Thursday, March 24, 2011

Here's to Life

LUISE RAINER
January 12, 1910

OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND
July 1, 1916

ZSA ZSA GABOR
February 6, 1917

CELESTE HOLM
April 29, 1917

JOAN FONTAINE
October 22, 1917

MAUREEN O'HARA
August 17, 1920

ESTHER WILLIAMS
August 8, 1921

DEANNA DURBIN
December 4, 1921

DORIS DAY
April 3, 1922

ELEANOR PARKER
June 26, 1922

LIZABETH SCOTT
September 29, 1922

RHONDA FLEMING
August 10, 1923

EVA MARIE SAINT
July 4, 1924

LAUREN BACALL
September 16, 1924

DOROTHY MALONE
January 30, 1925

ARLENE DAHL
August 11, 1925

ANGELA LANSBURY
October 16, 1925

GINA LOLLOBRIGIDA
July 4, 1927

SHIRLEY TEMPLE
April 23, 1928

NANCY OLSON
July 14, 1928

ANN BLYTH
August 16, 1928

JANE POWELL
April 1, 1929

TIPPI HEDREN
January 19, 1930

JOANNE WOODWARD
February 27, 1930

MAMIE VAN DOREN
February 6, 1931

JOAN COLLINS
May 23, 1931

CARROLL BAKER
May 28, 1931

LESLIE CARON
July 1, 1931

MITZI GAYNOR
September 4, 1931

ANITA EKBERG
September 29, 1931

ANGIE DICKINSON
September 30, 1931

DEBBIE REYNOLDS
April 1, 1932

KIM NOVAK
February 19, 1933

SHIRLEY JONES
March 31, 1934

SHIRLEY MACLAINE
April 24, 1934

SOPHIA LOREN
September 20, 1934

Still among us in the 75-and-over category: ten bona fide Oscar winners (Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress); multiple Tony winners; and all sorts of fabulous. Carry on, ladies...

33 comments:

  1. Love Louise Rainer's pic!
    At a different pole, nobody could ever be sexier than Sophia Loren or Gina Lollobrigida.

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  2. A fabulous post indeed, after Liz's passing yesterday, I was racking my brains trying to think of other Hollywood giants who were still with us. Thank you for answering my thoughts.
    X

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  3. bottoms up! and how adorable is Shirley McClain in that photo?!

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  4. Dana Wynter
    Glynis Johns
    Jeanne Moreau
    Anouk Aimee
    Monica Vitti
    Danielle Darrieux - 88 I think?

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  5. TBC, I have written a post relating to yours. BB as well she is 76.
    X

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  6. Eva Marie Saint - July 4, 1924, also an Oscar winner

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  7. Great post and several amazing pictures! Bravo. There was a 30-minute interview with Luise on TCM not long ago and it was terrific despite the fact that her hearing aid broke that day and she could basically only talk, not listen (but that was all right!)

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  8. What a great posting! Thank you for including so many favorites who one does not read about so much anymore.

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  9. A great post, you captured the best of the screen sirens of yesteryear. Thanks for posting!

    Jeanne

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  10. Glorious, comme d'habitude. Just watched "Woman of Straw" starring Gina (I won't bother to try and spell her last name) and highly recommend it! She is up against Sean Connery (doing his damnedest to appear gay, I think) and comes out on top. Fabulous film. On Netflix streaming.

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  11. well, you knocked it outta the park with that batch of beauties! I'll suggest another of my personal faves: Miss Angie Dickinson! Great work, as always.

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  12. I know, right? I love you for this. Thank you.

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  13. Nice try, TJB, but none of these lovelies had the magnitude of stardom and celebrity attached to
    Elizabeth Taylor, who was the ultimate in what
    Noel Coward once called Great Big Glamour Stars.
    Though I'll admit, it did rattle my nerves a bit when
    I saw that Deanna Durbin was still among us.

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  14. Good Lord! what a wonderful tribute to a bunch of wonderful dames. So nice after the sadness of yesterday, losing the great Elizabeth Taylor. So appreciated.

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  15. Add another great lady to your list. Phyllis Thaxter, born Nov 20 1921

    Great posting.

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  16. A beautiful tribute to our true living legends. As heartbreaking as it was to lose Elizabeth Taylor yesterday, it's wonderful to see and appreciate all of these great ladies of film who are still with us. Thank you!

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  17. Marvelous! May I also suggest Tippi Hedren, even if she only made a few memorable films? And just for fun's sake, I'd add Monique van Vooren (who turned 86 yesterday), and Martha Eggerth (who is 99). :)

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  18. @ Mr. Worthington - Oh, my goodness, who among these ladies possibly could equal the magnitude of Elizabeth Taylor's star wattage? (Although, to play devil's advocate, at various stages in their careers, several would have eclipsed Taylor in terms of prestige [de Havilland, Fontaine]; others would have equalled her stardom, but didn't sustain it the way she did [Loren]; and one, in particular, would have been every bit her equal in the box office department during their simultaneous glory years of 1958-1968 [Day]).

    But that wasn't the point; Elizabeth's passing puts a spotlight on the bigger picture -- that real, authentic glamour is a dying breed, and what I wanted to do here was celebrate the fact that some of these ladies are still here, and to appreciate them and their work while they're still around to acknowledge the accolades.

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  19. Updates: mea culpas to Eva Marie, Tippi and Angie -- still alive and kickin'!

    Michael, I love most of those Continental ladies you mentioned, but I limited the list to bona fide Hollywood stars (Sophia and Gina having made enough studio pictures during the final heyday of Paramount, MGM and Universal to qualify).


    An Open Book - You know I would have loved to include Monique, but that would have descended into farce. Still, I think she'd be fun to have lunch with at Le Veau d'Or, no?

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  20. Oh thank you so much for this doll!

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  21. Thank you for this post -- a wonderful tonic for the loss of La Taylor (and for the nearly simultaneous loss of my close friend, American theater actress Helen Stenborg Hughes, at 86).

    Well timed, and beautifully appropriate -- as always.

    Many, many thanks.

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  22. Hooray! Thank you so much TJB!

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  23. My goodness, I had no idea these women were so old! Makes me feel like a teenager :-) cuz they are all older than me, and I thought I was really old! They look great still, like Angela Lansbury who has a handsome boyfriend and wins awards on Broadway; and Betty Bacall, who outshines everyone! Hooray for glamour, may it never fade.

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  24. Nice, but you forgot the fabulous Julie Newmar.

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