Ivy Nicholson facts for kids

Ivy Nicholson was an American model and actress. She was born on February 22, 1933, and passed away on October 25, 2021.

Early Life and Start in Modeling

Ivy grew up in Cypress Hills, New York. She came from a working-class family.

She started modeling when she was 16 years old. Her first modeling job was in a Brooklyn department store after she won a beauty contest. As a teenager, she moved to Greenwich Village in New York City. She also worked in the Garment District, a famous area for clothing design and production.

A Successful Model

Ivy Nicholson became a very successful model. She appeared on the covers of many famous fashion magazines. These included Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Life, Mademoiselle, and Elle.

In the mid-1950s, she was linked with Colin Tennant, who was the son of a baron.

Modeling in Europe

Later, Ivy moved to Italy. There, she worked for many well-known fashion designers. Some of these designers were Irene Galitzine, Fernanda Gattinoni, the Sorelle Fontana, Simonetta, Alberto Fabiani, and Emilio Pucci.

Famous artist Salvador Dalí even painted her for Life Magazine. Another magazine, Look Magazine, reported in 1960 that she was also painted by artists like Marc Chagall, Lucian Freud, and her friend Bernard Buffet.

At the time of the Look article, Ivy was living in Paris, France. She was married to a French writer and actor named Count Regis Ruyneau St. Georges de Poleon.

Working with Andy Warhol

After living in Europe, Ivy Nicholson came back to the United States. She became part of the group around the famous artist Andy Warhol.

Gerard Malanga, a poet and photographer who was part of Warhol's group, said that Andy Warhol was very impressed by her. Malanga added that Ivy became Warhol's "first superstar."

Billy Name, a photographer who worked at Andy Warhol's Factory, took a photo of Ivy in 1966. He wrote that she was a "glamorous model who had recently arrived in New York from Europe."

Ivy also acted in films made at The Factory. She was shown in a film called Andy Warhol's Factory People. She also danced the Frug for a few minutes in the film Lonesome Cowboys.

Catherine O'Sullivan Schorr included a picture of Ivy in her book Andy Warhol's Factory People. The caption described her as a "Fiery fashion model Ivy Nicholson in a rare docile moment sits for a Warhol Screen Test."

Family Life

Ivy Nicholson had four children: three sons and one daughter. In 1963, she married John Palmer. He was a co-director of Andy Warhol's silent film Empire. Their marriage was short, and they had twins together. Ivy also had another son from a different relationship.

Later Years

In her later years, Ivy Nicholson faced difficult times. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that in the early 1980s, she was living in a tough part of San Francisco.

For some time, she was homeless in San Francisco. The New York Times wrote that she "spent her last decades in or near poverty, sometimes homeless." Even so, she would often tell people that she was working her way back up.

In 2014, Ivy lived in Venice Beach, California. However, by 2018, she was homeless again. Ivy Nicholson passed away on October 25, 2021. She was 88 years old and died at an assisted living facility in Bellflower, California.