# Ingrid Bergman was the loveliest actress of Old Hollywood. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322 "2019-07-19T21:54:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/41 "2019-07-21T03:27:48Z")
[Joan Crawford](https://www.crfashionbook.com/celebrity/g25321793/words-to-live-by-joan-crawford/), before her eyebrows took over. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/42 "2019-07-21T03:36:59Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Another vote for [Hedy Lamarr](https://www.xyht.com/gnsslocation-tech/got-gps-thank-hedy-lamarr/) What? I can’t imagine [what you guys see](https://www.glocktalk.com/media/hedley-lamarr.9303/) in… Oh. Hedy. Never mind. Another vote for Grace Kelly. [Her entrance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGASCP2mNaM)in _Rear Window_ gets me every time. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/43 "2019-07-21T04:42:25Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > [Grace Kelly](https://www.biography.com/actor/grace-kelly). Beautiful no doubt, but to me she always seemed made of plastic. I didn’t care much for her acting ability (or think she had much of it.) But that’s just me. > [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > [Gene Tierney](https://i.redd.it/f33ocv2e9im01.jpg) was very beautiful. For a shorter time, I think, than many of the others. Her overbite was a bit too much, and she didn’t wear well. In Black Widow, only ten years after Laura, she was completely forgettable (in a supporting role too). > [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > And to stop this thread being White-Chickapalooza, here’s the great Dorothy Dandridge. > > [Dorothy Dandridge: African American Actor](http://www.myblackhistory.net/Dorothy_Dandridge.htm) I give you Dorothy Dandridge, she was breathtaking. It’s too bad we didn’t get to see her in more films. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/44 "2019-07-21T04:52:14Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Olivia de Havilland](https://kirkhamamovieaday.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/e2b22-olivia_de_havilland252c_a_world_treasure1465055315.jpg) This is the correct answer. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/45 "2019-07-21T05:02:24Z")
I have a hard time finding any of the women with those plucked penciled in eyebrows attractive. Unfortunate fashion choice and fairly ubiquitous back then. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/46 "2019-07-21T13:38:04Z")
The aforementioned Gene Tierney and Rita Hayworth. I’ll add [Myrna Loy](https://www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com/articles/myrna-loy-pictures/2015/07) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/47 "2019-07-21T15:13:51Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > I have a hard time finding any of the women with those plucked penciled in eyebrows attractive. Unfortunate fashion choice and fairly ubiquitous back then. _Back them?_ That’s _still_ a hugely unattractive and all-too-common fashion choice. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/48 "2019-07-21T15:44:22Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > The aforementioned Gene Tierney and Rita Hayworth. I’ll add [Myrna Loy](https://www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com/articles/myrna-loy-pictures/2015/07) When Myrna Loy was 16, around 1920, she modeled for the semi-nude statue outside Venice High School. She had…quite the figure, even at that young age. Here’s the story: > **[Myrna Loy statue](https://www.seeing-stars.com/Immortalized/MyrnaLoy.shtml)** > > A look at a statue outside of Venice High School, modeled by a young Myrna Loy. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/49 "2019-07-21T17:58:30Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I give you Dorothy Dandridge, she was breathtaking. It’s too bad we didn’t get to see her in more films. Concur I had no idea who she was, only a name to me; wish I had known of her before now. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/50 "2019-07-21T18:10:30Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I always thought Ingrid Bergman’s nose verged on that Swedish/German piggy look. Her daughter, Isabella, to me is much better looking, and I like her dark coloring better. Ingrid also played a lot of soppy parts that made her even more off-putting. I disagree with the point here (find the mother more attractive than the daughter), but _Isabella_ said the most charming thing I ever heard: “My mother was beautiful and my father was brilliant . . . and I have been blessed with my mother’s brains and my father’s looks.” I was just getting ready to loathe her as stuck up when her meaning broke through my slow moving mind and I fell for her hard! Perhaps not an elite in the pantheon of beautiful women from Hollywood, but a lovely woman who is funny and charming – I would have married her on the spot! (And I like her dark complexion too.) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/51 "2019-07-21T18:40:01Z")
