# Are Actors Better Looking Now Than In the 30s-50s **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394 "2008-09-20T01:58:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/41 "2008-09-20T15:09:24Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It’s as straight as a ruler and even I can see Gregory Peck was ridiculously hot. Freudian slip? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/42 "2008-09-20T15:57:43Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It’s as straight as a ruler and even I can see Gregory Peck was ridiculously hot. For his body I’d trade in mine and my wife’s and I’d throw in some cash. Regarding Gregory Peck, if I had one it would be a straight as a ruler, too. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/43 "2008-09-20T16:41:00Z")
I think old time actors are very handsome, if not totally smoking hot in some cases. My problem is with actresses of the same era. They all look exactly the same to me! With the exception of Audrey and Katherine Hepburn, I cannot identify what actress I’m looking at in any given old movie. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/44 "2008-09-20T17:11:51Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > I think old time actors are very handsome, if not totally smoking hot in some cases. My problem is with actresses of the same era. They all look exactly the same to me! With the exception of Audrey and Katherine Hepburn, I cannot identify what actress I’m looking at in any given old movie. Then you need to watch more old movies. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/45 "2008-09-20T17:13:22Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > I think old time actors are very handsome, if not totally smoking hot in some cases. My problem is with actresses of the same era. They all look exactly the same to me! With the exception of Audrey and Katherine Hepburn, I cannot identify what actress I’m looking at in any given old movie. Well, how about [Louise Brooks](http://hairbrained.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/louise-brooks-hair.jpg)? [Clara Bow](http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/film/undergrads/careers/bow.jpg)? [Greta Garbo](http://www.divasthesite.com/images/Greta_Garbo/Greta_Garbo_intro.jpg)? [Ava Gardner](http://www.classichollywooddivas.com/uploaded_images/AvaGardner-TheKillers(1946)B-721751.jpg)? Someone’s already mentioned [Jean Harlow](http://www.hurrellphotography.com/Hurrell/jeanharlow2big.GIF). (How sexy is that dress? Wow.) [Joan Crawford](http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee115/fagan_michael/Joan_Crawford.jpg) wasn’t always so… well, I think of her later on as being ugly, not just physically. But in her younger days, she was a knockout. I think these women are very distinctive. Perhaps I’m influenced by owning [this book](http://www.amazon.com/Four-fabulous-faces-evolution-metamorphosis/dp/0870001086), bought used when I was in my early teens. I loved looking at those old pictures, and drinking in the dramatic, black and white, bygone beauty. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/46 "2008-09-20T17:14:14Z")
> [@shy\_guy](#): > > And I do think that Errol Flynn would be hot in that picture that gallows fodder posted if he didn’t have that awful mustache. For you: Errol Flynn [sans mustache](http://i35.tinypic.com/2uqkeaf.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/47 "2008-09-20T17:16:45Z")
**Pyper** , I’ve had that problem too. Let’s call it the Myrna Loy Syndrome. Unless you’ve watched a **lot** of old movies, or until you watch one movie that has a lot of pretty women in it, like _The Women_, they do look alike. It’s taken me awhile, but now I can even tell Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland apart. I’m still having problems with Teresa Wright and another actress who gets Teresa Wright-type parts. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/48 "2008-09-20T17:55:11Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I’d put up [Jean Harlow](http://www.nola.ornskoldsvik.se/pj/jean/jean03.html) against the best you kids can offer. Still photos don’t do her justice because she was so _alive._ Great body, too, with no handicapping for the tastes of the day necessary. I will see your Jean Harlow and raise you [Veronica](http://www.geocities.com/aa1a/veronica9.jpg) [Lake.](http://geocities.com/aa1a/veronica_lake/VERONICA58.jpg)[Hubba](http://www.angelfire.com/ab/cdef/veronical.jpg) [hubba](http://www.angelfire.com/ab/cdef/veronica22.jpg) [hubba](http://unclevinny.