating its 52nd Anniversary. As Managing Artistic Director, she has produced and directed over 600 productions. Suz was nominated for the 2011 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and Broadway World LA Award as Best Actress and most recently nominated for The San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle 43rd Annual Excellence in Theatre Awards for Best Solo Production and Best Production. for her portrayal of Edith Head. A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD premiered at the Invisible Theatre in 2002 in Tucson, Arizona and has played coast to coast with more than 700 performances. The production has toured internationally to Tbilisi in the Republic of Georgia; a "Sold Out" engagement at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Toronto and an acclaimed five-week run at the Leicester Square Theatre in London's West End. Suz has also been a clown in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade since 2001. She dedicates her performance to the vibrant memory of her beloved mother, Goldie.

EDITH HEAD (1897-1981) was undoubtedly Hollywood's most famous costume designer, or "magician," as she liked to call herself. Her career spanned fifty-eight years of movie making. In those years she dressed almost every major star who shone in the industry and, with her straight-cut bangs, dark glasses, and tailored suits as her trademarks, became more famous than most of them. Edith Head died in 1981 of a progressive and rare blood disease, myeloid metaplasia, two weeks after completing work on her last film, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. She left her estate to the Motion Picture and Television Fund and to other charitable organizations aiding Native American children and her beloved animals. Her funeral was attended by hundreds, including not only Hollywood's stars, but also her devoted colleagues

Others Details

Category: Arts | Performing Arts | Theatre