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Terry L Schilling 1948 - 1996

Terry L Schilling of Birmingham, Oakland County, MI was born on April 15, 1948, and died at age 47 years old on February 8, 1996.

Terry L Schilling

Birmingham, Oakland County, MI 48009

April 15, 1948

February 8, 1996

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Terry L Schilling Terry Schilling (1948 - 1996)

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Terry L Schilling's History: 1948 - 1996

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04/15

1948

Birthday

April 15, 1948

Birthdate

Unknown

Birthplace

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Professional Career

Celebrity hairdresser, Detroit 1980s
02/8

1996

Death

February 8, 1996

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

Unknown
Death location

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Obituary

Page 2B DETROIT FREE PRESS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1996 "Hairstylist found the spotlight and basked. He was our own version of Liberace" By Matt Helms Free Press Staff Writer In Terry Schilling's world big was everything. Big contracts to style the big hair of the biggest stars. Big jewels. Big drinks on big nights out on the town. Once called the hairdresser of metro Detroit, he was always promoting his next big book (he'd never gotten around to writing the first). He lied big time about his age always 29 or, later, 39. Through the 1970s and '80s, Detroit knew about what colognes he sported, what he thought of a dress at the fashion show the night before, how he adored his face-lift and would recommend one to anybody, and about his men's mail-order skin-care company that, in Detroit, was a big flop. Somehow, into the '90s, he was at the big parties. It was he who was quoted on all the big new discos and fashion trends. "When he started out in the business, he was one of the first people to really elevate the level of hairdresser to celebrity," said Jon Jordan, a friend and former colleague. "He not only served the rich and famous, he became one of them." Big time, in his own big way. ' Flamboyant to the end, Mr. Schilling or Terry the Fairy, as he once billed himself died from AIDS complications Thursday night while, as a friend noted, up to his elbows in jewels. He was at the home of a longtime friend in Oak Park. Leonard Terry Schilling was 47. The fact that he'd contracted HIV was one of the few things he kept to himself and a few friends, fearing it as an undignified way to die. One of those friends was former Free Press gossip columnist Shirley Eder, who referred to him in her stories as "our hairdresser." "When I first met him I thought, 'Who wants to get involved with this person,' " she recalled about his eccentric manner. "You had to get used to it, but he was funny. He was also good. I mean it. He was good to people." Among those he was reputed to have coiffed were Peggy Lee, Bette Midler, Elizabeth Taylor and Ginger Rogers. He was said to have had an eccentric manner you had to get used to, said former Free Press columnist Shirley Eder. She remembers him as funny and "good to people." down an offer to tour with supermodel Cindy Crawford. Friends no doubt are regaling each other with the stories that constantly surrounded Mr. Schilling's social excursions and his career. He wouldn't have had it any other way "Do I kibitz? Honey; I could kibitz in church," he once told the Free Press. And kibitz he did. He was never shy about speaking his mind, and his greatest accomplishment besides hairstyling may have been his ability to create a quotable persona. "He created Terry Schilling is what he did," said longtime friend Girard Thibert of Detroit. "He's like our own version of Liberace. He was the first one in the city in a white Rolls Royce, white furs, off to the opera. He was wild. Absolutely wild." But of course, it wasn't the opera he enjoyed so much as the chance to make a grand entrance, dripping in jewels, making jaw drop as if on cue, his 6-foot-3 frame usually topped with bleached blond hair, and in his hand, a cocktail or a glass of wine. Born'in Detroit, he got his start at age 15 at Mr. Arnold's beauty school in Femdale. He dropped out of Cass Tech High School at 16 because, he said later, school was boring and he could make money doing hair. He worked at several salons throughout Southfield and the Bir-mingham-Bloomfield corridor, catering to the wealthy. Wherever he went salons like Something Special, or Heidi's or Champions or, lastly, Bitonti he had a following, friends said, just as 'he'd always wanted. "He loved every minute of it," said Jordan. "He was outrageous before everybody was outrageous." Mr. Schilling is survived by two aunts and an uncle. A memorial service will be held at 9 a.m. March 9 at St. Gertrude Catholic Church, 28839 Jefferson, St. Clair Shores.

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