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/veronica.jpg) Or [Patricia](http://www.kenyatta.com/ContentDevelopment/WomenofSciFi/PatriciaNeal01.jpg) [Nea](http://www.ijpc.org/IJPC%20Sob%20Sister%20Photos/patneal.jpg)l. [So](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.born-today.com/Today/pix/neal_patricia1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.born-today.com/Today/01-20.htm&h=284&w=225&sz=11&hl=en&start=28&um=1&usg=__g5NieoiD-JMqxNfVzTkc9ZqrK3o=&tbnid=gmoxoRCWPIie1M:&tbnh=114&tbnw=90&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpatricia%2Bneal%26start%3D21%26ndsp%3D21%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN) [damn](http://www.geocities.com/ll899/patricianeal/images/pn19.jpg) [fine.](http://www.geocities.com/ll899/patricianeal/images/pn26.jpg) I’ll be in mah bunk now. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/49 "2008-09-20T18:09:39Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > Well, how about [Louise Brooks](http://hairbrained.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/louise-brooks-hair.jpg)? [Clara Bow](http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/film/undergrads/careers/bow.jpg)? [Greta Garbo](http://www.divasthesite.com/images/Greta_Garbo/Greta_Garbo_intro.jpg)? [Ava Gardner](http://www.classichollywooddivas.com/uploaded_images/AvaGardner-TheKillers(1946)B-721751.jpg)? Someone’s already mentioned [Jean Harlow](http://www.hurrellphotography.com/Hurrell/jeanharlow2big.GIF). (How sexy is that dress? Wow.) [Joan Crawford](http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee115/fagan_michael/Joan_Crawford.jpg) wasn’t always so… well, I think of her later on as being ugly, not just physically. But in her younger days, she was a knockout. > > I think these women are very distinctive. > > Perhaps I’m influenced by owning [this book](http://www.amazon.com/Four-fabulous-faces-evolution-metamorphosis/dp/0870001086), bought used when I was in my early teens. I loved looking at those old pictures, and drinking in the dramatic, black and white, bygone beauty. To me, most of those women have VERY similar facial structures. I can sometimes pick out actresses, like Louise Brooks, by their distinctive hairstyles. On the other hand, I can easily identify leading men of the era- they all look very different. I really do think there was a narrower standard of beauty for women at that time, causing many of the popular actresses to be of the same “type.” ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/50 "2008-09-20T18:37:07Z")
I know this Thread is focusing on male actors, but in one of the links someone posted for Johnny Weissmuller a scroll down the page a bit will bring you to a photo of him with Maureen O’Sullivan. Now, I had been pretty sure that long ago I had seen the old Weissmuller Tarzan movies. Now I think I may have invented that memory- because I _never_ would have forgotten [Maureen O’Sullivan showing _THIS MUCH SKIN!!!_](http://www.suspense-movies.com/stars/tarzan-jane/jane3.html) O.K., it’s a standard line of SDMB vocabulary, echoed by many upthread, but this is the very first time I’ve ever typed it: **I’ll be in my bunk!** ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/51 "2008-09-20T19:24:44Z")
I think [Tony](http://www.jbench68.com/our3doxies/MOVIES%20TELEVISION/ACTORS%20A-F/curtis_tony-1_12506.jpg) [Curtis](http://handson.provocateuse.com/images/photos/tony_curtis_01.jpg) [deserves](http://www.seraphicpress.com/images/Tony%20Curtis%20%2752.jpg) [some love.](http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/04_03/057Curtis1DM_468x633.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/52 "2008-09-20T19:33:42Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Now, I had been pretty sure that long ago I had seen the old Weissmuller Tarzan movies. Now I think I may have invented that memory- because I _never_ would have forgotten [Maureen O’Sullivan showing _THIS MUCH SKIN!!!_](http://www.suspense-movies.com/stars/tarzan-jane/jane3.html) That was from M-G-M’s second Tarzan movie, _Tarzan and His Mate_ (1934), just before the Motion Picture Production Code began to be enforced. If you think that’s a lot of skin, wait till you see the movie itself — Jane goes swimming nude. [YouTube clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNGXdw2_6DM). Maureen O’Sullivan was doubled by Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Josephine McKim for the underwater scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/53 "2008-09-20T20:15:34Z")
Sorry, but nuthin’ beats Kate: [http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii102/SharkandLemur/katharine\_hepburn1.jpg](http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii102/SharkandLemur/katharine_hepburn1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394/54 "2008-09-20T20:55:18Z")
Cary Grant not handsome? Does not compute. Hell’s bells. I’d be tempted to go gay for that… As for the women… I like the looks of many leading ladies of the past. But I really love the voices of the 30s and 40s leading ladies. Not this bubblegum pop tones you hear from modern leading ladies. Now, I grant, some of that is probably from the rampant tobacco use. But still… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-better-looking-now-than-in-the-30s-50s/464394.md?page=2)