Margaret Hamilton Ethel Merman ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/52 "2019-07-21T19:12:16Z")
Katharine Hepburn, the year she made The Little Minister > **[katharine hepburn the little minister - Bing](https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=DRja8C4e&id=D3EDC0AFD1B7D203C24F7E077D3E5646DD0C137B&thid=OIP.DRja8C4eAnytn3HpEG89cAHaFr&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.doctormacro.com%2fImages%2fHepburn%2c%2520Katharine%2fAnnex%2fAnnex%2520-%2520Hepburn%2c%2520Katharine%2520%28Little%2520Minister%2c%2520The%29_03.jpg&exph=1269&expw=1655&q=katharine%2Bhepburn%2Bthe%2Blittle%2Bminister&simid=608045292206557836&selectedIndex=0&ajaxhist=0)** > > Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/53 "2019-07-22T14:57:17Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > _Back them?_ > > That’s _still_ a hugely unattractive and all-too-common fashion choice. Really? Seems kind of rare to me among non-Cholas. And I can’t think of a contemporary actress with those. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/54 "2019-07-22T15:52:35Z")
I didn’t see \*Casablanca \*until I was in college, but I was immediately smitten. Bergman was certainly lovely. She also looked her best in Hitchcock’s _Notorious_. My other old-movie crush was Donna Reed in _It’s A Wonderful Life_: [![](https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5474/11379257493_45f1763233_b.jpg) ](https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5474/11379257493_45f1763233_b.jpg) [![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u5fwGEK0L94/TuPIQoqU_3I/AAAAAAAAAfY/qCX6Bv95KNE/s1600/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life.jpg) ](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u5fwGEK0L94/TuPIQoqU_3I/AAAAAAAAAfY/qCX6Bv95KNE/s1600/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life.jpg) [![](https://newcityfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1200px-Its_A_Wonderful_Life.jpg) ](https://newcityfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1200px-Its_A_Wonderful_Life.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/55 "2019-08-03T22:42:24Z")
I’m sitting at table 8. You? [https://twitter.com/rosenylunds/status/1157669774832349184?s=19](https://twitter.com/rosenylunds/status/1157669774832349184?s=19) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/56 "2019-08-03T23:01:39Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I’m sitting at table 8. You? > > [https://twitter.com/rosenylunds/status/1157669774832349184?s=19](https://twitter.com/rosenylunds/status/1157669774832349184?s=19) Table 7, where Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn are hanging out, and I don’t even much _care,_ because, hey, that’s also where Natalie Wood is. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/57 "2019-08-03T23:29:11Z")
Table 7 is… formidable, there’s no doubt about that, to be sure. Hell, you didn’t even mention the woman my father claimed was the loveliest actress in his day, Elizabeth Taylor. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/58 "2019-08-04T04:31:50Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Table 7, where Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn are hanging out, and I don’t even much _care,_ because, hey, that’s also where Natalie Wood is. Move over. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/59 "2019-08-04T05:01:55Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > And to stop this thread being White-Chickapalooza, here’s the great Dorothy Dandridge. > > [Dorothy Dandridge: African American Actor](http://www.myblackhistory.net/Dorothy_Dandridge.htm) How about the beautiful Merle Oberon? She passed for white and hid her Eurasian origins. [https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CAJFEX\_enUS828US828&q=merle+oberon&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjnks3pk-jjAhVXbs0KHbQwBZoQiR56BAgKEBQ&biw=1242&bih=583](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CAJFEX_enUS828US828&q=merle+oberon&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjnks3pk-jjAhVXbs0KHbQwBZoQiR56BAgKEBQ&biw=1242&bih=583) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322/60 "2019-08-04T05:27:49Z")
Table 10 has the best, most cutting, conversation. None are left unskewered. Davis, Bankhead, and Hepburn spend the evening trying to one-up each other with devastating references to all the other ladies sexual peccadilloes and casting call tales. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingrid-bergman-was-the-loveliest-actress-of-old-hollywood/837322.md?page=4)