Woody Guthrie, here channeled by Billy Bragg and Wilco, thought just the same.
And Carla Bley thought enough of Ida Lupino to name check her in an original number.… (and I like Ida too!)
(For purposes of this thread, I’ll define “old Hollywood” as being pre-1960.)
Ilona Massey (Various Universal Monster movies)
Barbara Rush (It Came from Outer Space)
Julia Adams (Creature from the Black Lagoon)
I’ll put in a vote for Greer Garson.
Gene Tierney was very beautiful.
How could I have forgotten Grace Kelly?
The most superb blonde woman to ever occur on this planet! Even in still photographs she seems to be moving, conveying humor or warmth or suspicion or more subtle emotions depending upon what part of her lovely face you focus upon. She was stunning from across a field, and the closer she came to you the more beautiful she became. (I think when I was younger I could hear angels sing whenever I caught a glimpse of her visage.)
Please pardon me for being so pedantic, but here you mean had leading rolls before 1960 rather than was born in or before 1960 correct? Actresses born around that time do not begin to represent classic artists of the silver screen.
For example many people find *Ali MacGraw *pretty (and she was), but even though she was born in 1939 (wow! She was only three years younger than my mother! I would have guessed she was at least fifteen years younger than actual), she was not a contemporary of anyone we have discussed so far. IMDb lists her first acting role as 1968 and her first credited role as 1969. Even Katharine Ross who was born in 1940 had roles before 1960 but was of a different era than the women we have been discussing.
So may we agree to any actress having a role as a romantic lead before 1960 as “old Hollywood”? Or did you mean born before 1960?
This woman is certainly not hard to look at!
I would have said I was not familiar with her work, but I know I made a point of watching ****OUT OF THE PAST **when it was pointed out that the 80’s hit AGAINST ALL ODDS was a remake. For some reason I believed the female lead in that picture was Jane Powell whom I was aware of from SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS. In any case Jane Greer possessed simmering good looks.
Roles. Career peaks. There will be people who straddle (Elizabeth Taylor) the line, but I’m a forgiving OP who won’t parse things that closely.
(Somebody feel free to start a post-1959 thread…)
As a hetero female, I’m not sure I get a vote but I’d agree with the OP regardless. The only other woman that comes close as far as natural beauty is Grace Kelly but Ingrid is not just beautiful, she’s less “made up” and has a far more interesting face than any of the others posted. She’s my favorite actress of that time- I loved her in Notorious (admittedly not a fan of Casablanca, Notorious is so much better).
Everyone gets a vote. This is a perfect democracy.
I’ve never seen the attraction of Ingrid Bergman. “Face like a frying pan” is the phrase that crosses my mind.
My taste runs more to the earlier gals, like Lillian Gish and Pola Negri.
http://motherlode.tv/film/lilliangish.html
http://www.polanegri.com/index.html
As far as the talkies go, I agree with the aforementioned coronations of Greta Garbo and Hedy Lamarr.
Oh, and Ava Gardner, of course! Has she been mentioned yet?
When Ava walked through the Paramount lot, filled with the most beautiful women in Southern California, she stilled turned everyone’s head.
Referring to that photo, I don’t think anyone would kick 1946 Burt Lancaster out of their bed, either.
And to stop this thread being White-Chickapalooza, here’s the great Dorothy Dandridge.
There were a lot of gorgeous actresses, but this is the first I thought of.
AHEM!
The peerless Rita (also in colorized version!)
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.