Little black dress pushed Hurley into the limelight
Not many people who can say their career was launched by a garment. But Liz Hurley, who turns 50 today, can credit much of her success to a slinky gown held together with safety pins.
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Not many people who can say their career was launched by a garment. But Liz Hurley, the eternally youthful actress, model, one-time girlfriend of Hugh Grant and Warnie, who turns 50 today, can credit much of her success to a slinky black Versace evening gown held together with large, decorative safety pins.
Although she was on the arm of an up-and-coming British movie star, she didn’t need his charisma to claim the spotlight. On that fateful stroll into the premiere of Four Weddings And A Funeral in 1994, Hurley showed every aspiring starlet how to use the red carpet as a launch pad to stardom.
Hurley was born in Basingstoke, England on June 10, 1965. Her mother Angela was a teacher and her father Roy a British Army major. She had early ambitions to act and dance, studying ballet from the age of 13 at the then recently established London Studio Centre.
Her flirtation with ballet was brief, she later went punk, wearing the signature slashed clothing, nose ring, dark makeup and spiky hair. She later claimed it was to repel male admirers. “So many men took an interest, I wanted to make myself look as ghastly as possible. I did not want them to whistle any more.”
Eventually she realised the punk look also repelled work, so she cleaned up and moved to London. She struggled initially, taking acting courses, appearing in minor stage roles and making her film debut in the 1987 film Aria.
While in Spain filming Remando Al Viento (released in English as Rowing With the Wind) she met and fell in love with Grant, who was playing Lord Byron.
In 1988 she won Face of the Year, a competition run by local newspaper the Winchester Extra. The prize was a one-year contract with a top modelling agency. But she never gave up her acting ambition, doing TV and film work and attempting to break through in the US, appearing in Wesley Snipes’ Passenger 57 (1992).
Her acting ability wasn’t blowing people away, and although Grant was becoming increasingly successful, it was Four Weddings And A Funeral that made stars of both. For Grant it was his charmingly goofy character Charles that cemented his status as a leading man. For Hurley it was the attention garnered after “that dress”.
It was one of the first red carpet showstoppers, sparking a virtual contest between female celebrities to top Hurley’s effort, wearing minimum material for maximum impact. One paper used the phrase “Hurley burley” in its headline, a cliche that would be repeated often.
While it earned her a lucrative contract as spokesmodel for Estee Lauder, the impact of the dress on Hurley’s acting career was negligible. Despite a memorable role as sidekick Vanessa Kensington in Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997) and The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and a bitchy role in the TV series Gossip Girl, her acting has failed to earn much critical acclaim.
Neither did Hurley and Grant’s romance last. They split in 2000, but remain friends.
No longer “Hugh’s Liz”, she became involved with American businessman Steve Bing, to whom she had a son Damian in 2002. He denied paternity but a DNA test proved otherwise. To give Damian privacy, Hurley bought a Gloucestershire farm and spent time on the land.
But there was no danger of her becoming a recluse. She continued to grab the headlines after marrying Indian magnate Arun Nayar in 2007, wearing a see-through sari to a black tie event in 2010. While the Brits often pick on her tackiness, the Americans dub her “Queen Liz”.
After separating from Nayar in 2010, she embarked on highly public romance with cricketer Shane Warne. It ended in 2013. Hurley made more headlines in Britain with The Royals, in which she plays Helena, queen consort of a fictional modern day King Simon of Britain. Some critics called it “compelling melodrama”; others said “much of the acting vacillates between wooden and overly theatrical”.
Hurley may need to get that dress out of mothballs.
Originally published as Little black dress pushed Hurley into the limelight
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