Cecil Beaton photographed pretty much the entire creative class of the 20th century —writers, musicians, artist and actors —and captured his subjects’ likeness for eternity. Hugo Vickers, the executor of Beaton’s estate has combined remarks from his journals, The Unexpurgated Beaton together with his famous portraits to create a new book. He didn’t always say the most flattering things about his subjects and friends, but there’s nothing TOO mean in these particular excepts. Jean Cocteau once called him “Malice in Wonderland.”
About Marlon Brando, Beaton wrote;
“Perhaps Mr Brando is at his best when playing roles closer to his nature. Pallid as a mushroom, smooth-skinned and scarred, with curved feminine lips and silky hair often falling in picturesque disarray, he seems as unhealthy as a lame duck. Yet his ram-like profile has the harsh strength of the gutter. Is he pretending to be tougher than he is? Does he try to hide an intelligent, sensitive core, or is he a charlatan pretending to be an intellectual? Whatever he may be, his anarchic muggings and behaviour are always intensely interesting to watch on the screen…”
Cecil Beaton: Portraits & Profiles is available on Amazon. Here are a few examples of his talent and barbed tongue;