View source for Cecil Beaton

{{Short description|British photographer and designer (1904–1980)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Cecil Beaton
| honorific_prefix   = [[Knight Bachelor|Sir]]
| honorific_suffix   = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}}
| image              = Sir Cecil Beaton, 1928 studio portrait (by Lafayette) – National Portrait Gallery (unframed).jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = Beaton in 1928
| birth_name         = Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1904|1|14|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Hampstead]], London
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1980|1|18|1904|1|14|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Reddish House]], [[Broad Chalke]], [[Wiltshire]], England
| death_cause        = 
| resting_place      = [[Broad Chalke#Parish church|All Saints' church graveyard]], Broad Chalke, Wiltshire, England
| occupation         = {{hlist|Photographer|interior designer|socialite|writer|costume designer}}
| education          = [[Heath Mount School]]<br/>[[St Cyprian's School]]<br/>[[Harrow School]]<br/>[[St John's College, Cambridge]]
| relatives          = [[Baba Beaton]] (sister)<br/>[[Nancy Beaton]] (sister)
}}
'''Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, [[diarist]], painter, and interior designer, as well as [[costume designer]] and [[set designer]] for stage and screen. His accolades include three [[Academy Awards]] and four [[Tony Awards]].

==Early life and education==
Beaton was born on 14 January 1904 in [[Hampstead]], north London,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Foley|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Coates|first2=Beth|title=Advanced Homework for Grown-ups|date=2010|publisher=Random House|isbn=9781409087540|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=epipZTdwfWYC&pg=PT28 |access-date=14 December 2014}}</ref>  the son of Ernest Walter Hardy Beaton (1867–1936), a prosperous [[timber]] merchant, and his wife, Esther "Etty" Sisson (1872–1962).  His grandfather, Walter Hardy Beaton (1841–1904), had founded the family business of "Beaton Brothers Timber Merchants and Agents", and his father followed into the business. Ernest Beaton was an amateur actor and met his wife, Cecil's mother Esther ("Etty") when playing the lead in a play. She was the daughter of a Cumbrian [[blacksmith]] named Joseph Sisson and had come to London to visit her married sister.<ref>{{citation | first = Hugo | last = Vickers | title = Cecil Beaton: The Authorised Biography | year = 1985 | publisher = Phoenix Press}}.</ref>

Ernest and Etty Beaton had four children – Cecil; two daughters, [[Nancy Beaton|Nancy Elizabeth Louise Beaton]] (1909–99, who married [[Smiley baronets|Sir Hugh Smiley, Bt.]]) and [[Baba Beaton|Barbara Jessica Beaton]] (1912–73, known as Baba, who married Alec Hambro); and another son, Reginald Ernest Hardy Beaton (1905–33).

[[File:1932 Standard Rolleiflex.jpg|thumb|A 1932 Standard [[Rolleiflex]], a type of camera used by Beaton]]
Cecil Beaton was educated at [[Heath Mount School]] (where he was bullied by [[Evelyn Waugh]]) and [[St Cyprian's School]], [[Eastbourne]], where his artistic talent was quickly recognised. Both [[Cyril Connolly]] and [[Henry Longhurst]] report in their [[autobiographies]] being overwhelmed by the beauty of Beaton's singing at the St Cyprian's school concerts.<ref>{{cite book | last=Connolly  | first=Cyril | title= Enemies of Promise| location= London | publisher= G Routledge & sons | year = 1938 | oclc = 123103671}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Longhurst  | first = Henry  | title = My Life and Soft Times | location=London | publisher=Cassell | year=1971 | isbn=0-304-93849-1 }}</ref>

When Beaton was growing up, his [[nanny]] had a [[Kodak]] 3A Camera, a popular model which was renowned for being an ideal piece of equipment to learn on. Beaton's nanny began teaching him the basics of photography and developing film.  He would often get his sisters and mother to sit for him.  When he was sufficiently proficient, he would send the photos off to London society magazines, often writing under a pen name and "recommending" the work of Beaton.<ref name= fynetimes>{{cite news | title = Cecil Beaton | url = http://www.fyne.co.uk/index.php?item=207 | work = Fyne Times | year = 2006 | access-date = 2008-05-09 | archive-date = 17 June 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080617204520/http://www.fyne.co.uk/index.php?item=207 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Beaton attended [[Harrow School]], and then, despite having little or no interest in academia, moved on to [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's College]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], and studied history, art and architecture. Beaton continued his photography and, through his university contacts, got a portrait depicting the [[Duchess of Malfi]] published in ''[[British Vogue|Vogue]]''. It was actually [[Dadie Rylands|George "Dadie" Rylands]] – "a slightly out-of-focus snapshot of him as Webster's Duchess of Malfi standing in the sub-aqueous light outside the men's lavatory of the [[ADC Theatre]] at Cambridge."<ref>Beaton, Cecil (1951). ''Photobiography''. London: Odhams Press, p.34.</ref> Beaton left Cambridge without a degree in 1925.

