DARE WRIGHT, MIDCENTURY PHOTOGRAPHER, MODEL, CHILDREN'S AUTHOR

Oznell · ‎11-08-2014

Tantalizingly, every so often, someone comes out and promises to make some film version or other of the life of ethereal, one-of-a-kind Dare Wright, author of the magical children's series, "The Lonely Doll".

Her haunting photographs are rooted in her strange, chaotic childhood with her mother Edith Stevenson, well-known painter and White House portraitist. It is a tale of loss, family fracture, and smothering symbiosis, chronicled in former "New York Observer" staff writer Jean Nathan's biography "The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll-- The Search for Dare Wright".

Nevertheless, Dare created a magical world with her doll and teddy bear stories, and managed to live a life of fantasy and much beauty. She never married, losing her British RAF flyer and winery heir fiance early on. From then on, she eluded capture, ultimately spurning each of her multitudes of suitors. One of the most important relationships in her life, that with her long-lost brother Blaine, she singlehandedly revived against her mother's opposition, and cherished:

Even with my new-found ability to post pictures here (ha-- thanks to a poster who explained it so simply and lucidly!), I cannot convey the fascination of Dare Wright's life. You'd just have to read Jean Nathan's book. Or see that movie, if and when it comes out!

Who could play Dare? Must have or be able to simulate, that fey, other-worldly quality she had-- let's see. Emma Stone? Amanda Seyfreid? Carey Mulligan, probably.

on the bay · ‎03-09-2010

@Oznell -

I had that book when I was little and my mother read it to us many times. It was one of my favorites especially because of the wonderful photographs that provided the illustrations.

Thank you for posting this. This is the first time I'm reading about the author.

I'll have to read that book!

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"

Oznell · ‎11-08-2014

That's so neat that you were read "The Lonely Doll" in your childhood, @on the bay! Jean Nathan said in her book that she had that vivid childhood memory as well, and it sent her on a quest to find more about the author, and ultimately become her biographer...