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51 Duquette began creating costumes and settings for MGM productions under director Vincente Minnelli and interiors for Mary Pickford and Buddy Rogers, along with jewelry and special furnishings for de Wolfe herself. One of his most memorable commissions was from the Duke of Windsor for the Duchess: a platinum necklace of wreaths and flowers studded with large citrines, peridots, and pearls. The relationship between de Wolfe and Duquette was often volatile — the first volume ends with a ferocious yet humorous argument after she learns he took a paid job decorating a palazzo for the seductive former Queen of Greece. It's obvious how complicated and entwined their emotions became. "At the end of the day," Kuhnert tells me, "it's a story about self- actualization. We are peeling back the onion, continually. Is this the real Elsie? No, no, this is. When they have a fight, they hurt each other because essentially they have become each other." This page, clockwise from top: Tony Duquette and Hutton Wilkinson, late 1980s. The entry to Elsie de Wolfe's Paris apartment. An interior designed by Elsie de Wolfe. Tony Duquette-designed one-of-a -kind brooch with amber, citrines, pearls, and antique Victorian garnets. Opposite page, top: The drawing room at Dawnridge, 1990s, Tony Duquette's Beverly Hills home. Eighteenth century paintings, Piedmontese secretary, Venetian dolphins, and Billy Haines banquette sofa.