==Career==
After a short time in the family timber business, he worked with a cement merchant in [[Holborn]]. This resulted in "an orgy of photography at weekends" so he decided to strike out on his own.<ref>Beaton, Cecil (1951). ''Photobiography''. London: Odhams Press, p.40.</ref> Under the patronage of [[Osbert Sitwell]] he put on his first exhibition in the Cooling Gallery, London. It caused quite a stir.

Believing that he would meet with greater success on the other side of the Atlantic, he left for New York and slowly built up a reputation there. By the time he left, he had "a contract with [[Condé Nast Publications]] to take photographs exclusively for them for several thousand pounds a year for several years to come."<ref>Beaton, Cecil (1951). ''Photobiography''. London: Odhams Press, p.56.</ref>

From 1930 to 1945, Beaton leased [[Ashcombe House, Wiltshire|Ashcombe House]] in Wiltshire,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hirst |first=Arlene |date=2014-05-22 |title=In the Houses Where He Lived |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/garden/in-the-houses-where-he-lived.html |access-date=2024-09-08 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> where he entertained many notable figures.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beaton |first=Cecil |title=Ashcombe: The Story of a Fifteen-year Lease |date=1999 |publisher=Dovecote Press. |isbn=978-1-874336-66-2}}</ref>

In 1947, he bought [[Reddish House]], set in 2.5 acres of gardens, approximately {{convert|5|mi|km}} to the east in [[Broad Chalke]]. Here he transformed the interior, adding rooms on the eastern side, extending the parlour southwards, and introducing many new fittings. [[Greta Garbo]] was a visitor.<ref name="Brit Hist 116110">{{citation | url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=116110 | publisher = British History | place = UK | title = Broad Chalke}}.</ref> He remained at the house until his death in 1980 and is buried in the parish church graveyard.<ref>{{cite book | last= Vickers| first= Hugo| title= The Unexpurgated Beaton: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as He Wrote Them, 1970–1980| year= 2003| publisher = Weidenfeld & Nicolson| location = London| isbn = 1400041120}}</ref><ref name = "Broad">{{citation | title = Broad Chalke, A History of a South Wiltshire Village, its Land & People Over 2,000 years | publisher = The People of the Village | year = 1999}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |website=Wiltshire Community History |title=Broad Chalke |url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/33 |publisher=Wiltshire Council |access-date=22 May 2023}}</ref>

===Photography===
[[File:Cecil Beaton Photographs- General; Beaton, Cecil IB2357.jpg|thumb|Cecil Beaton self portraits: Cecil Beaton (in civilian suit) and his Rolleiflex reflected in a mirror of the Jain temple, Calcutta, India.]]
Beaton designed book jackets (see [[Catherine Ives]]), and costumes for charity matinees, learning the craft of photography at the studio of [[Paul Tanqueray]], until ''Vogue'' took him on regularly in 1927.<ref name=independent>{{cite news | author= Muir, Robin | title= The Beaton Generation | url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20040201/ai_n12750408 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090209004625/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20040201/ai_n12750408 | url-status= dead | archive-date= 9 February 2009 | work=The Independent | date=1 February 2004| access-date=2008-05-09}}</ref> He set up his own studio, and one of his earliest clients and, later, best friends was [[Stephen Tennant]].  Beaton's photographs of Tennant and his circle are considered some of the best representations of the [[Bright Young People]] of the twenties and thirties.

[[File:Roystrong.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Sir [[Roy Strong]], Director and Secretary of the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]]]
Beaton's first camera was a [[Kodak Brownie|Box Brownie]] .<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cecil Beaton: A photographer with an eye for character |date=8 February 2021 |url=https://manorialcounselltd.co.uk/cecil-beaton-a-photographer-with-an-eye-for-character/ }}</ref> Over the course of his career, he employed both [[large format]] cameras, and smaller [[Rolleiflex]] cameras. Beaton was never known as a highly skilled technical photographer, and instead focused on staging a compelling model or scene and looking for the perfect shutter-release moment.

He was a photographer for the [[British Vogue|British edition of ''Vogue'']] in 1931 when [[George Hoyningen-Huene]], photographer for the [[Vogue France|French ''Vogue'']] travelled to England with his new friend [[Horst P. Horst|Horst]]. Horst himself would begin to work for French ''Vogue'' in November of that year. The exchange and cross pollination of ideas between this collegial circle of artists across the [[English Channel|Channel]] and the Atlantic gave rise to the look of style and sophistication for which the 1930s are known.<ref>{{cite magazine | title=Too, Too Vomitous | url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,740948-1,00.html | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070930115141/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,740948-1,00.html | url-status= dead | archive-date= 30 September 2007 | magazine=Time | date=2 February 1931 | access-date=2008-05-09}}</ref>

Beaton is known for his fashion photographs and society portraits. He worked as a staff photographer for ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' and ''Vogue'' in addition to photographing celebrities in Hollywood. In 1938, he inserted some tiny-but-still-legible [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]] phrases (including the word '[[kike]]') into [[Vogue (magazine)|American ''Vogue'']] at the side of an illustration about New York society. The issue was recalled and reprinted, and Beaton was fired.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cecil Beaton Stateside - Telegraph |url=http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG8864644/Cecil-Beaton-Stateside.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20151018145034/http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG8864644/Cecil-Beaton-Stateside.html |archive-date=2015-10-18 |access-date=2025-10-07 |website=fashion.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref>

