Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg: Gay and Fabulous

[Swithin]

Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg may be best known to some as one of the most important fashion magazine editors of the 20th Century, having served as editor of Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, and, most famously, senior fashion editor at Vogue. He mentored such designers as Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, and Calvin Klein. But his significance to the film world lies in his bankrolling — and starring in (as Julian West) — a seminal early horror film: Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932).

Baron de Gunzburg was born in Paris to a wealthy Russian-Jewish family, and it was in Paris that he met Dreyer. As a young gay man in Paris, the Baron was famous for his fabulous balls, many featuring opulent costumes and set designs. He emigrated to America in 1934, after his father's death and his realization that the family fortune had dwindled.

Another film connection: Baron de Gunzburg's lover was Erik Rhodes, the actor whose most famous line in the film The Gay Divorcee is "Your wife is safe with Tonetti; he prefers spaghetti."

A short video about the Baron was made in 2008, but his life and career cry out for a feature film.


Julian West as Allan Gray in Vampyr


The Baron (left) with friends in Palm Beach (1935)

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/photos ... urg-photos