No study of 1960’s Pulchritude would be complete without Julie Christie:
Some other time, we’ll look at her in color.
Category: Classic Beauty
Classic Beauty: Jane Greer
Doomed by her contract to stand forever in the shadow of Ava Gardner and Lana Turner (the studio’s favorites at the time), Jane Greer was once called “the greatest actress never to win an Oscar”. And it’s quite true: as the femme fatale in so much of the 1940s-era noir genre, she showed a sinister stillness about her roles that set her apart from the overacting of most of her female peers. I think I only ever saw her in Out Of The Past, in which she was every bit the equal of the brooding, brilliant Robert Mitchum.
So let’s have a look, shall we?
And out of costume:
Of course, no look at a noir actress would be complete without a gun:
Deadly.
Classic Beauty: Grace Kelly
So much has been written about Princess Grace of Monaco a.k.a. Grace Kelly that I’m not going to bother with any kind of commentary. Let’s just feast our eyes, shall we?
And in glorious Technicolor:
Still the best example of classy beauty, after all these years.
Modern Classic Beauty: Charlotte Rampling
Probably one of the better examples of the femme fatale in the movies, Charlotte Rampling evoked the Swinging Sixties — the last few years thereof at any rate — as much as anyone.
It helped that she was, and still is, a brilliant actress — equally fluent in French and English — and so has never had to get by just by showing off her body.
Although she was never shy about that, either:
And in color:
Add to that a glorious, sexy contralto like Lauren Bacall’s…
…which means (like Bacall) pure sex appeal at any age.
And then there’s that “showing off the body” thing:
Classic Beauty: Lauren Bacall
Was there ever a sexier woman than Lauren Bacall? I mean, that immortal scene in To Have And Have Not with Bogart — he never stood a chance, did he? — is all the more incredible when you realize that she played that sex-drenched role at age nineteen, and was yet totally believable.
(In real life, at age 17, she’d already been bonking a classmate at acting school, one Issur Danielovitch.)
You can read the back story of her sexy, sultry voice and “The Look” over here.
But right here:
And for those of you who just have to see things in color:
And when she wasn’t being all sexy ‘n sultry ‘n stuff, she was still gorgeous:
Good grief, Betty.
Classic Beauty: Irene Dunne
Probably the greatest actress never to win an Academy Award (despite five nominations!), Irene Dunne was that rarity: a beautiful, dignified and regal person both in real life and in movies, despite being most famous as a comedic actress.
I’ve seen three or four of her movies, and the best of them (The White Cliffs Of Dover, which I have on DVD) probably half a dozen times. (Also recommended: Love Affair with Charles Boyer, which I’ve only seen twice, but that’s going to be remedied soon, and White Cliffs… errrrr maybe tonight?) Also, The Awful Truth is one of the funniest comedy movies ever made. (You may thank me later.)
Anyway, here she is:
Oh, and did I mention that she also had an exquisite soprano singing voice? She wuz robbed (x5).