Shirley MacLaine may get top billing in 1964’s What a Way to Go!, but sharp-eyed cineastes might notice another big name in the final frame of the film’s opening credits: Harry Winston. Legendary costume designer Edith Head had a $500,000 budget for the kooky comedy, and the New York City–based jeweler loaned $3.5 million worth of jewelry for the production. “In case anyone has forgotten,” she wrote in her memoir, “that was a damn fortune in the early 1960s.” (It still is: Adjusted for inflation, it’s nearly $35 million today.) According to the studio, MacLaine’s debut in the “diamond dress”—along with $2,500,000 in Winston jewels—produced gasps of admiration. Plus this quip from costar Robert Mitchum: “Yes, but can she cook?”
Top: Edith Head created 72 outrageous outfits, including this $8,500 rhinestone gown, for MacLaine. (photo: 20th Century Fox/Everett Collection)
