Stars in My Eyes

This work comprises a collection of celebrity portraits, rendered both in ink drawings and in prose. Internationally known portraitist Don Bachardy made each drawing from life in the course of a few hours, sketching the actors, writers, artists, composers, directors and Hollywood elite he knew and lived among with his partner, Christopher Isherwood. Then, he made notes in his diaries on the experience of making each portrait. Made in the 1970s and 1980s, Bachardy's drawings and prose sketches capture many celebrities near the end of their careers (Ruby Keeler, Vincente Minelli, Laurence Oliver) and others at the height of their stardom (Jack Nicholson, Mia Farrow, Linda Ronstadt). Bette Davis offers to cook him lunch and haplessly overboils the beets, sits for three drawings and renders her judgement: "Yup, that's the old bag". Barbara Stanwyck threatens that she might scandalize him with her cussing. Aaron Copeland grouses, "Well, it makes me look benign". Ellsworth Kelly admits to being a fan of "The Road Warrior". Jerry Brown commissions an official portrait.