Twiggy

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Thanks Korravai

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Compcard from 1965

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Compcard from 1965

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you're welcome! I was about to save the photos that will be gone when imageshadow disappears....but I'm overwhelmed!

[CarMELita]

Twiggy by bert stern for Vogue 1967

source: flickr, agent lee

[karas]

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HELLO!, September 8th, 2005

Fresh from judging 'America's Next Top Model' Twiggy tells the secrets of her success.

"If you sleep with the director, you get to play the lead!" says Twiggy, opening her famously large eyes even wider. Her voice is gravelly, her throaty laugh infectious. The director, it should be said, is her husband Leigh Lawson, and the part is the Good Fairy in Jack And The Beanstalk.

It's a good joke. But while this production will be played out on the stage of the Theatre Royal Brighton, this Christmas, Twiggy will also soon be appearing to much larger TV audiences as one of the judges on the US reality TV show America's Next Top Model.

It is over four decades since the world was introduced to the person who would go on to become a Sixties icon. The story begins in Neasden, a North London suburb, where Twiggy was born Lesley Hornby. "I had a happy childhood. We weren't madly rich but I always had what I wanted. I was the youngest daughter of three, so I was absolutely spoilt to death, which was wonderful," she told HELLO! during our photo shoot in the sumptuous Lady Astor suite at stately home Cliveden.

We continued our chat the next day in the drawing room of her west London flat. The room is large and unmistakably her. The furnishings are oddly eccentric; deep and comfortable sofas, a Buddha on the chimneypiece, dozens of photos on top of the grand piano, of her with the stars of stage and screen - "I'm as star-struck as anyone else!" she laughs.

It all began at the age of 16, when a Saturday job in a hairdressing salon led to Twiggy being "discovered". Her boyish haircut, wide-eyed expression and androgynous figure led to her becoming perhaps the first big-name model. She became a household name virtually overnight, the "Face Of the Sixties" on both sides of the Atlantic.

But after just four years, Twiggy wanted more and reinvented herself as an actress with her starring role in Ken Russell's film The Boy Friend. The theatre followed, as did marriage to American actor Michael Whitney, with whom she had a daughter, Carly. By now Broadway had taken the fragile-looking English actress under its wing and she was a big hit in the musical My One And Only. Since then, she has worked in film, theatre, music and off and on her first love fashion. Now after nearly four decades she is back in that world, not as a model but as a judge on America's Next Top Model, the fifth in the highly successful series.

Twiggy, you have recently returned from LA, when you were filming America's Next Top Model. Tell us about that.

"I'm one of three, sometimes four judges. The main judge is Tyra Banks who devised the show. The contestants have to be over 18, and we start off with 13 girls and eliminate one a week, down to the eventual winner.

"It was really good fun, rather touching too that some of these girls have never been out of their home towns in middle America, let alone visited California."

You were only 16 when you started your modelling career. How different a life do you think the lucky winner will have compared to the one you had?

"You couldn't have planned what happened to me. I was lucky being photographed by the right people, starting with Barry Lategan, who launched me when I was still a schoolgirl. Six months later I was in Paris, and within a year I was in New York. There was certainly no competition in my age group."

Do you think the pressures greater today? And the rewards?

"It is a huge multi-million industry today, and where that sort of money is involved, the girls can be exploited. The biggest worry is that they are so young. Although the Sixties were considered a wild time, it was much gentler than today.

"The best advice to anyone starting out is to make sure you go to a reputable modelling agency. It is a wonderful career and a girl can make a lot of money, even in a competitive world. I was incredibly lucky, as I was in London in the Swinging Sixties when they suddenly needed young models. I was there at exactly the right place at just the right time."

You have had a multi-facted career - model, clothes designer, singer and actress on both stage and screen. Was that always your plan?

"My plan at 16, as much as you have a plan, was to be a fashion designer. I was obsessed by clothes. I don't think I would have tried to be a model as I was so shy and hated what I looked like. I planned to go to art school."

