{{Short description|American interior designer and decorator (1916–2019)}} {{Infobox person |name = Laura Mako |image = |caption = |birth_name = Laura Mae Church |birth_date = May 29, 1916 |birth_place = Leonardtown, Maryland |death_date = {{death date and age|2019|5|5|1916|5|29}} |death_place = |other_names = |known_for = |spouse = Gene Mako |occupation = Interior decorator }}
'''Laura Mako''' (May 29, 1916 – May 5, 2019) was an American interior designer and decorator known for decorating the homes of many Hollywood stars.<ref name="THR">{{cite web | title=Laura Mako, Interior Designer for Hollywood Legends, Dies at 102 | website=The Hollywood Reporter | date=14 May 2019 | url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/laura-mako-dead-interior-decorator-hollywood-legends-was-102-1210698 | access-date=2020-01-23}}</ref>
== History == Her family was from Saint Mary's County, Maryland.<ref name="St. Marys College of Maryland Digital Archives">{{cite web |title=Mako, Laura Mae : oral history interview :: SlackWater Archive |url=http://smcm.cdmhost.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/p4105coll5/id/516/rec/1 |access-date=2020-01-24 |website=St. Mary's College of Maryland Digital Archives}}</ref><ref name="Los Angeles Times 1999">{{cite web |date=1999-01-10 |title=Talking His Way Out of Beach House |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jan-10-re-62111-story.html |access-date=2020-01-24 |website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> She attended Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School and graduated from New York School of Interior Design.<ref name="Park Labrea News/ Beverly Press 2019">{{cite web |date=2019-05-23 |title=Beverly Hills resident and notable interior designer Laura Church Mako mourned |url=https://beverlypress.com/2019/05/beverly-hills-resident-and-notable-interior-designer-laura-church-mako-mourned/ |access-date=2020-01-24 |website=Park Labrea News/ Beverly Press}}</ref>
She did interior design for Bob Hope, Henry Mancini and Dean Martin.<ref name="THR" /><ref name="JG">{{cite news |title=Dorothy Manners' Hollywood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=5380586 |accessdate=24 January 2020 |work=Journal Gazette |date=May 14, 1975 |location=Mattoon Illinois |page=12}}</ref> She designed the interiors of Betty and Gerald Ford's post-Presidency home in Rancho Mirage, California with a style the New York Times called "Palm Springs via Palm Beach," and Town & Country called "desert modern aesthetic...and, most importantly, happy."<ref name="The New York Times 2015">{{cite web | title=Gerald and Betty Ford's Restoration Politics | website=The New York Times | date=2015-03-27 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/t-magazine/rancho-mirage-gerald-betty-ford-house.html | access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref> Mako designed home interiors and also Hollywood institutions such as the Jessica Nail Clinic, the home of Princess Shams and events such as the wedding of her daughter, Princess Scheherazade (décor of the reception).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1976-12-08 |title=Laura Mako attends wedding of Princes Scheherazade |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/irving-daily-news-laura-mako-attends-wed/5380634/ |access-date=2024-03-02 |work=Irving Daily News |pages=7}}</ref><ref name="Yahoo 2018">{{cite web | title=Jessica Nail Clinic Opens Remodeled Space on Sunset | website=Yahoo | date=2018-08-26 | url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jessica-nail-clinic-opens-remodeled-space-sunset-195328761.html | access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Dorothy Manners' Hollywood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=5380634 |accessdate=24 January 2020 |work=Irving Daily News |date=December 8, 1976 |location=Irving, Texas |page=7}}</ref>
==Personal life== Mako was born Laura Mae Church and married Gene Mako in November 1941.<ref name="THR" /> She was considered a protegee of Helen Hayes and was given away by Hayes' husband Charles MacArthur at her wedding.<ref name="EN">{{cite news |date=November 26, 1941 |title=Gene Mako and Judge's Daughter to Wed Today |work=The Evening News |location=Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |page=17 |agency=United Press}}</ref> She was a godmother to Lorenzo Lamas.<ref name="Lamas Lenburg 2014 p. 104">{{cite book |last1=Lamas |first1=L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_mfoBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA104 |title=Renegade at Heart: An Autobiography |last2=Lenburg |first2=J. |publisher=BenBella Books, Incorporated |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-941631-26-3 |page=104 |language=cy |access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mako, Laura}} Category:1916 births Category:2019 deaths Category:American designers Category:American women interior designers Category:American interior designers Category:21st-century American women Category:Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School alumni
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