This is the last TGIF image that Ryoko Hotani will work on - Ryoko is moving on to work in graphic design. She has been a vaulable asset to Women for the last three years. I will miss her, and wish her well in her next adventure in graphic design.
For her final TGIF, I asked Ryoko to choose her favorite image shes seen while working at Women. She chose this image of Isabeli Fontana from the fall 2005 issue of Another Magazine, taken by Horst Diekgerdes.
Tierney was born Gene Eliza Tierney in Brooklyn, New York. Tierney attended St. Margaret's School in Waterbury, Connecticut and the Unquowa School in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Her first poem, titled "Night," was published in the school magazine, and writing verse became an occasional pastime during the rest of her life. She then spent two years in Europe and attended the Brillantmont finishing school in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she learned to speak fluent French.
Tierney returned to the U.S. in 1938 and attended Miss Porter's School. On a trip to the West Coast, she visited Warner Bros. studios. Anatole Litvak, who was so taken by her beauty, told her that she should become an actress. Warner Bros. wanted to sign her to a contract, but her parents advised against it because of the low salary.
Tierney's coming-out party as a debutante occurred on September 24, 1938, when she was 17 years old. She was bored with society life and decided to pursue a career in acting. Her father felt "If Gene is to be an actress, it should be in the legitimate theatre.". Tierney auditioned for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and was accepted.
In "Laura", New York police detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigates the murder of a beautiful advertising director named Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). He interviews acerbic newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), who relates how he met Laura. Lydecker became her mentor and used his considerable influence and fame to advance her career. McPherson also questions Laura's fiancé, Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), her wealthy aunt, Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson), and Laura's loyal housekeeper, Bessie Clary (Dorothy Adams).
Through the testimony of her friends and the reading of her letters, McPherson comes to know Laura and slowly falls in love with her. He becomes obsessed -- using the excuse of trying to solve the murder, he hangs around her apartment and is at one point accused by Lydecker of falling in love with a dead woman.
'Laura' is hardly just a murder mystery; it's a meditation on the brute force of a beautiful face.