Beaton returned to England, where [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|the Queen]] recommended him to the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]] (MoI). He became a leading war photographer, best known for his images of the damage done by the German [[The Blitz|Blitz]].  His style sharpened and his range broadened, Beaton's career was restored by the war.<ref>Richard Holledge, "A Career Restored by War" ''Wall Street Journal,'' 29 Nov 2012, p D5</ref>

Beaton often photographed the Royal Family for official publication.<ref>{{cite web | title=V&A Exploring Photography: Sir Cecil Beaton | publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum | url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/photography/photographerframe.php?photographerid=ph009 | access-date=2008-05-10 | archive-date=7 March 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307123601/http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/photography/photographerframe.php?photographerid=ph009 | url-status=live }}</ref> Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was his favourite royal sitter, and he once pocketed her scented hankie as a keepsake from a highly successful shoot. Beaton took the famous wedding pictures of the [[Edward VIII|Duke]] and [[Wallis Simpson|Duchess of Windsor]] (wearing an [[haute couture]] ensemble by the noted American fashion designer [[Mainbocher]]). He photographed [[Princess Margaret]] in a cream [[Cream Dior dress of Princess Margaret|Dior dress]] for her 21st birthday in 1951, which became one of the most iconic royal portraits of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Storochuck |first1=Jessica |title=Fashion Favourite: Princess Margaret and Christian Dior |url=https://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/fashion-favourite-princess-margaret-and-christian-dior-164518/ |website=Royal Central |date=21 August 2021 |access-date=28 October 2021}}</ref><ref name="evogue">{{cite web |last1=Trotter |first1=Katie |title=10 Most Important Fashion Moments in History |url=https://en.vogue.me/fashion/10-historical-fashion-moments/ |website=Vogue Arabia |date=20 April 2020 |access-date=28 October 2021}}</ref><ref name="harpers">{{cite magazine |last1=Frost |first1=Karie |title=Princess Margaret's iconic 21st birthday gown goes on display at the V&A's Dior exhibition |url=https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a26084601/princess-margaret-birthday-portrait-gown-dior-exhibition/ |magazine=Harper's Bazaar |date=30 January 2019 |access-date=28 October 2021 |archive-date=31 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231111654/https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a26084601/princess-margaret-birthday-portrait-gown-dior-exhibition/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="mol">{{cite web |last1=Behlen |first1=Beatrice |title=Christian Dior, Princess Margaret & Cinderella |url=https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/princess-margarets-cinderella-london-dior-dress |website=Museum of London |access-date=28 October 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Cecil Beaton Photographs- Political and Military Personalities; Chahnaz, Princess of Iran, Fawzieh, Queen of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi CBM2404.jpg|thumbnail|left|Queen [[Fawzia Fuad Chirine]] with Shah [[Mohammed Reza Pahlavi]] and their daughter, Princess [[Shahnaz Pahlavi]], in [[Tehran]] during the Second World War. Photo by Cecil Beaton.]]

During the [[Second World War]], Beaton was first posted to the MoI and given the task of recording images from the home front. During this assignment he captured one of the most enduring images of British suffering during the war, that of 3-year-old [[the Blitz|Blitz]] victim Eileen Dunne recovering in hospital, clutching her beloved teddy bear. When the image was published, America had not yet joined the war, but images such as Beaton's helped push the Americans to put pressure on their government to help Britain in its hour of need.<ref name=fynetimes/>

Beaton had a major influence on and relationship with [[Angus McBean]] and [[David Bailey (photographer)|David Bailey]]. McBean was a well-known portrait photographer of his era.  Later in his career, his work was influenced by Beaton.  Bailey was influenced by Beaton when they met while working for British ''Vogue'' in the early 1960s. Bailey's use of square format (6x6) images is similar to Beaton's own working patterns.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In 1968, the [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]] in London mounted its inaugural photographic exhibition ''Beaton Portraits 1928-68''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Queen Elizabeth II |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw203801/Queen-Elizabeth-II#:~:text=In%201968%2C%20the%20National%20Portrait,in%20a%20British%20national%20museum. |website=[[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]]}}</ref> Furthermore, it was the first time a retrospective for a living photographer's work was shown at a British national museum. The exhibition, which was viewed by over 80,000 people, featured themed rooms with photographs of the royal family, war heroes, authors, composers, and celebrities.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Ling |first=Joanna |date=2018-06-01 |title=Cecil Beaton and the Exhibition that Changed Photography Forever |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/cecil-beaton-and-the-exhibition-that-changed-photography-forever |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=Sothebys.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Suzt |date=1969-05-01 |title=Suzy Says: Tonight Is for Cecil |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-cecil-beaton-exhibition-at-th/157040253/ |access-date=2024-10-13 |work=[[New York Daily News|Daily News]] |pages=12}}</ref> The exhibition travelled to the United States and was displayed as ''600 Faces by Beaton 1928-69'' at the [[Museum of the City of New York]] in 1969.<ref name=":1" /> A week before the New York opening, Beaton photographed [[Andy Warhol]] and members of his [[The Factory|Factory]] as a last-minute addition to the show.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beaton |first1=Cecil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XwtwDwAAQBAJ |title=Cecil Beaton: The New York Years |last2=Albrecht |first2=Donald |last3=York |first3=Museum of the City of New |date=2011 |publisher=Rizzoli International Publications, Incorporated |isbn=978-0-8478-3565-2 |language=en}}</ref>

