The distinction of dressing Joan Crawford for her Oscar-winning performance in Mildred Pierce went to Milo Anderson. It was an uphill battle for both designer and star from the start.
After a number of actresses, including Barbara Stanwyck, Ann Sheridan, and Olivia de Havilland, were considered for the lead in Mildred Pierce (1945), director Michael Curtiz reluctantly allowed Joan Crawford to test for the role. Crawford was coming off a string of flops at MGM. But that was not all that annoyed Curtiz. “She comes over here with her high-hat airs and her goddamn shoulder pads,” Curtiz said. “Why should I waste my time directing a has-been?” Crawford’s famed padded shoulder-look originated with MGM designer Adrian.
Aware of Curtiz’s dislike for padded shoulders, Crawford wore a simple dress to the tryout that she bought at Sears, Roebuck and Company. During the test, Curtiz approached Crawford. As Crawford recalled, “He said, ‘I hate you,’ He tore the dress off me. Thank God I had a bra on. He said, ‘My God, they’re hers!’ Not these,” Crawford said pointing to her breasts. “These!” She pointed to her shoulders. “He was so embarrassed, he walked off the stage.” When Curtiz subsequently watched the screen test, Crawford’s performance won him over.
Throughout production, designer Milo Anderson found himself caught between Curtiz’s hostility to Adrian’s image of Crawford and the actress’s desire to hold on to her signature MGM image. Although Crawford’s character sported plain gingham dresses during the early part of the story, Anderson sneaked in toned-down shoulder-padded suits as the Mildred character became a successful businesswoman. Mildred Pierce earned six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but only Crawford brought home the statuette.
Anderson’s ascent as a designer was phenomenal. As a teenager, he completed the wardrobe for The Greeks Had a Word for Them (1932) when Adrian was not available to take over for Coco Chanel. Yet he was anything but a Hollywood insider. He was born Milo Leon Anderson on May 9, 1910, in Chicago, to butcher Alfred Anderson and his wife, Augusta. The Andersons moved to Hollywood when Milo was eight. While taking a course on set design during his freshman year in high school, Anderson realized that his true interest lay in costume design. Rather than risking the humiliation of taking the costume design course, which was regarded as a class for girls, Anderson began studying costume design informally on his own. For the school play The Admirable Chrichton (featuring future star Sally Eilers), Anderson designed both sets and costumes. Through his sophomore and junior years, Anderson continued his independent costume design education by studying at the library. He got a summer job working in an art and interior shop owned by opera singer Alice Gentle. When Gentle was engaged to tour in Carmen, she had Anderson design her stage costumes.
Milo Anderson
Anderson’s first encounter with the Hollywood film industry had nothing to do with costume design. He had a high-school boyfriend, who also caught the eye of MGM designer Adrian. The young man ultimately preferred Anderson’s affections, which did nothing to endear Adrian to Anderson. Nonetheless, when Coco Chanel’s arrangement with Samuel Goldwyn began to unravel during The Greeks Had a Word for Them, and MGM refused to allow Adrian to finish the movie, Adrian recommended Anderson to Goldwyn as a joke. Though he likely expected the inexperienced Anderson to fail, the joke was ultimately on Adrian. Goldwyn took his recommendation, and the young man and his sketches, seriously. At seventeen, Anderson finished The Greeks Had a Word for Them and then designed all the costumes for Eddie Cantor in The Kid from Spain (1932). Anderson’s first foray into dressmaking so impressed Goldwyn that he offered Anderson a two-year contract and screen credit. Anderson dropped out of high school and permanently entered the working world.
Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce (1945).
Anderson designed for Crawford in Rain (1932), and Mary Pickford in Secrets (1933), though credited to Adrian, before moving to Warner Bros. Working at Warner alongside Orry-Kelly, who was known for his histrionics and acerbic demeanor, Anderson developed a reputation for being dependable and likeable. Some of his greatest successes at Warner Bros. included gowns for Olivia de Havilland in Captain Blood (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), and The Great Garrick (1937).
Doris Day in Romance on the High Seas (1948).
A Milo Anderson design for Ida Lupino.
Anderson left Warner Bros. in 1952 because he believed the studio was no longer willing to spend as much capital on wardrobe as his creations required. “I’d have a meeting with the producer, who’d tell me we couldn’t afford to make a dress for a certain scene, that we should get something out of stock and change the collar,” Anderson said. He resented the lower costume budgets and the speed with which films were beginning to be made, according to Chierichetti. “He only stayed on because of Jane Wyman—he adored her. In 1958, the studio offered him Auntie Mame, but he wouldn’t even come back for that. He felt the glamour was gone from the movies and he didn’t want any part of it from then on.”
In his later years, Anderson became a successful interior decorator in Los Angeles and taught at the Sacramento Art Centre. He died on November 3, 1984, at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital of complications related to emphysema, at the age of seventy-four.