The Jean and Dusty Negulesco papers span the years 1865-1993 (bulk 1926-1991) and encompass 60 linear feet.

The production files contain scripts and production materials on films directed and written by Jean Negulesco, including scripts for shorts directed by him throughout the 1940s for Warner Bros.’ Melody Masters and The Fighting Men series from World War II. There are scripts and production materials for films such as JOHNNY BELINDA (1949) for which Negulesco was nominated for an Academy Award, HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (1953), THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN (1954), DADDY LONG LEGS (1955), and BOY ON A DOLPHIN (1957). There is also extensive correspondence on LUST FOR LIFE (1956), which Negulesco ultimately did not direct, and material on THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG (1960) from which Negulesco was fired by Ray Stark.

There is extensive script material on several unproduced projects such as THE GIRL ON THE WALL which Negulesco wanted to produce in Romania, MEMED, THE HAWK based on the book by Yashar Kemal which he attempted to get co-produced in Turkey, RAPE OF THE WHITE DOVE based on “Other Winter, Other Springs” by Flora Lindstrom, and THE TREASURE HOUSE OF MARTIN HEWS based on the novel by E. P. Oppenheim.

Story material includes a second draft on CLEOPATRA, correspondence regarding a film on the life of George Bernard Shaw, and several unproduced properties for Paramount.

The television files contain material mostly for unproduced projects but there is one folder on the 27TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS which Negulesco directed in 1955.

Subject files include material on Jean Negulesco’s art career as well as his and Dusty Negulesco’s art collecting. There is also a large amount of material on the establishment of his three corporations: Arts & Artists Establishment, Arts & Formes, and Tiga Productions. Also included are correspondence files and, of special note, Christmas cards he designed over the course of many years. There is quite a bit of correspondence from his family in Romania. About his personal life, there is material on relationships with other women including Veronica Lake. Dusty Negulesco’s materials include her music files, personal files, real estate files, and files on working for Warner Bros.

Of special interest are a group of Cole Porter’s personal papers that came in with this collection and are filed under a separate subject heading. This material concentrates mostly on the years 1957 to 1958 and includes Porter’s ongoing attempts to procure work, mostly in television. There is also correspondence regarding his medical condition after the amputation of his right leg in 1958, the final result of a horse riding accident he suffered in 1937.

The Writings series contains research material and drafts on Jean Negulesco’s autobiography “The Things I Did …and Things I Think I Did” and include both French and Romanian versions.

Books include two first editions by William Faulkner, both inscribed by Faulkner to Jean Negulesco.

Periodicals contain several articles on Jean Negulesco.

Oversize materials include large clippings on various films, sheet music, award certificates, and a large clipping mounted on board of Jean and Dusty Negulesco in their living room surrounded by their art collection.

Scrapbooks contain clippings on many of Jean Negulesco’s films and there are several scrapbooks devoted to JESSICA (1962). There is also a guest book from Jean and Dusty’s home given to them by Owen and Lucile Crump that contains numerous signatures and annotations, including, from among others, Ann Miller, Jerry Wald, Darryl Zanuck, Michael Romanoff, Howard Hawks, Norman Krasna, Peter Lorre, Leslie Caron, Ida Lupino, Miriam Hopkins, Maureen O’Hara, Lana Turner, Fred MacMurray, Hedda Hopper, Fred Astaire, Capucine, Cole Porter, Maurice Chevalier, Rock Hudson, Diane Baker, Anita Colby, Irving Lazar, James Stewart, and Kirk Douglas.

Artifacts include a Moller-Anamorphic CinemaScope videoscope and a Tewe Universal Motive Finder with a variable aperture opening used by Negulesco when directing.

The photograph series of the Jean and Dusty Negulesco papers spans the years 1900-1989 and encompasses 17.5 linear feet, consisting of 8,359 items, including prints, snapshots, proof sheets, negatives, transparencies, postcards, 35mm color slides, and photograph albums. The photographs are grouped into motion picture production photographs, biography photographs, subject photographs, and photograph albums.

The motion picture production photographs span the years 1931-1970 and consist of scene, exhibition, off-camera, premiere, portrait, portrait sketch, and advertising artwork photographs from 83 productions, the majority of which Negulesco directed. The films depicted include "Boy on a Dolphin" (1957), "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1953), "Humoresque" (1946), "Johnny Belinda" (1948), "Three Coins in the Fountain" (1954), "Titanic" (1953), and "The World of Suzie Wong" (1960).

