LOS ANGELES (Oct. 20) - Before there was Tim Gunn and all of the modern day fashion critics out there, there was Mr. Blackwell, whose annual list surgically and colorfully picked apart the apparel of celebrities. Sadly, the fashion outlaw with a sharp tongue has passed away at the age of 86.
Blackwell, whose first name was Richard, was a little-knowndress designer when he issued his first tongue-in-cheek criticismof Hollywood fashion disasters for 1960 - long before Joan Riversand others turned such ridicule into a daily affair.
Frank Mundus, Sept. 10: The shark hunter spent decades hunting the deadliest creatures of the sea. He served as an inspiration for Captain Quint in Peter Benchley's novel 'Jaws,' a character which was brought to life on the big screen with Robert Shaw. Mundus suffered a fatal heart attack at 82.
James Marshall, Corbis
Anita Page, Sept. 6: Her intoxicating presence in 1920s Hollywood helped smoothen the transition from silent movies to talkies. Page, seen in her youth and again in 2003, starred in the "Our Dancing Daughters" trilogy with Joan Crawford and also shared the screen Lon Chaney and Buster Keaton. She was 98.
AP / Getty Images
Don LaFontaine, Sept. 1: In a world where hundreds of movie trailers are produced every year, the one voice likely heard on dozens of them belonged to the legendary LaFontaine. He died following complications resulting from a collapsed lung at age 68.
Damian Dovarganes, AP
Fred Crane, Aug. 21: Armed with that deep Southern accent, Crane scored the bit part of a lifetime in 'Gone With the Wind' as Stuart Tarleton, seated to the right of Vivien Leigh, delivering the opening line of the 1939 classic. Crane, who was the last living male actor to have been featured in the film, died at age 90.
New Line Cinema / AP
Julius Carry III, Aug. 19: Despite a busy career over 25 years, Carry is best known for his intentionally campy role as Sho'nuff in the cult classic 'The Last Dragon.' Serving both as an answer and as a moniker, Sho'nuff was the Shogun of Harlem in the urban kung fu parody. He died at 56.
YouTube
Evelyn Keyes, July 4: She played Scarlett O'Hara's little sister in 'Gone With the Wind' and was married to entertainment legends Artie Shaw, King Vidor and John Huston. Keyes succumbed to uterine cancer at her home in Montecito, Calif. She was 91.
Kevork Djansezian, AP
Cyd Charisse, June 17: The actress-dancer who had iconic roles in 'Singin' in the Rain' and 'The Band Wagon' died after suffering a heart attack at the age of 86.
Baron, Getty Images
Stan Winston, June 15: Winston's pioneering special effects work on 'Jurassic Park,' the 'Terminator' films and 'Aliens' wowed audiences around the world. He lost his seven-year battle with multiple myeloma at age 62.
Kevin Winter, Getty Images
Bob Anderson, June 6: The son of movie makers, who got his start in Shirley Temple's 'Young People' before landing his best known role as a young George Bailey in 'It's A Wonderful Life,' died of cancer at his home in Palm Springs.
Cumberland House / AP
Mel Ferrer, June 2: Ferrer, who was once married to Audrey Hepburn, wore many hats, including actor, director and producer. He died at his home in Santa Barbara, surrounded by family, at the age of 90.
Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Year after year, he would take Hollywood's reigning stars andother celebrities to task for failing to dress in what he thoughtwas the way they should.
Being dowdy was bad enough, but the more outrageous clothing awoman wore, the more biting his criticism. He once said a reigningMiss America looked "like an armadillo with cornpads."
A few other examples:
Madonna: "The Bare-Bottomed Bore of Babylon."
Barbra Streisand: "She looks like a masculine Bride ofFrankenstein."
Christina Aguilera: "A dazzling singer who puts good tastethrough the wardrobe wringer."
Meryl Streep: "She looks like a gypsy abandoned by a caravan."
Patti Davis: "Packs all the glamour of an old, worn-outsneaker."
Ann Margret: "A Hells Angel escapee who invaded the ZiegfeldFollies on a rainy night."
Camilla Parker-Bowles: "The Duchess of Dowdy."
Bjork: "She dances in the dark - and dresses there, too."
Spears: "Her bra-topped collection of Madonna rejects are purefashion overkill."
The critic acknowledged he had mixed feelings about appearing sopublicly mean. Most of the women he put through the wringer, hesaid, were people he genuinely admired for their talent if nottheir fashion sense.
"The list is and was a satirical look at the fashion flops ofthe year," he said in 1998. "I merely said out loud what otherswere whispering. ... It's not my intention to hurt the feelings ofthese people. It's to put down the clothing they're wearing."
He told the Los Angeles Times in 1968 that designers wereforgetting that their job "is to dress and enhance women.
Maybe I should have named the 10 worst designers instead of blamingthe women who wear their clothes."
Surprisingly, the woman who topped his worst dressed list for1982 (announced in early 1983) was the newly married Diana,Princess of Wales. He said she had gone from "a very young,independent, fresh look" to a "tacky, dowdy" style. She quicklyregained her footing and wound up as a regular on Blackwell'sfavorites list, the "fabulous fashion independents."
Blackwell had started out as an actor himself, having beenspotted by a talent agent while still in his teens. He landed a jobas an understudy in the Broadway production of Sidney Kingsley'sheralded drama "Dead End."
Although he got to the play the role of the Dead End Kids'leader on stage only one time, it led him to Hollywood where helanded bit parts in such films as "Little Tough Guy" (uncredited)and "Juvenile Hall" (as Dick Selzer).
He abandoned his acting career in 1958 after failing to make itin movies and switched to fashion design. He claimed to be thefirst to make designer jeans for women, and his salon had begun toattract a few Hollywood names when he issued his first listcovering the fashion faux pas of 1960. (Italian star Anna Magnaniand Gabor were among his early victims.)
It quickly brought him the celebrity he had long coveted, and hequickly became a favorite on the TV talk show circuit. He alsobecame for a time, in his words, "The worst bitch in the world."
He hosted his own show, "Mr. Blackwell Presents," in 1968 andappeared as himself in such TV shows as "Matlock" and "MattHouston."
In 1992, he sued Johnny Carson for claiming that he had addedMother Teresa to his list, saying the comment exposed him to hatredand ridicule. NBC's response was that the "Tonight Show" host wasobviously joking.
"Did you see what he said about Mother Teresa? 'Miss Nerdy Nunis a fashion no-no,"' Carson had said. "Come on now, that's justtoo much."
During his heyday the issuing of Blackwell's annual list was aneagerly anticipated media event.
On the second Tuesday in January he would assemble reporters athis mansion for a lavish breakfast before making a dramaticentrance for the television cameras.
By the turning of the millennium, however, the list had lost itsjuice and Blackwell took to issuing it by e-mail.
Born Richard Sylvan Selzer in 1922, Blackwell recounted in hisautobiography, "From Rags to Bitches," a troubled, poverty-riddenchildhood in which he was variously a truant, thief and prostitute.
2008 AOL LLC. All Rights Reserved. // Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. // Copyright 2008, Reuters
