Classic Beauties: Audrey Tatou

She was named after Audrey Hepburn, and her parents must have had some extraordinary foreknowledge, because Audrey Tatou is probably the closest thing we have to the classy, gamine and always-elegant Hepburn.  Let’s start with her face:

…then zoom out a little:

…just a bit more:

…and into the tout ensemble:

I know, she’s slender to the point of skinny, quite unlike my usual preference.

But then again, Audrey Hepburn was just as skinny, and it’s to her that we’re comparing her namesake, and not to the pumped-up, pneumatically-enhanced and overblown actresses of the modern era.

Exquisite.  Absolutely wonderful.


By the way, I happen to think that the Tatou Audrey is a far better actress than the Hepburn Audrey.  On her own (in Amélie) she was brilliant, and in The Da Vinci Code  she more than stood up to the towering talent that surrounded her:  Alfred Molina, Ian McKellern, the incomparable Jean Reno and of course, leading man Tom Hanks.

Not just a pretty face, she.

Ginger Nuts

…that would be me.  Crazy ’bout them redheads.

Apparently, today is Kiss A Ginger Day (don’t ask how or why, I just report what I read SOTI).  Ordinarily I’m opposed to made-up holidays (e.g. MLK Day or Secretary’s Day), but I think I could bend the rules for this one.

Sadly, though, I’ll not be able to get into the spirit of the thing, for all sorts of reasons (including being married, and to a non-redhead withal, and not actually knowing any real redheads at the moment).  And my innate sense of self-respect (not to mention fear of los federales ) prevents me from just planting a smooch on the cheek of a random redhead I may encounter in the street.

However, I can play a game, that being:

Of the redheads pictured below, which ONE (as pictured) would you like to kiss above all the others?

And to make it interesting, there’s no chaste peck-on-the-cheek bullshit;  it would be a long, tongue-‘n-teeth affair which could get you arrested in twenty states.  Here they are:

Amy Adams

Ann-Margret

Angela Scanlon

Deborah Kerr

Gina Lollobrigida

Greer Garson

Cassandra Peterson

(a.k.a. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark)

Gillian Anderson

Isla Fisher

Jessica Chastain

Sarah Rafferty

Alicia Witt

Kathy Douglas

Maureen O’Hara

Lindsay Lohan

Jill St. John

Karen Gillan

Emma Stone

Maisie Smith

Patsy Palmer

Shirley-Ann Field

Kate Walsh

Poppy Montgomery

Rhonda Fleming

Perhaps the ultimate Ginger:

Tina Louise

And finally:

Just any old ginger will do, thanks

If I’ve omitted your favorite ginger, feel free to tell me all about it in Comments.

Just remember that Christina Hendricks isn’t a real redhead… if that’s important.

Lady Readers may go below decks, so to speak:

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Classic Beauties: Mistresses (4)

Let’s confine ourselves to just one horny royal today, this being France’s Louis XV, who was a very busy lad.

Madame de Pompadour

…who wasn’t just his mistress, but pretty much the equivalent of his chief of staff (yeah, that staff as well).

Marie-Anne de La Tournelle
…who joined each of her four sisters as mistress of Louis XV.  Ran through the family, he did.

Marie-Louise O’Murphy
One of the few of all the royal mistresses who gave us a peek at her whole body, thanks to having been a model for artist François Boucher.

Madame du Barry

Now this was an interesting one.  Not only did Madame du Barry go through the French court and nobility like a cleaver through a lamb — she must have had considerable bedroom skills — but she was also the longtime mistress of the grandson of Louis V, Louis XVI.

A multi-generational floozy!  Sadly, though, the French Revolution’s guillotine was the last thing she gave head to.

Current Wallpaper

It’s another of the Lingmoor Fell series, and I find it extremely restful — on those rare occasions when all the laptop’s windows are closed and I can actually see it.  One day I’m going to go there…

Right-click to embiggen etc.