# Most Beautiful Actress of the 1930s **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157 "2009-05-30T13:33:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [May 31, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/41 "2009-05-31T03:16:18Z")
Or [Frances Dee!](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=frances+dee&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=) Oh, Frances Dee. If I could choose anyone’s face for my own, it would be hers. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/42 "2009-05-31T03:25:04Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Jeanne Crain is a minor star at best She starred in numerous “A”-budget pictures at a major studio, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. That’s not minor. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/43 "2009-05-31T03:47:14Z")
Hey, post 8 was only an “I think” this is who it is. We’re still trying to jar the OP’s memory. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/44 "2009-05-31T05:34:39Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] Starts with an H? Check. Semi-obscure? Check. Died in 1981, a little farther back than you’re thinking. Ann Harding. [http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/images/MASTOSprofiles/0382%2012%20harding.jpg](http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/images/MASTOSprofiles/0382%2012%20harding.jpg) [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Ronald C. Semone] I think this is who I was looking for. But, after looking at some of her pictures posted on the internet and even allowing for the changing styles in beauty, I can’t imagine why she was considered so beautiful. [/QUOTE] I found these photos of Ann Harding, and I think she’s exceptionally beautiful - take a look: [http://www.flickr.com/photos/hginpa/3100589006/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/hginpa/3100589006/) [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/3279/3052468598_053c352fdb_b.jpg "Photoplay, June 1930") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/seereverie/3052468598/) [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/2030/2470873946_3a0b3ac094_z.jpg "Ann Harding") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/74796429@N00/2470873946/) [http://www.flickr.com/photos/addariver/3111424354/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/addariver/3111424354/) [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/3050/2583375944_7d63723c74_w.jpg "Ann+Harding+Photoplay+August+1931") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/ldv/2583375944/) ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/45 "2009-08-30T14:20:27Z")
At last!!! While cleaning out some old files today, I ran across the obituary I mentioned in my original post. The actress was Dorothy Hyson, an actress I had never heard of and haven’t heard of since. None of the responders to my question suggested her name; I suspect very few of them had ever heard of her. Checking her pictures on the internet I must admit ideas of beauty must have been different in the 1930s. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/46 "2009-08-30T14:54:32Z")
I looked at the photos and agree – she’s pretty enough but not “beautiful”. Maybe still photos don’t do her justice. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/47 "2009-08-30T14:58:27Z")
Saying that Dorothy Hyson was widely acknowledged to be the most beautiful actress in Hollywood is bizarre on several counts. (I’m blaming the obituary, not you, Ronald C. Semone. You were just quoting it.) First of all, she wasn’t a Hollywood actress at all. Although she was born in the U.S., most of her career was in the U.K. I don’t find her to be particularly beautiful either, and if there was a group in the 1930’s that referred to her as the most beautiful, it was a rather small group, so that’s not “widely acknowledged.” It’s hardly surprising that we couldn’t figure out who was being referred to, since it’s a pretty dubious statement. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/48 "2009-08-30T15:09:15Z")
[A color picture of her](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3535/3318789203_28f4ced57d.jpg?v=0). Very pretty in that shot, better than some of the others I found. Not a great beauty but almost perfect symmetrical features, which are supposed to be best. I’m a mild old film buff and I never heard of her either. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/49 "2009-08-30T15:52:13Z")
Here is an obituary for [Dorothy Hyson from British newspaper The Independent](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-dorothy-hyson-1349063.html), where she is repeatedly referred to as having been considered a beauty in her time. It sounds like her career was almost entirely on the British stage, so I’m wondering if Ronald C. Semone’s clipping really referred to her as the most beautiful actress _in Hollywood_. The Independent obit says that Rodgers and Hart wrote a song about Hyson called “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”, so I’m wondering if maybe the OP misremembered that. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/50 "2009-08-30T16:08:33Z")
[Anita Page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Page) was stunningly beautiful and huge in the 20s and early 30s. She got thousands of proposals of marriage from fans all around the world including a sheikh. > [@](#): > > She was referred to as “a blond, blue-eyed Latin” and “the girl with the most beautiful face in Hollywood” in the 1920’s. Died only last year though so a little late for the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/51 "2009-08-30T17:15:52Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > Checking her pictures on the internet I must admit ideas of beauty must have been different in the 1930s. Why? Does she look like economic recovery? She’d be popular today, too. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/52 "2009-08-30T19:11:01Z")