===Stage and film design===
[[File:Audrey Hepburn My Fair Lady Dress.jpg|thumb|A Cecil Beaton design for [[Audrey Hepburn]] in ''[[My Fair Lady (film)|My Fair Lady]]'' (1964), for which he won an [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design]]]]
After the war, Beaton tackled the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] stage, designing [[Set construction|sets]], costumes, and lighting for a 1946 revival of ''[[Lady Windermere's Fan]]'', in which he also acted.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

His costumes for [[Lerner and Loewe]]'s musical play ''[[My Fair Lady]]'' (1956) were highly praised.  This led to him being the designer for two Lerner and Loewe film musicals, ''[[Gigi (1958 film)|Gigi]]'' (1958) and ''[[My Fair Lady (film)|My Fair Lady]]'' (1964), each of which earned Beaton the [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design]]. He also designed the period costumes for ''[[On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (film)|On a Clear Day You Can See Forever]]''.

His additional Broadway credits include ''[[The Grass Harp (play)|The Grass Harp]]'' (1952), ''[[The Chalk Garden (play)|The Chalk Garden]]'' (1955), ''[[Saratoga (musical)|Saratoga]]'' (1959), ''[[Tenderloin (musical)|Tenderloin]]'' (1960), and ''[[Coco (musical)|Coco]]'' (1969). He was the recipient of four [[Tony Award]]s.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=broadway world |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/tonyawardspersoninfo.php?nomname=Cecil%20Beaton |website=broadwayworld.com}}</ref>

He designed the sets and costumes for a production of [[Giacomo Puccini]]'s last opera'' [[Turandot]]'', first used at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and then at Covent Garden.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Beaton designed the [[academic dress]] of the [[University of East Anglia]].<ref>{{citation | last = Groves | first = Nicholas | title = The Academical Dress of the University of East Anglia | place = [[North Walsham]] | publisher = [[Burgon Society|The Burgon Society]] | year = 2005}}.</ref>

===Diaries===
Cecil Beaton was a published and well-known diarist. In his lifetime, six volumes of diaries were published, spanning the years 1922–1974. A more selective but unexpurgated edition was published in 2003. [[Hugo Vickers]], its editor, commented: "In the [earlier] published diaries, opinions are softened, celebrated figures are hailed as wonders and triumphs, whereas in the originals, Cecil can be as venomous as anyone I have ever read or heard in the most shocking of conversation."<ref>{{citation |last=Beaton |first=Cecil |editor-first=Hugo |editor-last=Vickers |title=The Unexpurgated Beaton Diaries |year=2003 |publisher=Orion Publishing Group |isbn=0-7538-1702-0}}.</ref>

==Last public interview==
The last public interview given by Sir Cecil Beaton was in January 1980 for an edition of the BBC's radio programme ''[[Desert Island Discs]]''. The interviewer was [[Roy Plomley]]. The recording was broadcast posthumously on Friday 1 February 1980 following the Beaton family's permission. Owing to Beaton's frailty, the interview was recorded at Beaton's 17th-century home of Reddish House in [[Broad Chalke]] in [[Wiltshire]] (near Salisbury).{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Beaton, though frail, recalled events in his life, particularly from the 1930s and 1940s ([[the Blitz]]). Among the recollections were his associations with stars of Hollywood and British Royalty notably [[Edward VIII|The Duke and Duchess of Windsor]] (whose official wedding photographs Beaton took on 3 June 1937 at relatively short notice); and official portraits of [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother)]] and [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] on her Coronation day on 2 June 1953. The interview also alluded to a lifelong passion for [[performing arts]] and in particular ballet and operetta.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

The Beaton programme is considered to be almost the final words on an era of [[Bright young things|"Bright Young Things"]] whose sunset had taken place by the time of the [[Edward VIII abdication crisis|abdication of Edward VIII]]. Beaton commented specifically on [[Wallis Simpson]] (later titled The Duchess of Windsor after her marriage to the former [[King Edward VIII]]). The Duchess of Windsor was still alive at the time of the original Beaton interview and broadcast.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Beaton said that the one record that he would retain on the desert island should the others get washed away would be [[Symphony No. 1 (Beethoven)|Beethoven's Symphony No 1]], and his chosen book was a compendium of photographs he had taken down the years of "...people known and unknown; people known but now forgotten".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Desert Island Discs – Sir Cecil Beaton – BBC Sounds |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p009mwlh |access-date=2023-08-06 |website=[[BBC]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==
Beaton had [[bisexuality|relationships with various men and women]], including former Olympic fencer and teacher [[Kinmont Hoitsma]] (his last lover),<ref>{{cite book |last=Vickers |first=Hugo |title=Cecil Beaton |publisher=[[Phoenix Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-1842126134}}</ref> actresses [[Greta Garbo]] and [[Coral Browne]], dancer [[Adele Astaire]], Greek socialite Madame Jean Ralli (Julie Marie 'Lilia' Pringo),<ref>Madame Jean Ralli (1901-1978). Born in Athens. A childhood friend of [[Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark]] and of [[Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark]]. Later she worked for [[Christian Dior]].</ref> and British socialite [[Doris Castlerosse]].

