Orry George Kelly was born on December 12, 1897, at Kiama.
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His birth certificate states, he was delivered by Dr T P Anderson and his parents – William and Florence – were married on Valentines Day at Parramatta in 1894.
His father, William, came from Peel on the Isle of Man, which is thought to have provided the inspiration for his name, for it was the home to a King Orry.
On the Isle of Man today, there is an Orry Street, an Orry Lane and a steamer called ‘The Orry’.
His mother, Florence, was born at Parramatta.
As a young boy, he was often called John, although it is not known why. His friends reportedly called him Jack, but his mother always called him Orry.
Orry left Kiama and moved to Sydney where he became an apprentice tailor. He also studied art and dressed windows for David Jones.
In 1923, Orry sailed to Paris to study art, and from there he went to Broadway in New York.
There, he started painting murals for silent movies. It was on Broadway where he also began designing costumes for theatre.
In New York, Orry shared an apartment with Archibald Leach, who later changed his name to Cary Grant.
In 1932, Orry made the move to Hollywood. It was while he was there, he dropped his middle name – George – and hyphenated the Orry and Kelly.
He began working for Warner Bros, after Cary Grant showed them some of his sketches. He was signed up for US $200 a week for five years. By 1941 he was earning $750 a week. In 1942, he was drafted to the US Army, but was later discharged for drinking.
Orry stayed with Warner Bros for 11 years. In 1950 he went freelance and worked for Fox, Warner Bros, MGM and United Artists.
He dressed the famous Bette Davis for 21 years.
Until 2014, Orry Kelly was the only Australian to have won three Academy Awards. He won costume awards for An American In Paris (1951), Les Girls (1957) and Some Like It Hot (1959).
All together, he designed costumes for 280 films.
Orry Kelly died from liver cancer on February 26, 1964.
It is said he also died from a broken heart, as he was devastated when he was not chosen to design the costumes for My Fair Lady.
However, he had become unreliable due to his excessive drinking and extravagant design expenses.
His funeral was attended by such celebrities as Cary Grant, Tony Curtis and Katherine Hepburn.
Orry is buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in LA, where a slew of famous celebrities are also buried.
Prior to his death, he commissioned Whitney Stine to ghost write his biography, which he wanted made into a movie. However, Cary Grant supposedly took out an injunction to have it stopped.
The documentary Women I’ve undressed premiered at the Sydney Film Festival in 2015 and is based on an unpublished tell-all memoir written by Orry himself, before his death.
The film was screened aboard a cruise liner in Sydney Harbour.
An exhibition on Orry-Kelly is currently on display at the Kiama Pilot’s Cottage Museum.