Brown, Helen Gurley (1922–)

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Brown, Helen Gurley (1922–)

American author and editor. Born Helen Gurley in Green Forest, Arkansas, Feb 18, 1922; dau. of Ira M. and Cleo (Sisca) Gurley; attended Texas State College for Women (now Texas Women's University), 1939–42, and Woodbury Business College, 1942; m. David Brown (film producer), Sept 1959.

Began career in advertising, winning 2 Frances Holmes Advertising Copywriters awards; published controversial bestseller Sex and the Single Girl (1962), followed by Sex and the Office (1964); appointed editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan (1965); turned Cosmopolitan into one of the five top-selling magazines in the US and made the "Cosmo Girl" the ideal among her young readers; achieved personal celebrity, espousing her views on tv and in further publications, including the autobiographical Having It All (1982); also wrote Outrageous Opinions (1966), Sex and the New Single Girl (1970) and The Late Show: A Semiwild But Practical Survival Plan for Women Over 50 (1993); retired (1997).

See also Women in World History.

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Brown, Helen Gurley (1922–)

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