Phil Berry (fl. Mid 20th Century)
[Piper Laurie, Tennis Player Couple]
American: c. 1950s
Signed lower left: Phil Berry
Inscribed verso: "[P]iper Laurie"
Goauche on board
15.25 x 11.25 inches, image excluding blank text section right margin
20 x 17.5 inches, overall
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Piper Laurie, Tennis Player Couple
Original Illustration Art by Phil Berry
Original Illustration Art by Phil Berry
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Illustration of a young man and a woman identified on the back as the actress Piper Laurie, dressed for tennis and holding racquets against a simple background rendered in pastel shades of lavender and pink. She leans flirtatiously against the man's shoulder. The placement of a white rectangle at their right suggests that this may have been an advertising or magazine illustration, with the rectangle left open for the text.
Piper Laurie began her career at Universal Studios, where the studio cultivated an image for her that was part all-American California girl, part glamorous beauty, courted by Hollywood's leading men. A profile appearing in the fan magazine Photoplay 1952 presents her in this manner, and also notes, "Today swimming is her favorite sport, and playing tennis is second." It may be presumed that this illustration was calculated to further that image.
Born Rosetta Jacobs in 1932, Piper Laurie was signed as a contract player by Universal Studios in 1950. After seven years she tired of the ingenue roles she relocated to New York where she studied acting and worked frequently in live television. In 1961, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the Paul Newman movie, The Hustler. She married and took a hiatus from acting, returning with another Oscar-nominated role in Carrie (1976). She has worked regularly in movies, television series and made-for-TV movies since then, including the film Children of a Lesser God (for which she was also nominated for an Oscar), and the series St. Elsewhere, Matlock, Murder She Wrote, Twin Peaks and Frasier. She won an Emmy in 1986 for her role in the TV movie Promise.
Phil Berry was an illustrator and cartoonist based in New York City and a member of the Society of Illustrators. His known works for the theatre and movies generally portray the actors in romantic settings or poses, and are characterized by bright colors and a straightforward illustrational style.
References:
"Biography for Piper Laurie." Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001453/bio (25 January 2007).
Falk, Peter Hastings, ed. Who Was Who in American Art. Madison, Connecticut: Sound View Press, 1985. p. 51.
Riley, Vicky. "Piper calls the tune." Originally in Photoplay Magazine. September 1952. Online at http://www.open.org/glennab/plphotoplaymagartsept1952.htm (25 January 2007).