Category Archives: Fashion

Fashion

At their shop on Robertson Blvd in Beverly Hills, fashion designer Nolan Miller and Ursula Grimm had many actors, actresses, singers and celebrities as clients. At the time Nolan and Aaron Spelling were very good friends and Nolan was hired to design many of the evening gowns and costumes for Aaron Spelling’s TV shows. Among the shows they worked on together were Charlie’s Angels, Hart to Hart, Dynasty, Fantasy Island, Green Acres, Love Boat, as well as the Folies Bergere at the Tropicana in Las Vegas. She also worked on several Oscar gowns and attire, one of her most memorable being the black tuxedo that 9-year old Tatum O’Neal wore when she was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1974. Among Ursula’s favorite clients were Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford for their exceptional generosity and kindness.

Ursula Grimm, Barbara Stanwyck, and Nolan Miller

Ursula Grimm, actress Barbara Stanwyck, and designer Nolan Miller

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Ursula Grimm and actress Barbara Stanwyck

Ursula’s client list:

Agnes Moorehead
Ann Margret
Ann Miller
Anne Francis
Barbara Stanwyck
Bobby Gentry
Candy Spelling
Cheryl Ladd
Connie Stevens
Debbie Reynolds
Debby Boone
Dinah Shore
Dionne Warwick
Donna Summer
Dyan Cannon
Eleanor Parker
Ethel Merman
Eva Gabor
Eve Arden
Farrah Fawcett
Frankie Valli
Ginger Rogers
Gladys Knight
Heather Locklear
Helen Redding
Jaclyn Smith
Jane Wyman
Jimmy Durante
Joan Collins
Joan Crawford
John Ritter
Judith Krantz
June Allyson
Kate Jackson
Kay Starr
Lana Turner
Lauren Tweeze
Lesley Ann Warren
Linda Evans
Margaret O’Brien
Natalie Wood
Olivia Newton-John
Petula Clark
Red Buttons
Robert Urich
Rod Stewart
Sally Kellerman
Shari Lewis  (Lambchops)
Shelley Winters
Shirley Jones
Stefanie Powers
Stevie Wonder
Susan Hayward
Suzanne Pleshette
Suzanne Somers
Tanya Tucker
Tatum O’Neal
Tori Spelling
Yvette Mimieux

Charlie’s Angels
Dynasty
Fantasy Island
Folies Bergere
Green Acres
Hart to Hart
Love Boat

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Berlin, Fashion

I had the dream with my drawing talent and sewing background to become a Movie Costume Designer! Inspired from my movie-seeing-experiences, I had a vision of what that place should be like, and after a few places, I found it. I went there by myself after seeing a want-ad in the newspaper. I was there at 8:00 in the morning and waited until 10:00 when the owner finally showed up. The next day my mother went back with me and I signed the paper for a three year contract. I hit the jackpot!

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It was a chic but small fashion salon on Berlin’s Grand Avenue, the Kurfürstendamm (called Ku’damm by Berliners). Not only did they make clothes for the rich and famous, but costumes for films also! Once could often see the very famous strolling along the Boulevard, but the greatest was for me when I had to deliver wardrobe to the UFA Studio. It was a 30-minute taxi drive to get there, and often I had to sew on last minute things like buttons. I walked around the studio and watched movie making before I had to take the train back. After three years and a week long examination, I could call myself a seamstress.

From Ursula’s autobiography, Leaving Berlin.

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Berlin, Fashion

The only organization I ever joined during those years was the “Turnverein” (Gymnastics Club). I stayed away from any political children doing things together, and was so very much by myself. I played by myself with dolls, sewed with the help of my mother little dresses for them, read a lot and went to the movies every Sunday afternoon. And I mean almost every Sunday, rain or shine! Did I love the movies! (Still do.)

Before there was a movie theater close to where we lived, I would walk more than 25 minutes to the big hall, where they had to close the windows with big wooden shutters. How exciting this was! I hoped so much after I came to America to be able to see the silent “Tom Mix” films again, but found out they got all burned in an accident.

From Ursula’s autobiography, Leaving Berlin.

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Berlin, Fashion

“I had not given up the dream to become a fashion or costume designer and my wonderful parents made it again possible for me to go to the Textil Und Modeschule der Reichshauptstadt Berlin, a college for fashion design and pattern-making.

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The only other school like this was in Munich. So, all of a sudden I got to know a totally different breed of girls, rich ones. They came from all over Germany and many of them bragged about their families. I would have been looked down at, so I never talked about my working class background. It bothered me in the beginning, but I had more talent than most of them! That made me feel good. Besides this, I had the best time of my life.

The war was going on already for two years and it got worse. Bombing started almost day and night. One room in our basement was a bomb shelter and we spent many hours there, listening to the airplanes and shooting of our anti aircraft artillery, and hoping the sound of falling bombs didn’t come too close to us.

Then came the time fashion was not important anymore and after one and a half years of studies, the college had to close and we all went to work in factories. Everything to “win the war!” I got a job in a construction office where I copied designs of little parts for airplanes. In the Spring of 1944, the company was destroyed by bombs and relocated 4 hours by train to the east of Berlin, and all of us employees had to move there too.”

From Ursula’s autobiography, Leaving Berlin.

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