The biography photographs span from the 1920s through 1970s and consist of photographs, portraits, snapshots, transparencies, and negatives relating to the Negulesco family and to various personalities. Persons depicted include Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford, Olivia de Havilland, Isadora Duncan, Sergei Eisenstein, Robert Evans, Greta Garbo, Howard Hawks, George S. Kaufman, Fritz Lang, Marilyn Monroe, David O. Selznick, Elizabeth Taylor, and Billy Wilder.

The subject photographs are further subdivided into family, general, parties and balls, portraits, and travel. Family photographs span the years 1900-1989 and include extensive photographs, portraits, snapshots, transparencies, and negatives of the Negulesco family. Some of the photographs depict the Negulescos with celebrity friends and acquaintances such as Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Howard Hawks, Frank Sinatra, and Clifton Webb. Photograph albums consist of 20 volumes of primarily family photographs, snapshots, birthday and other greeting cards, postcards, and notes, spanning from the 1950s through the 1960s. Many of the albums bear the name of their subject, such as “Christiane” and “Gabrielle” (Negulesco's daughters), “Babies Shower '61,” and “Sperlonga '61 - Cina-Citta [sic] - Etc.”

The general photographs include prints, snapshots, transparencies, and negatives of Negulesco’s art collection, which features images by Dusty Anderson, Bernard Buffet, and Charles Noyer; caricatures made by Negulesco of famous individuals, including John Barrymore, Clara Bow, Charles Chaplin, Maurice Chevalier, Douglas Fairbanks, Greta Garbo, D.W. Griffith, Oliver Hardy, Harold Lloyd, Mary Pickford, John D. Rockefeller, Babe Ruth, Gloria Swanson, and Erich von Stroheim; and portrait sketches made by Negulesco of famous individuals, including Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Dolores Del Rio, Jacques Feyder, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, and Roland Young. There are also photographs of various automobiles, awards, activities involving the Beverly Hills Tennis Club, sailing to Catalina on Humphrey Bogart’s yawl Santana, croquet, baptisms, nudes, pets, and residences.

The parties and balls photographs contain extensive photographs, snapshots, transparencies, and negatives of various parties and balls either given by or attended by Negulesco. Those depicted include Adrian, Humphrey Bogart, Frank Capra, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang, Myrna Loy, Ernst Lubitsch, Gregory Peck, Barbara Stanwyck, King Vidor, Billy Wilder, and Darryl F. Zanuck.

The portraits span from the 1910s through the 1950s, while the travel photographs document Negulesco’s travels in Europe, the United States, Mexico, Cuba, and Haiti.

Jean Negulesco (1900-1993) was born in Craiova, Dolj, Romania. He began his career as a visual artist and moved to Paris at a young age to paint, draw, and socialize with many famous artists of the day such as Amadeo Modigliani. In the late 1920s, he travelled to New York to exhibit his work then made his way to California. In 1932, he was hired by Paramount Pictures as a sketch artist and technical advisor.

Jean then wrote several screenplays as well as directed many shorts for the Warner Brothers Melody Masters series and the Fighting Men series during World War II. He was a second unit director on A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1932). Though his first feature film was SINGAPORE WOMAN (1941) it was not until 1944 that Negulesco began directing only feature films after spending several years as a director of short films. Among his notable films are JOHNNY BELINDA (1948), HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (1953), THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN (1954), DADDY LONG LEGS (1955), and BOY ON A DOLPHIN (1957), which catapulted Sophia Loren to fame. On set and off, Jean was known for drawing caricatures of famous actors, actresses and those associated with the film industry. Negulesco was nominated for a Best Director Academy Award for JOHNNY BELINDA IN 1949. He served as director for the 27th (1954) Academy Awards show in 1955.

In the early 1960s, to produce his own films Jean formed the corporations Arts & Formes, Arts & Establishments, and Tiga Productions. He proceeded to engage in co-productions with European investors beginning with JESSICA (1962) and ending with HELLO-GOODBYE (1970), his final film. At that point, he and Dusty Negulesco had relocated to Marbella, Spain where he turned to writing his autobiography titled, “The Things I Did …and Things I Think I Did,” published in 1984. Late in life, Jean enjoyed tributes and retrospectives of his work at film festivals and events around the world. He died at the age of 93 in 1993.

Dusty Negulesco (b. 1918) was born Ruth Edwin Anderson in Toledo, Ohio. Dusty started as a model and pin-up girl during World War II then acted in a few films in the 1940s before marrying Jean Negulesco in 1946. They adopted two daughters in the early 1960s and remained married until Jean Negulesco’s death. Dusty was a singer and composer of song lyrics for several of Jean’s films including JESSICA (1962), HELLO-GOODBYE (1970), and THE INVINCIBLE SIX (1971).