- Born
- Died
- Birth nameAnita Carole Counihan
- Nicknames
- The Face
- The Institute
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- Anita Colby was born on August 5, 1914 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She was an actress, known for Mary of Scotland (1936), Brute Force (1947) and Cover Girl (1944). She was married to Palen Flagler. She died on March 27, 1992 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, USA.
- SpousePalen Flagler(December 30, 1970 - March 30, 1984) (his death)
- RelativesFrancine Counihan(Sibling)
- Is sometimes credited as "The first supermodel", "The nation's first supermodel" or "America's first supermodel".
- The first model to receive $100 an hour.
- Turned down marriage proposals from Clark Gable and James Stewart.
- She was hired by David O. Selznick in the 1940s to school his contract actresses in matters of beauty, poise and publicity. She was especially influential in grooming Jennifer Jones for stardom.
- Daughter of famous cartoonist and "Betty Boop" artist Daniel Francis "Bud" Counihan (January 10, 1887-January 5, 1972) and Margaret Anne McCarthy (July 1, 1890-January 4, 1965).
- [following her role in Brute Force (1947)] I don't want to act. I want to get into the executive end of the [film] business.
- [about her early acting career, prior to her staff job at "Harper's Bazaar"] I said I was going to be a top model, and I was. Then I had five offers from Hollywood. I went out there and found everything easy. I was earning more than Lucille Ball and Joan Fontaine. I was sure I was going to be a star any day, so I didn't do any work. Suddenly I awoke to the fact that I wasn't getting anywhere. Brokenhearted, I went back to New York, determined never to go to Hollywood again.
- Of course I take beautiful photographs. That's because I know how to use make-up. I'm nothing unusual to look at in real life. But the men who make movies, even though they know what make-up can do for their stars, don't seem to realize that a model's beauty may be all artificial. They sign us up, and then comes the awful shock! We're not beautiful, except when our faces are re-done and are in repose. And then they lose interest in us.
- [on how she became a model] I was 19 and dancing at the Georgetown prom. In came a cover girl, and would you believe it, all the other girls were left stranded on the wall. All the men went for that cover girl! I vowed then and there that I would be a cover girl, though I didn't have the least idea how to go about it. I was in an elevator in New York a little later and Harry Conover--he was then a model but now he has his own agency--asked me if I was a model. I was flattered and said I'd like to be. So he sent me to John Robert Powers and I became a model.
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