“Wait a minute, Kim,” I hear you ask. “You mean that old bat who was in Mary Poppins ?”
Uh huh. Except that she didn’t always look like that.
Lovely.
Category: Classic Beauty
Classic Beauty: Patricia Neal
The problem was not that Patricia Neal was a beauty — she was. The problem was that nobody actually saw her beauty because she was an electrifying actress. (Never forget that it was her performance as Olivia Walton in an otherwise-forgettable movie that spawned the popular TV series The Waltons.) Here she is:
Elegant and graceful, she was the thinking man’s alternative to the otherwise-forgettable stars of the 1950s.
Classic Beauty: Maureen O’Hara
I watched The Quiet Man not so long ago, and fell in love yet again with the exquisite Maureen O’Hara.
Oh, and in glorious, flaming-red color:
Truly, a classic.
Classic Beauty: Pier Angeli
Outside the classic Italian beauties (Sophia, Gina etc.) I’m not quite sure that anyone of that ilk came close to Pier Angeli.
And in color:
Just exquisite. And a tragic, early death from suicide at age 39.
Classic Beauty: Anna Magnani
Quite possibly the greatest actress who ever lived, Anna Magnani was so good because whatever character she played, she was always playing herself. No better description of her acting is this one: “Whenever Magnani laughs or cries (which is often), it’s as if you’ve never seen anyone laugh or cry before: has laughter ever been so burstingly joyful or tears so shatteringly sad?”
And her best quote ever:
“No man can control me, although many have tried.”
Classic Beauty: Suzanne Pleshette
I’ve loved this extraordinary woman since I was a 6-year-old boy, when I tagged along with my parents to see Roman Holiday (a.k.a. Lovers Must Learn ), coming soon to TCM. OMG that face, that laugh, and that voice…
Not to mention her other attributes:
Here’s a political joke:
If I’d ever woken up next to her, you’d have had to pull me out of bed at gunpoint — with no guarantee of my compliance, either.