Shirley Ritts

Who was Shirley Ritts?

Shirley Ritts was an American interior designer whose company helped to popularize rattan furniture in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. Ritts was the mother of photographer and music video director, Herb Ritts.

Shirley Ritts was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 28, 1920. Her father was an ophthalmologist. She married her husband, Herb Ritts in 1950, who happened to own a furniture company at the time. The Ritts Company benefited from the popularity of rattan furniture during the post-World War II era. Herb Ritts acted as the company's furniture designer, while Shirley was in charge of sales and marketing. The couple had four children whom they raised in a 27 room Spanish-style house in Brentwood, California.

Shirley Ritts assisted with the set design on Elvis Presley's 1961 film, Blue Hawaii, in which she used rattan furniture and Polynesian design. Ritts often traveled extensively once her company introduced a line of high-end acrylic furniture.

Ritts and her husband, Herb, divorced during the late 1970s. Then remarried him in the 1990s until his death in 2000.