Spurr, Melbourne

Melbourne Spurr arrived in Hollywood around 1917 and worked for the noted photographer Fred Hartsook taking portraits of the early stars. Spurr photographed Mary Pickford while working at the Hartsook studio and so impressed her that she personally helped launch his career as a Hollywood portrait photographer. By the mid 1920s he was one of the premier celebrity portraitists in the world. By this time, though, the major movie studios were mandating that their stars could only be photographed by their own photographers. Spurr chose to keep his own studio, and was eventually shut out in favor of men like George Hurrell, Clarence Sinclair Bull, Eugene Robert Richee and others who worked for the big motion picture studios.Spurr shined in Hollywood for one glorious decade - the 'Roaring 20s' - but then moved on to photographing other notables like US presidents, artists, authors and dancers.