He was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the [[1972 New Year Honours]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Supplement to the London Gazette|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/45554/supplements/1|date=31 December 1971|work=The London Gazette}}</ref>

[[File:Reddish House Broad Chalke.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|right|Reddish House in [[Broad Chalke]], Wiltshire]]
Two years later, he suffered a [[stroke]] that left him permanently paralysed on the right side of his body. Although he learnt to write and draw with his left hand, and had cameras adapted, Beaton became frustrated by the limitations the stroke had put upon his work. As a result of his stroke, Beaton became anxious about financial security for his old age and, in 1976, entered into negotiations with [[Philippe Garner]], expert-in-charge of photographs at [[Sotheby's]].

On behalf of the auction house, Garner acquired Beaton's archive – excluding all portraits of the Royal Family, and the five decades of prints held by ''Vogue'' in London, Paris and New York. Garner, who had almost single-handedly invented the photographic auction, oversaw the archive's preservation and partial dispersal, so that Beaton's only tangible assets, and what he considered his life's work, would ensure him an annual income. The first of five auctions was held in 1977, the last in 1980.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

By the end of the 1970s, Beaton's health had faded. He died on 18 January 1980 at [[Reddish House]], his home in [[Broad Chalke]], Wiltshire, four days after his 76th birthday.<ref name=fynetimes/>

==Recognition==
[[File:Grave of Sir Cecil Beaton - Broad Chalke Churchyard - geograph.org.uk - 674690.jpg|thumb|Sir Cecil Beaton's grave at [[Broad Chalke]] Churchyard]]
* [[Tony Award for Best Costume Design]] for ''[[Quadrille (play)|Quadrille]]'' (1955)<ref>{{Cite news |date=1955-03-28 |title=Tony awards given to 'Desperate Hours' and 'Pajama Game' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-tony-awards-given-to-despe/175076048/ |access-date=2025-06-23 |work=[[Washington Evening Star]] |pages=15 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>
* [[CBE]] (1956)
* [[Tony Award for Best Costume Design]] for ''My Fair Lady'' (1957)
* Fellow of the [[Ancient Monuments Society]] (1957)
* [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design]] for ''Gigi'' (1958)
* [[Tony Award for Best Costume Design]] for ''[[Saratoga (musical)|Saratoga]]'' (1960)
* [[Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur]] (1960)
* [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Academy Award for Best Art Direction]] for ''My Fair Lady'' (1964)
* [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design]] for ''My Fair Lady'' (1964)
* Honorary Fellow of the [[Royal Photographic Society]] of Great Britain (1965)
* [[Tony Award for Best Costume Design]] for ''[[Coco (musical)|Coco]]'' (1970)<ref>{{Cite news |date=1970-04-20 |title=Tony Awards swept by first timers |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-dispatch-tony-awards-swept-by-first/175076899/ |access-date=2025-06-23 |work=The Dispatch |pages=12 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>
* [[International Best Dressed List]] Hall of Fame, named 1970.<ref>{{ cite book | title=Ultimate Style – The Best of the Best Dressed List| pages= 116| isbn= 2-84323-513-8 | year=2004 | last1= Zilkha| first1= Bettina| publisher= Assouline}}</ref>
* [[Knight Bachelor|Knighthood]] (1972)<ref>{{Cite news |date=1972-01-01 |title=Cecil Beaton knighted - no life peers |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-journal-cecil-beaton-knight/175076332/ |access-date=2025-06-23 |work=[[Nottingham Guardian]] |pages=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

==Exhibitions==

An exhibition of his works, curated by [[David Alan Mellor]], opened on May 16, 1986, at the [[Barbican Centre]] in London, and was scheduled to travel to [[Barcelona]] and [[New York City|New York]] by 1988.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Richard F. |date=1986-05-27 |title=Cecil Beaton's World Of Fame and Fashion |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/27/arts/cecil-beaton-s-world-of-fame-and-fashion.html |access-date=2024-09-08 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The New York exhibition was held from March to April 1988 and was divided between the [[Fashion Institute of Technology]], whose exhibit focused on Beaton's fashion photography, and the [[Grey Art Gallery]], whose exhibit focused on photographs of his personal life and celebrities.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Alexander |first=Ron |date=1988-03-15 |title=A Life Con Brio: Celebrating Cecil Beaton |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/15/nyregion/a-life-con-brio-celebrating-cecil-beaton.html |access-date=2024-09-08 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

Major exhibitions have been held at the [[National Portrait Gallery (London)|National Portrait Gallery]] in London in 1968 and in 2004.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Merl |first=Christina |date=October 4, 2004 |title=Cecil Beaton "Portraits" |url=https://www.shift.jp.org/en/archives/2004/10/cecil_beaton.html |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=SHIFT |language=en}}</ref>

