WHM: The Iconic Shirley Hamilton
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How better to really kick off Women’s History Month here at Shirley Hamilton, than to celebrate and commemorate our very own inimitable namesake? For while you may gaze around the vast city of Chicago these days and recognize many influential women dominating the high ranks of our industry, both in Talent Representation and Casting, you can bet your bottom dollar this was not always the case. And you can certainly thank our personal OG Queen Bee, Ms. Shirley Hamilton.
First to paint the picture.
Shirley was born in the “roaring” 1921, but was soon after abandoned on the steps of Chicago’s Robert Burns Hospital by her birth mother. Discovered by the hospital staff and lovingly dubbed Betty Burns (get it?), baby Shirley lived at Robert Burns during her earliest years, commuting home with resident doctors on weekends. It was during one of these babysitting doctor’s weekends that Shirley co-hosted (by proxy) a poker game, at which was couple Ernie and Josie Hultgren who were enamored with little orphaned Betty. World: meet Shirley Huntgren.
Fast forward. Shirley Huntgren (gorgeous as she was) started modeling in high school to rake in some additional income to assist her parents, and continued this career after high school. Huntgren eventually became Hamilton, when she married her high school sweetheart Grant in 1943, in the midst of the second World War. After Grant’s return from deployment a couple of years later, the couple settled back in Chicago – he a photographer, and she still modeling and acting commercially.
And then the foundation of it all: in the 50s Shirley began working for Patricia Stevens – at the time, owner of Chicago’s largest talent agency and modeling school. In a do-or-die scenario, Stevens appoints Shirley as her on-camera replacement – she must host on WGN-TV’s weekend talk show while Stevens jets off on her honeymoon. The end result? Shirley is promoted to Director of the modeling agency side of the business.
In 1962, following an incompatible stint with another agency Talent, Inc., and coupled with the enthusiastic encouragement of her former top Stevens clients, Shirley decided to take the plunge and found her namesake: Shirley Hamilton, Inc. A precursor to the now all too familiar “home office” – thanks, COVID – Shirley operated out of her home, with her husband Grant balancing the books.
SHI’s first dedicated work space was no larger than a closet — literally. She simply had a desk and a (landline) telephone, stationed inside her music producer friend Jerry Abbott’s storage closet on Michigan Ave. Recollected by her daughter Lynne, Shirley’s energy and dedication to her talent and business was legendary, assigning new meaning to the phrase “work ethic.” She didn’t pack up at 5 p.m. like her Michigan Ave. advertising counterparts; oh no. She worked late into the night, calling talent from home, puffing her cigarette with audition schedules splayed. "She always wanted to be at work," Lynne has said. “Shirley always put her actors first.”
Shirley has been resting peacefully since 2011, but her legacy has not wavered. In the words of veteran agent Linda Jack (of Grossman Jack), at a time when women in authority and women business owners were a silent minority, Shirley Hamilton showed other women that they could start their own business and be successful: “Having seen what Shirley had done gave them confidence in their own abilities to try it for themselves, me being one of them.” Our fellow industry colleague, Lily Lui, was registered on Shirley’s roster before founding her own agency, Lily’s Talent in ‘83. Another industry name you may recognize, Dawn Gray of Gray Talent Group, interned at SHI under Shirley herself before her own entrance into talent management and ownership. Chicago’s own Stewart Talent’s Joan Sparks has shared: “Shirley Hamilton was the first. She paved the way for many.” Today, as you know, Shirley Hamilton Inc. is operated and championed by her daughters, Lynne and Laurie Hamilton.
Perhaps because Shirley began her life fending for herself, she was destined to become the firecracker force of trail-blazing achievement she was. Or maybe more likely, she worked her tail off, brushing away adversity during the “Mad Men” age with grace and determination. It is thanks to her unparalleled commitment, later instilled in her children, that Shirley Hamilton Talent stands as the oldest talent agency in Chicago, indisputably contributing to Chicago’s spot on the entertainment map.
In honor of Women’s History Month, we hope you appreciate Shirley’s and Shirley Hamilton Talent’s history and legacy as much as we do. We hope Shirley’s story inspires perpetual confidence in the raw ability of women to lead, to succeed, and to revolutionize. As always: onwards and upwards.
Sincerely,
Shirley Hamilton Talent, Est. 1962
Cheers to 59 years, and counting.
author: lara freeman-erbin