And it goes without saying that fashions in beauty change every year. [Here](http://images.google.com/images?q=theda+bara&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=xcyaSuDBN6rjnQe44rGWCA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1)’s one of the greatest sex symbols of all time. Personally I don’t see it. [Here](http://images.google.com/images?q=william%20powell&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi)’s another. Again, not seein it. Beauty changes with technology too. [Dietrich](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&um=1&sa=1&q=marlene+dietrich&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10&start=0)’s face, with its large planes and wide eyes, was made for black and white photography and, well, the opposite of high definition. Ditto [Garbo](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&um=1&sa=1&q=greta+garbo&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g8&start=0)’s, though here features were more, what, focused? Refined? A totally different look, but still all about the planes and shadows of B&W photography. When you get Technicolor and Cinemascope, however, you need a different kind of beauty: creamy skin with hints of rose and peach. You can celebrate the [flesh itself](http://images.google.com/images?q=marilyn%20monroe&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi), and not just the negative space around it. So while I don’t Dorothy Hyson (or Ann Harding or any of the other women disparaged in this thread as not hot by today’s standards) would turn as many heads today as she did in her own time, I can certainly see where she would be considered a great beauty in her day. But yeah, not the widely acknowledged most beautiful. That’s the kind of statement that requires a cite. ---
**Author:** ![norvalnormal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@norvalnormal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norvalnormal)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/53 "2009-08-30T19:17:00Z")
Nobody’s mentioned Gene Tierney yet?? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/54 "2009-08-30T19:45:34Z")
There’s no reason to mention other actresses now because the OP found the clipping and it wasn’t Gene Tierney or anyone else anyone here is likely to have heard of. It was Dorothy Hyson. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/55 "2009-08-30T19:47:08Z")
I’ve noticed that many actors and actresses who are fabulous on screen don’t convey the same qualities when they pose for a still picture. I’m sure that researchers have looked into this and found all sorts of perceptual reasons. That might be an interesting thread. But simply linking to a picture doesn’t work for a surprising number. It may be true, of course. And it works the other way round: people who take beautiful photos are nothing live. You just don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/56 "2009-08-30T20:45:12Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > And it goes without saying that fashions in beauty change every year. [Here](http://images.google.com/images?q=theda+bara&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=xcyaSuDBN6rjnQe44rGWCA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1)’s one of the greatest sex symbols of all time. Personally I don’t see it. Theda Bara’s claim was novelty. Film actresses before her were not sold on sex appeal; there was nothing else to compare her with in 1910s cinema. And with those costumes, she was just _out_ there. > [@lissener](#): > > [Here](http://images.google.com/images?q=william%20powell&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi)’s another. Again, not seein it. William Powell was a popular leading man. But who even in the 1930s called him handsome? > [@lissener](#): > > Beauty changes with technology too. [Dietrich](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&um=1&sa=1&q=marlene+dietrich&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10&start=0)’s face, with its large planes and wide eyes, was made for black and white photography and, well, the opposite of high definition. Dietrich also looked pretty good in [Technicolor close-ups](http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/technicolor10.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/57 "2009-08-30T21:52:52Z")
[quote=“Markxxx, post:29, topic:498157”] In the 30s the major women were Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer In the 40s you saw more “beauties,” because a lot of them did “pin-up” pictures for the troops. Rita Hayworth is definately thought of as a 40s actress, along with Marie MacDonald, Carmen Miranda and Betty Grable. I agree with the one poster that said that the name recognition can extend beyond their actual fame. As Rachel Welch, just the mention of her name brings to mind beauty. \<\\> WARNING!! Linked site has viruses! ---
**Author:** ![Godinama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e95f7d/32.png) [@Godinama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godinama)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/58 "2009-08-31T02:05:41Z")
I have no idea who the OP might have heard of but my nomination for most beautiful is Ingrid Bergman. I could’ve watched _Casablanca_ on mute just because she was in it… _swoon_ ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/59 "2009-08-31T03:31:09Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Oh, no indeed! _State Fair_! State Fair? With Jeanne Crain, Dick Haymes, and Vivien Blaine? I don’t know how that Andrews fellow got in it. His name is just an internal rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157/60 "2009-08-31T03:35:07Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Theda Bara’s claim was novelty. Film actresses before her were not sold on sex appeal; there was nothing else to compare her with in 1910s cinema. And with those costumes, she was just _out_ there. She did nudish That’s enough in 1910. > [@](#): > > William Powell was a popular leading man. But who even in the 1930s called him handsome? Powell was extremely cool, which is better than handsome. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-actress-of-the-1930s/498157.md?page=4)