The first international exhibition in thirty years, and first exhibition of his works to be held in Australia was held in [[Bendigo, Victoria]] from 10 December 2005 to 26 March 2006.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In October 2011, the BBC's ''[[Antiques Roadshow]]'' featured an oil portrait by Beaton of rock star [[Mick Jagger]], whom Beaton met in the 1960s. The painting, originally sold at the Le Fevre Gallery in 1966, was valued for insurance purposes at £30,000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0167sm4|title=BBC One – Antiques Roadshow, Series 34, Hever Castle 1|website=BBC}}</ref>

The [[Museum of the City of New York]] dedicated an exhibition to Cecil Beaton from October 2011 to April 2012.<ref>{{cite web | title=Cecil Beaton | website=Museum of the City of New York | date=25 October 2011 | url=https://www.mcny.org/exhibition/cecil-beaton | access-date=25 April 2021}}</ref>

An exhibition celebrating The Queen's Diamond Jubilee and showing portraits of Her Majesty by Cecil Beaton, opened in October 2011 at the [[Laing Art Gallery]] in [[Newcastle-upon-Tyne]].{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

''Cecil Beaton: Theatre of War'' at the [[Imperial War Museum]] in London was a major retrospective of Beaton's war photography, held from 6 September 2012 to 1 January 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/exhibitions/iwm-london/cecil-beaton-theatre-of-war|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103062412/http://www.iwm.org.uk/exhibitions/iwm-london/cecil-beaton-theatre-of-war|url-status=dead |title=Cecil Beaton: Theatre of War|archive-date=3 November 2012}}</ref>

''Cecil Beaton at Home: Ashcombe & Reddish'' at The Salisbury Museum, Wiltshire, which ran from 23 May to 19 September 2014,  wasa biographical retrospective focussing on Beaton's two Wiltshire houses, and brought together for the first time many art works and possessions from both eras of Beaton's life. The exhibition included a full-size reproduction of the murals and four-poster bed from the Circus Bedroom at Ashcombe, as well as a section of the drawing room at Reddish House.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

''Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World'' at the National Portrait Gallery in London ran from 9 October 2025 to 11 January 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World - National Portrait Gallery |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2025/cecil-beaton/?_gl=1*nm1hai*_up*MQ..*_gs*MQ..*_ga*NTc4OTg5MjAwLjE3NTAzNjEyODE.*_ga_3D53N72CHJ*czE3NTAzNjEyODAkbzEkZzEkdDE3NTAzNjEyODEkajU5JGwwJGgw&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjr7-7Jv-jQMV6ExHAR3qqSRVEAAYASABEgKs6PD_BwE&gbraid=0AAAAAoK5MEjLPtZdpJGCqKGMUOMM-MFW0 |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=www.npg.org.uk}}</ref>

''Cecil Beaton's Garden Party'' ran at [[The Garden Museum]] from May to September 2025.<ref>{{cite web | title=Cecil Beaton's Garden Party | website=The Garden Museum | url=https://gardenmuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/cecil-beatons-garden-party/ | access-date=14 September 2025}}</ref>

==In film and television==
In the 1989 Australian film ''[[Darlings of the Gods]]'', Beaton was portrayed by [[Shane Briant]]. In the 2010 series ''[[Upstairs Downstairs (2010 TV series)|Upstairs Downstairs]]'' (series 1, episode 3), Beaton was portrayed by [[Christopher Harper (actor)|Christopher Harper]]. In [[Netflix]]'s 2016 series ''[[The Crown (TV series)|The Crown]]'', Beaton was portrayed by [[Mark Tandy (actor)|Mark Tandy]].{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} In the 2023 film ''[[Lee (2023 film)|Lee]]'', Beaton was portrayed by [[Samuel Barnett (actor)|Samuel Barnett]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Samuel Barnett {{!}} Actor, Music Department, Soundtrack |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1154650/?ref_=tt_cl_t_9 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124184655/https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1154650/?ref_=tt_cl_t_9 |archive-date=24 January 2025 |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=[[IMDb]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Publications==
===Selected works===
<!---Needs cutting down.--->
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2021}}

