[Ads-l] Phrase: drop-dead gorgeous - NYT obit for Richard Corliss and OED

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Nancy Friedman @Fritinancy tweeted an interesting note about the
obituary for film critic Richard Corliss. He was credited in the NYT
with coining the phrase "drop-dead gorgeous".

Website: New York Times nytimes.com
Article: Richard Corliss, 71, Longtime Film Critic for Time, Dies
Author: Bruce Weber
Date: April 24, 2015

http://nyti.ms/1Jptu2B
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/business/media/richard-corliss-71-longtime-film-critic-for-time-dies.html

[Begin excerpt]
He expressed adoration of movie stars as different as James Stewart
and Cameron Diaz. In a 1985 review of the comedy-thriller "Into the
Night," he described Michelle Pfeiffer as "drop-dead gorgeous,"
purportedly coining the phrase.
[End excerpt]

The Oxford English Dictionary has a relevant entry for drop-dead as an
adjective and adverb.

drop-dead, adj. and adv.
OED Third Edition, December 2001
[Begin excerpt]
colloq. (orig. U.S.).
 A. adj.
 1. Stunning, striking, exceptional; breathtaking, heart-stopping.

1962   N.Y. Herald-Tribune 18 Jan. 14   Fashions from Florence not
drop-dead... For almost the first time in history Simonetta failed to
deliver an absolutely drop-dead collection.
. . .

2. B. adv.

  As an intensifier modifying an adjective, freq. emphasizing physical
attractiveness: extremely; strikingly, astonishingly, breathtakingly.
Freq. in drop-dead gorgeous.

1980   Washington Post 13 July c2/3   For drop dead chic food,
Harborplace has a sushi and tempura bar.

1985   Time (Nexis) 25 Feb. 96   Trim, smart and drop-dead gorgeous,
Pfeiffer has been nibbling at stardom since her stints in Grease II
and Scarface.

[End excerpt]

The 1985 citation was in a film review in Time magazine, and it was
probably written by Richard Corliss. The NYT obit writer may have
misinterpreted the OED entry and concluded that the earliest known
citation for "drop-dead gorgeous" was written by Corliss in 1985. But
the OED researcher was looking for the earliest adverbial use and was
not searching for the precise phrase "drop-dead gorgeous". In any
case, earlier instances can be found.

"drop-dead gorgeous" was employed in a UPI article in 1975. The
following cite also antedates the adverbial sense of "drop dead". I do
not know who wrote the UPI article.

Date: June 22, 1975
Newspaper: Sunday Herald Advertiser (Boston Herald)
Newspaper Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Article: Movies: Putting Watergate on Screen
Author: UPI News Service
Quote Page A13, Column 1
Database: GenealogyBank)

[Begin excerpt]
Five-hundred extras, patrons of the Corcoran Art Gallery, were hired
to look like classy theater-goers. A thousand more Kennedy Center
goers joined the mob along with a few members of the public who
sneaked in to rub elbows with Robert ("Drop-dead Gorgeous") Redford
[End excerpt]

Garson

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