Do you think being such a famous model helped or hindered your career as an actress?

"A bit of both. Obviously the modelling made me world famous which naturally helped, especially in America, where they love success. If I hadn't been a model, I wouldn't have met Ken Russell and I wouldn't have been cast in The Boy Friend. It changed my life.

How did you cope with the fame particularly in the US, where you were greeted, like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, with mass hysteria?

"I was pretty, grounded, but when I look back and see the old footage of the time, I think could have flipped very easily. That I didn't is probably because of my mum and dad. My dad was from Bolton, a sensible, northern lad. We were really close and my mum was really sweet.

You have two Golden Globes and a Tony nomination for acting. Which production do you consider your best - or is it still to come?

"I hope it's to come! The one I'm most proudest of is My One And Only. I never thought that I would ever be able to get on a stage, but not only did I get on that stage, it was a big hit show.

"My opening night I was so frightened. I remember coming down the steps at the beginning, then the applause at the end of, but I don't remember anything in between! When it was over, I came running down the stairs on such adrenaline, amazed I had lived through it. Then this person picked me up, hugged me, and said 'You were wonderful, wonderful'. It was Lauren Bacall! She is a true star. She started as a model.

"They are wonderful in America if they like you. Every night there would be a knock on your door and there would be Ginger Rogers, the next night, Douglas Fairbanks the next night Al Pacino, and so on."

What has been the lowest point of your career?

"I've been very lucky, but then, I'm pretty choosy with what I do. Not everything has been successful, but I don't see that as a low point because you learn from everything.

On a personal note, you had a difficult time with your first husband, Michael Whitney, who had alcohol problems. You split up when your daughter was just four. How did you cope?

"It was tough, and I grew up a lot. There were happy times, obviously, and I would not have had my gorgeous daughter if we hadn't got married.

"There is always something good that comes out of everything. All through the worst times I had to look after Carly. Suddenly, it's not just about you on your own anymore. I had this little girl who was my number one priority.

"I was lucky. My One And Only had just finished and I came back to London. Then I met Leigh."

Are you a close family?

"Sure. We try to do at least one family dinner a week. It makes me sad when you hear about families who never sit round the dinner table anymore, as that's when you talk about things. I think it is really important. We are very lucky as our kids get on really well together."

Can you tell me about Carly?

"She is my best production! She's in her 20s and is an animator. She shares a flat with her stepbrother Jason, a theatre director, who I was so incredibly lucky to inherit as a stepson. I'm very proud of Carly as she is very talented. I think it is hard when the child of someone well known goes into the same profession, as there is always going to be a comparison, good or bad, that's just the nature of the beast. But Carly is a wonderful animator, something I could never do in ten million years. It's her world."

At 16 you became the face of your generation. Do you think you can do the same for your age-group today?

"I was asked by the charity Age Concern to back one of their campaigns to stress that once you are over 50 you are not washed up. There is a lot of life in us guys yet. They say 50 is the new 40 and 40 is the new 30. I was happy to back it.

"I believe that there is a lot of discrimination in the work place when they don't hire older people because of their age. It's ridiculous as they have that great backlog of experience."

What else is on the cards workwise?

"I play Kate's mother in a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's Taming Of The Shrew coming out on the BBC this autumn. It is a very classy production. Then there is the licensing deal in Japan, Twiggy boutique, selling Sixties-style clothes for teenagers."

You were photographed at Cliveden with two greyhounds. Why?

"I am an animal lover, as most Brits are. I had taken our cat to the vet about a year ago and picked up this flyer about two greyhounds that needed a home. It had the caption: "Gracie and Joe can't think what they have done wrong". It broke my heart. After greyhounds have finished their racing life, they frequently just get dumped. But thank God for the Retired Greyhound Trust who rehome around 3000 dogs a year. Gracie and Joe were rescued and now live in a lovely place in Suffolk and I am patron of the Kent branch of the trust."

Pictures: Brian Aris.

Interview: Nicholas Courtney.