* ''[[The Book of Beauty]]'' (Duckworth, 1930)
* ''Cecil Beaton's Scrapbook'' ([[Batsford (publisher)|Batsford]], 1937)
* ''Cecil Beaton's New York'' (Batsford, 1938)
* ''My Royal Past'' (Batsford, 1939)
* ''History Under Fire'' with [[James Pope-Hennessy]] (Batsford, 1941)
* ''Time Exposure'' with [[Peter Quennell]] (Batsford, 1941)
* ''Air of Glory'' ([[Office of Public Sector Information|HMSO]], 1941)
* ''Winged Squadrons'' ([[Hutchinson (publisher)|Hutchinson]], 1942)
* ''Near East'' (Batsford, 1943)
* ''British Photographers'' ([[William Collins (publisher)|William Collins]], 1944)
* ''Far East'' (Batsford, 1945)
* ''Cecil Beaton's Indian Album'' (Batsford, 1945–6, republished as ''Indian Diary and Album'', [[Oxford University Press|OUP]], 1991)
* ''Cecil Beaton's Chinese Album'' (Batsford, 1945–6)
* ''India'' (Thacker & Co., 1945)
* ''Portrait of New York'' (Batsford, 1948)
* ''[[Ashcombe House, Wiltshire|Ashcombe]]: The Story of a Fifteen-Year Lease'' (Batsford, 1949)
* ''Photobiography'' ([[Odhams Press|Odhams]], 1951)
* ''Ballet'' (Allan Wingate, 1951)
* ''Persona Grata'' with [[Kenneth Tynan]] (Allan Wingate, 1953)
* ''The Glass of Fashion'' ([[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]], 1954)
* ''It Gives Me Great Pleasure'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1956)
* ''The Face of the World: An International Scrapbook of People and Places'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1957)
* ''Japanese'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1959)
* ''Quail in Aspic: The Life Story of Count Charles Korsetz'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1962)
* ''Images'' with a preface by [[Edith Sitwell]] and an introduction by [[Christopher Isherwood]] (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1963)
* ''Royal Portraits'' with an introduction by Peter Quennell (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1963)
* ''Cecil Beaton's 'Fair Lady{{'-}}'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1964)
* ''The Best of Beaton'' with an introduction by [[Truman Capote]] (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1968)
* ''My Bolivian Aunt: A Memoir'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1971)

===Diaries===
* ''Cecil Beaton's Diaries: 1922–39 The Wandering Years'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1961)
* ''Cecil Beaton's Diaries: 1939–44 The Years Between'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1965)
* ''Cecil Beaton's Diaries: 1944–48 The Happy Years'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972)
* ''Cecil Beaton's Diaries: 1948–55 The Strenuous Years'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973)
* ''Cecil Beaton's Diaries: 1955–63 The Restless Years'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976)
* ''Cecil Beaton's Diaries: 1963–74 The Parting Years'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1978)
* ''Self Portrait with Friends: The Selected Diaries of Cecil Beaton 1926–1974'' edited by [[Richard Buckle]] (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979)
* ''The Unexpurgated Beaton: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as they were written'' with an introduction by [[Hugo Vickers]] (Orion, 2003)
* ''Beaton in the Sixties: More Unexpurgated Diaries'' with an introduction by Hugo Vickers (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004)

