Model. She was the favorite subject, and for a time the wife, of photographer Edward Weston. Born Helen Charis Wilson (she dropped the "Helen" as her mother had the same name), the child of author Henry Leon Wilson, she was raised by an aunt and great aunt within the San Francisco literary community. Charis earned a scholarship to Sarah Lawrence College, but Depression era financial reversals prevented her from accepting it; she worked as a secretary, clerked in her mother's dress shop, was an actress with a French language troupe, and lived a somewhat Bohemian life prior to meeting the much older Weston in January, 1934. The pair moved in together (eventually marrying in 1939), and Weston, already known for nude photography, began using her for many of his images. Her contributions were much more than aesthetic; Charis wrote the grant application when Weston became the first photographer to win a Guggenheim Fellowship, and she was said to be the actual author of the articles her partner "wrote" for professional journals. She split with Weston in 1945, and married labor activist Noel Harris the next year on the day after her divorce became final. Over the years, she worked as a secretary and taught creative writing, but much of her time was taken up writing and speaking of her association with Weston. She appeared in a 2007 documentary, authored an essay for at least one collection of nudes, and, in 1999, published her autobiography, "Through the Lens". At her death, Charis' image, with and without clothing, as recorded by her one-time husband, remained in print as part of numerous photographic collections. Reflecting back, she said: "When I look at the nudes Edward made of me during our last years together, I am struck by the sad face of that young woman who was me".