[karas]

Daily Express, Saturday February 19th, 2004

Why Fifty's So Nifty

It's THE age to be says gorgeous Twiggy

She will always be remembered as the waifish teenage model whose fresh-faced look epitomised the Swinging Sixties.

And 40 years on Twiggy is again using her image to champion her generation.

At 55, she has become the face of charitty Age Concern and is determined to prove the over-50s are young at heart.

The original supermodel - who partied with the Beatles and was a seasoned globetrotter by 20- said she wanted everyone to realise that “people over 50 are not dead and gone” but are “raring to go”.

Twiggy - whose real name is Lesley Lawson - shot from obscurity to international fame after being spotted working in her local hair salon. She was even named of Face 1966 by the Daily Express.

After modelling she moved into acting and has enjoyed a successful if quiet career on the screen.

But she has remained determined not to allow her advancing age to diminish her lust for life.

Speaking on Parkinson - to be screened on ITV1 at 10.15pm tonight — she said:

“People over 50 aren’t dead and gone mate. We’ve got a lot of life.”

She told presenter Michael Parkinson she felt the young tended to write off older people when they still had so much to give.

“There’s a lot of people who lose their jobs who are still ready to continue and are still very bright, and could add a lot to an organisation with their knowledge,” she said. “Fifty’s the new 40.”

Twiggy — whose good looks have not faded - also lashed out at plastic surgery.

Insisting she had not gone under the knife, she said people were far too wiling to subject themselves to dangerous procedures in the quest for everlasting beauty.

“It’s absolutely terrifying. It’s becoming an epidemic. We’re going to have a group of people who don’t look young but don’t look old. It’s peculiar,” she said.

Picture: Brian Aris.

Interview: Martin Evans.

[karas]

Daily Sketch - March 9th, 1967

Dear Twiggy . . . writes Philip

Daily Sketch - 09/03/67

PRINCE PHILIP has written to Twiggy about the problem of her passport to America.

The 17-year-old model plans to visit the U.S. later this month to boost clothes made by her new company.

But passport officials told her she could not work outside Britain without a special license. So Twiggy wrote to the Duke asking if he could help. She posted the letter to try to catch Prince Philip at Singapore, on his Far Eastern trip. And he replied from Government House in Canberra, Australia.

The typewritten letter begins with "Dear Twiggy” in the Dukes handwriting.

It adds: "I am sorry to say’ that I have no influence whatever with the Foreign Office or with Mr. Brown (the Foreign Secretary).

“I am sending your letter to Lord Watkinson, who is chairman of the Committee for Exports to the United States of America.

“He may he able to help, if not you might like to consider taking it up with a newspaper such as the

Daily Mirror.

"Yours sincerely. Philip.”

Twiggy had already done just that. But it was the Daily Sketch, not the Daily Mirror, which helped her unravel the problems of getting a passport.

On Monday she appeared before a magistrate at Bow-street court, London. and walked out with her license. She will get her passport today.

Twiggy said last night: “I am knocked out that Prince Philip should personally reply to me. I think he is just great.”

Dear Prince Philip,

I read your speech about importance of exports. I am a model and I recently launched a new company manufacturing clothes. I have been asked to go to America to publicise these clothes and have been told by leading American stores that with my personal appearances they would place orders of one million dollars.

But the passport office refuses to renew my passport for this trip.

PLEASE CAN YOU HELP ME?

Twiggy

Dear Twiggy,

I am sorry to say that I have no influence whatever with the Foreign Office or with Mr Brown who is currently responsible for the issue of passports.

Although I imagine there must be some reason for the passport office to refuse to renew your passport. I am sending your letter to Lord Watkinson who is Chairman of the Committee for Exports to the United States of America. He may be able to help. If not you might like to consider taking it up with a newspaper such as the Daily Mirror.

Yours Sincerely

Philip

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[CarMELita]

Oh, my

Thanks a lot, Karas!! A lot of them were new to me!! And the articles were interesting to read!