==Photographs==
<!---Needs citations and cutting down--->
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* ''[[Sir William Walton]]'', 1926
* ''[[Stephen Tennant]]'', 1927
* ''[[Lady Diana Cooper]]'', 1928
* ''[[Charles James (designer)]]'', 1929
* ''[[Lillian Gish]]'', 1929
* ''[[Oliver Messel]]'', 1929
* ''[[Lord David Cecil]]'', 1930
* ''Lady Georgia Sitwell'', 1930
* ''[[Gary Cooper]]'', 1931
* ''[[Molly Fink]]'', 1926
* ''[[Storm Jameson]]'', 1932
* ''[[Pablo Picasso]]'', 1933
* ''[[Helen Hope Montgomery Scott]]'', 1933
* ''[[Dürrüşehvar Sultan]]'', 1933
* ''[[Marlene Dietrich]]'', 1935
* ''[[Salvador Dalí]]'', 1936
* ''[[Natalie Paley]]'', 1936
* ''[[Aldous Huxley]]'', 1936
* ''[[Daisy Fellowes]]'', 1937
* ''[[Helen of Greece and Denmark]], Queen Mother of Romania'', 1937
* ''[[Lady Ursula d'Abo|Lady Ursula Manners]]'', 1937
* ''Queen [[Sita Devi of Kapurthala]]'', 1940
* ''Bomb Victim'' (Eileen Dunne), 1940
* ''[[Winston Churchill]]'', 1940
* ''[[Graham Sutherland]]'', 1940
* ''[[Charles de Gaulle]]'', 1941
* ''[[Walter Sickert]]'', 1942
* ''Maharani [[Gayatri Devi]], Rajmata of [[Jaipur]]'', 1943
* ''[[John Pope-Hennessy]]'', 1945
* ''[[Isabel Jeans]]'', 1945
* ''[[Greta Garbo]]'', 1946
* ''[[Yul Brynner]]'', 1946
* ''[[Marlon Brando]]'', 1946<ref>{{Cite journal |date=August 15, 1946 |title=A good man is hard to find... |journal=Vogue |volume=108 |issue=3 |pages=173}}</ref>
*''[[Fawzia Fuad of Egypt|Princess Fawzia Fuad]] of Egypt, Queen of Iran''
* ''[[Vivien Leigh]]'', 1947
* ''[[Truman Capote]]'', 1948–1949
* ''[[Bobby Henrey]]'', 1948
* ''[[Cristiana Brandolini d'Adda|Countess Cristiana Brandolini d'Adda]]'', 1951
* ''[[Duchess of Windsor]]'', 1951
* ''[[Vita Sackville-West]]'', 1952
* ''[[C. Z. Guest]]'', 19526
* ''[[Graham Greene]]'', 1953
* ''[[Elizabeth II]]'s Coronation'', 1953
* ''[[Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Redé]]'', 1953
* ''[[Elizabeth Taylor]]'', 1954
* ''[[Grace Kelly]]'', 1954
* ''[[Mona von Bismarck]]'', 1955
* ''[[Bernard Berenson]]'', 1955
* ''[[Joan Crawford]]'', 1956
* ''Mrs. Charles ([[Jayne Wrightsman]])'', 1956
* ''[[Maria Callas]]'', 1956
* ''[[Dame Edith Sitwell]]'', 1956
* ''[[Colin Wilson]]'', 1956
* ''[[Marilyn Monroe]]'', 1956
* ''[[Leslie Caron]]'', 1957
* ''[[Dolores Guinness]]'', 1958
* ''[[Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon]]'', 1960
* ''[[Albert Finney]]'', 1961
* ''[[Cristóbal Balenciaga]]'', 1962
* ''[[Lee Radziwill]]'', 1962
* ''[[Karen Blixen]]'', 1962
* ''[[Rudolf Nureyev]]'', 1963
* ''[[Audrey Hepburn]]'', 1964
* ''[[Margot Fonteyn]]'', 1965
* ''[[Jacqueline Kennedy]]'', 1965
* ''[[Sheridan Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 5th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava]]'', 1965
* ''[[Jamie Wyeth]]'', 1966
* ''[[Georgia O'Keeffe]]'', 1966
* ''[[Twiggy]]'', 1967
* ''[[Mick Jagger]]'', 1968
* ''[[Andy Warhol]]'', 1969
* ''[[Katharine Hepburn]]'', 1969
* ''[[Barbra Streisand]]'', 1969
* ''[[Gloria Guinness]]'', 1970
* ''[[Hubert de Givenchy]]'', 1970
* ''[[Mae West]]'', 1970
* ''[[David Hockney]]'', 1970
* ''[[Jane Birkin]]'', 1971
* ''[[Marie-Hélène de Rothschild]]'', 1971
* ''[[Marisa Berenson]]'' as ''[[Luisa Casati]]'', 1971
* ''[[Jacqueline de Ribes]]'', 1971
* ''[[Pauline de Rothschild]]'', 1972
* ''[[Tina Chow]]'', 1973
* ''[[Gilbert & George]]'', 1974
* ''[[Inès de La Fressange]]'', 1978
* ''[[Paloma Picasso]]'', 1978
* ''[[Caroline of Monaco]]'', 1978
* ''Olimpia de Rothschild'', 1978
* ''[[Dayle Haddon]]'', 1979
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Beaton, Cecil Sir & [[Jennie Boddington|Boddington, Jennie]], 1922– & National Gallery of Victoria (1975). Cecil Beaton's camera. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
* {{cite book | last=Spencer | first=Charles | title=Cecil Beaton Stage and Film Designs | location=London | publisher=Academy Editions | year=1995 | isbn=1-85490-398-5}}
* {{cite book | last=Vickers | first=Hugo | title=Cecil Beaton | location=New York | publisher=Donald I. Fine | year=1985 | isbn=1-55611-021-9}}
* {{cite book | last=Vickers | first=Hugo | title=The Cecil Beaton Diaries, as They Were Written| location=New York | year=2003 | isbn = 0-7538-1702-0}}
* {{cite book | last=Wild| first=Benjamin| title=A Life in Fashion: The Wardrobe of Cecil Beaton| location=London| year=2016 | isbn = 978-0500518335}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Screenonline name|570903}}
* {{FMD designer|name=Sir Cecil Beaton}}
* {{IBDB name|24657}}
* {{IMDb name|nm0064100}}
* {{NPG name|05064}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181858/http://www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/search/people_sub_plays?forename=Cecil&surname=BEATON&job=Designer&pid=69&image_view=Yes&x=19&y=17 Theatre Archive University of Bristol]
* {{cite web |publisher=[[Victoria and Albert Museum]] |url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/photography/photographerframe.php?photographerid=ph009 |title=Selection of photographs by Cecil Beaton|date = 29 July 2015}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100529000754/http://www.cecilbeatonfabrics.com/ Cecil Beaton textile designs designed in 1948 for Zika Ascher]}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mwlh Cecil Beaton] interview on BBC Radio 4 ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'', 1 February 1980

===Archival resources===
* [http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0275%2FBeaton Papers of Sir Cecil Beaton] (1922–1980, 38 archival boxes) at [[St John's College, Cambridge]] 
* [http://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/C1194/#description Cecil Beaton Papers] (1938–1979, 1 archival box) at [[Princeton University Library]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20151018145035/http://www.sothebys.com/en/inside/services/picture-library/overview.html Cecil Beaton Studio Archive] at [[Sotheby's]] Picture Library
* [https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00150 W.H. Crain Costume and Scene Design Collection] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]

{{Navboxes
| title = Awards for Cecil Beaton
| list =
{{Academy Award Best Costume Design}}
{{AcademyAwardBestArtDirection 1961–1980}}
{{TonyAward CostumeDesign 1947-1975}}
}}

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