The Story of ‘Sports Illustrated’ Swimsuit Editor Jule Campbell: Turning Models to Superstars (EXCL)
A new doc reveals why the magazine's iconic photo shoots 'were never just a girl in a bathing suit'
Jule Campbell may not be a household name, but she’s had a major cultural impact. As the founding editor of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Campbell was the driving force behind countless iconic images, and her work was essential to creating the popular conception of the supermodel.
In the Mad Men-style world of ’60s media, Campbell made her mark as one of the few women in a position of power, and over the course of an impressive career that lasted from 1965 to 1996, she transformed the Swimsuit Issue from a piece of filler meant to keep readers entertained during a quiet season in sports to a juggernaut that elevated models to stardom and simultaneously generated admiration and controversy for its sexy imagery.
Campbell, who died in 2022 at 96, is a fascinating figure, and the new documentary Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue, directed by her daughter-in-law, Jill Campbell, is now playing in theaters in New York, with more screenings to follow around the country later this year.
The film illuminates the woman behind the Swimsuit Issue through conversations with Campbell during her final years, a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage and interviews with supermodels Christie Brinkley, Kathy Ireland, Tyra Banks, Elle Macpherson, Paulina Porizkova, Cheryl Tiegs, Kim Alexis, Roshumba Williams, Carol Alt and Stacey Williams.
Director Jill Campbell sat down with Woman’s World to discuss the process of putting her documentary together and share fun stories from the Swimsuit Issue’s heyday.
Woman’s World: You obviously have a personal connection to Jule Campbell, but how did this documentary come to be?
Jill Campbell: I’ve been doing documentaries for 20 years, and I always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to do a documentary on Jule, but it was never the right time. She wanted to write a book after she retired, and that’s why she saved everything, which is a documentarian’s dream.
We actually moved in with her during Covid, and we’d make sure she was well-fed and kept her company. I found her in this really prolific mindset, where she had all of these beautiful and authentic pearls of wisdom, so I would take my iPhone out and start filming her, because I just wanted to memorialize what she said. Eventually I went home and thought about it, and I realized, “Now’s the time. I need to make a documentary on her.” She was 93, and I asked her and Bruce, my ex-husband, and they were okay with it. We came back with our cameras, and we filmed her for the last two years of her life, which was a blessing.
Unfortunately, she didn’t get to see the finished product, but every time I interviewed one of the women that she worked with, I would ask them to send her a message on camera. So I edited that, and I brought it to her in the hospital, and we watched it together, which was really beautiful and bittersweet. They really wanted to give back to her, and they really appreciate what she did for their careers.
WW: Did you learn anything surprising about Jule’s career through the process of making the film?
JC: I knew there was controversy. I grew up in the ’80s, so things weren’t great, and it was before the #MeToo movement, but I didn’t realize how maligned she was on a daily basis, and how much she had to fight for her vision. I also didn’t realize just how intensely sexist the culture was at Sports Illustrated. I gained even more respect for her through learning about how she was able to navigate that. In today’s lens people might balk at it, because she had to be sneaky. She had to do things behind the scenes. She figured out a way to navigate that sexist ’60s male office environment and get done what she wanted to get done.
WW: What was it like going through all the archival footage of vintage Swimsuit Issue shoots?
JC: What’s really funny is that Jule kept her archive in the chicken coop in the backyard of her farm, and she stored her photos in these foam core ice coolers that actually kept everything perfect.
The whole time I was married to Bruce—we’re exes now, but we’re a modern family—I always wanted to get into that chicken coop. I was so curious about it. When we decided to do the documentary, she allowed me to go in the chicken coop, and my mind was blown. There were probably 40,000 slides, Polaroids and Super 8 films. I’d be finding dead mice and then picking up gorgeous photos of Tyra Banks and Christie Brinkley and other supermodels. The irony was so interesting.
I was so happy to find Polaroids of Cheryl Tiegs in her white fishnet swimsuit, because the first act climax of my film is when she’s photographed in this suit for the 1978 issue and her nipples are exposed, which caused a big controversy. We had the photos that were in the magazine, but to get Jule’s Polaroids that she took behind the scenes of the shoot just blew me away.
WW: Now that Jule’s gone, what’s going to happen to all of her old photos?
JC: We’ve digitized about 5,000 of the images and we want to digitize the rest of them. We definitely want to do some sort of book with the Polaroids, because they’re outstanding, and we would love to donate the material to an archival collection or gallery. That’s next on my agenda, because it’s ridiculous to have them just sitting there. We’ve saved as much as we could from the chicken coop, but there’s still more and we have to get them out, because the coop is falling apart.
I love that the photos are attracting a vibrant demographic in their 20s and 30s, which I didn’t expect. A lot of people my age know about this, but I feel like it’s speaking to women of all ages. Jule would really match the swimsuits to the scenery, and the photos were all gorgeous. She had this eye where everything was artful, so it was never just a girl in a bathing suit.
WW: How did Jule go about choosing models?
JC: She used to say, “First, they have to be smart, and second, they can’t be divas.” They would go on month-long trips, and if they were divas or they weren’t intelligent, her shoots could be ruined. Of course, she also went for looks, and she would look at every magazine and go to fashion shows and get recommendations from people. I found thousands of photos from wannabe models who would send their headshots to her, but I think she just had that thing where she always knew what the “it” factor was.
There’s a real naturalness to the “Campbell-esque” model look. There weren’t fillers and Botox back then, and it shows. I also love that all of these models are now aging gracefully. They’re role models and they’re proud to share their age and their accomplishments.
WW: Jule always featured the names of the models in the magazines. What impact did that have?
JC: I think she was an early influencer, and all these women were. Jule respected the women she worked with; she did whatever she could to lift them up. Including their names helped them become superstars. She hired and worked with really smart women who knew that they should take advantage of this game, and they all pivoted and created businesses. Kathy Ireland, Cheryl Tiegs, Elle Macpherson, Carol Alt, Christie Brinkley, Tyra Banks—look at the businesses that they run today, and they’re not just about their images and magazines.
WW: In the documentary, Christie Brinkley recounts a funny story of doing a photo shoot with an elephant. Do you have any other fun anecdotes that didn’t make it to the film?
JC: The story with the elephant was so funny, but I also love that Jule allowed Christie to bring her daughter on the trip, and I thought that spoke to Jule as a mother. I didn’t realize just how hysterical Christie is. She invited us to her house and we filmed all day long, and she was so gracious.
Christie told us a really funny story about when she was working in the Seychelles. They would go to these hotels in the middle of nowhere in the ’70s and ’80s, and she went to her room and as she was getting out of the shower, she went to grab her towel, and she put her hand down and there was a big spider. Before she knew it, there were like 20 spiders all over her room, and she dropped her towel and ran out of the room, so she was naked running straight down to Jule’s room and screaming about spiders. We were laughing so hard imagining the other guests seeing Christie Brinkley running through the hallway like that!
The film is serious, but I love that we have humor in it, and the models brought some great stories.
Conversation
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