Hollywood costume designer Leah Rhodes began her career as a window designer in Port Arthur and San Antonio. She and her husband, James Glasier, moved to California in 1926, and she began her studio career in the wardrobe department of Warner Brothers. A few months later, she became a shopper for the workshop's designers, then became assistant to the head designer, Orry Kelly. When Kelly was drafted in 1942, Rhodes took over as stylist for Old Acquaintance, starring Bette Davis.

 

Rhodes went on to dress many of Warner Brothers' biggest stars, including Ingrid Bergman, Hedy Lamar, Doris Day, and Jane Wyman.

 

In 1949, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences elected for the first time to include Oscars for costuming - one for both black and white and color. Rhodes won the second Oscar for Best Color Costume Design in 1950 for her work in The Adventures of Don Juan, starring Viveca Lindfors and Errol Flynn. 

 

Many of her designs played an important part in creating screen history. Lauren Bacall's gowns for The Big Sleep (1946) set the standard for the Bacall 'look' in subsequent films.

 

She left Warner's in 1952 to freelance, working for Universal Studios and Paramount, where she worked closely with designer Edith Head, one of the most famous costume designers in Hollywood. On Broadway, she collaborated with Head on the costumes for Edwin Booth (1959), directed by José Ferrer.

 

Rhodes was passionate about her work and continued to create costumes until she was in her 80s. Her Oscar statuette along with some of her original costume drawings can be viewed at the Museum of the Gulf Coast.