She did the film to please Arthur Miller, yet he was having an affair – this made poor Marilyn very unhappy.” Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and Ben Hur (1959) were among Guilaroff’s favourites of the films he worked on. “I did them all – I think my favourites were Clark Gable, Tyrone Power and Robert Taylor.”Guilaroff styled the hair of Marilyn Monroe for her first important screen- test, and was her friend and confidant throughout the rest of her life He worked on her last film, The Misfits (1961) “She was wonderful in that. The matter was resolved when it was agreed that Guilaroff could prepare the actress privately in the early mornings but was not allowed to set foot in Pinewood Studios.Audrey Totter, who had one of her finest roles as leading lady in Robert Montgomery’s Lady in the Lake (1946) credits Guilaroff for his contribution to her portrayal. Guilaroff also gave Lucille Ball her celebrated golden red hairdo for Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and worked too on men’s hair.

“Bob told the legendary hair stylist, “I want something unusual for Audrey”, and he got it in a succession of pretzel-twist upsweeps that gave my character the proper smart, taut look”. “She was simply stunning, a great actress underrated because of her incredible beauty. Of all the stars I’ve ever met, she was the most natural and down-to-earth.” Elizabeth Taylor, another beauty who became a friend, was so insistent that Guilaroff do her hair in Cleopatra, to be filmed in England, that she was ready to pull out of the film when the British unions opposed the plan. Many years later he styled Dietrich’s hair for her famed cabaret appearances, and spent some time in Europe with her. “She was such fun – I remember the press went crazy because Marlene and I got kicked out of a gambling casino in Monte Carlo.

She was wearing this really daring skin-tight black leather outfit, and in those days the casino would not let any woman in that did not wear a gown.” Guilaroff later designed for Dietrich the dark wig she wears in Welles’s Touch of Evil (1958).He solved the problems of keeping the hair of the swimming star Esther Williams beautifully coiffeured both in and out of the pool by applying a touch of Vaseline.His many films with Ava Gardner included Pandora and the Flying Dutchman and Show Boat “I miss Ava the most,” he stated recently. Vivien Leigh, unhappy with the work done by the producer David Selznick’s crew on Gone with the Wind, arranged for Guilaroff to work on her hairstyles, though he received no screen credit. “I helped her in my own time, and designed hairdos to go with her numerous costume changes.” In 1943, when Selznick’s protegee Ingrid Bergman was about to star in For Whom the Bell Tolls at Paramount, Selznick insisted that Guilaroff be allowed to cut her hair for the role – the resultant “bubble cut” created a world-wide craze and was copied by millions of women.The following year Guilaroff created one of his favourite hairstyles for Marlene Dietrich in Kismet (1944), giving her blonde hair piled high then twisted and braided for spectacular effect. Never having worked with both ladies at once, Guilaroff solved the dilemma by giving Crawford a curly permanent, leaving more time to work with Shearer. Crawford said tartly afterwards: “Norma wore her usual `classic simplicity’ do, which took two hours to achieve each morning.” Rosalind Russell added, “I was also supposed to have access to Sydney, but he got rid of that by having me wear a hat throughout the picture At the time I thought it was a divine idea.

When I saw the film I realised I was sloughed off.”By now Guilaroff was head of Metro’s hair department and in demand by all the top stars. Of all the work I’ve ever done my best and most challenging work was found in that film.”The following year Guilaroff’s diplomacy was tested when he worked with both Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford (plus an all-female cast) in The Women. Guilaroff was to style Garbo’s hair for her subsequent films, including her final movie, Two-Faced Woman (1941).Guilaroff’s own favourite film was the sumptuous Marie Antoinette (1938). “The designer Adrian and I went to Paris to study and research the fashion and hairstyles of Marie Antoinette’s time.

Guilaroff’s first film with Garbo was Camille (1936) (“I had been on the Metro lot for nearly six months without meeting Garbo, which was distressing to me. Then Crawford recommended me to her and I was called to her dressing room to discuss styling ideas for Camille”). He was dedicated to making fine films, but he could be cruel. I thought his eventual treatment of Garbo and Joan Crawford was abominable.”One of Guilaroff’s first tasks was to devise suitable wigs for Jean Harlow, who was rapidly going bald due to years of weekly bleaching.