Katherine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter
The absolute first actress that came to mind was Olivia Hussey as Juliet in Zeffirelli’s 1968 Romeo and Juliet. She perfectly personified Shakespeare’s Juliet, a teenager embroiled in a messy romance that ended tragically. She still looks amazing today. Yeah, I had a crush back then.
Yvonne De Carlo in The Ten Commandments.
Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia.
Michelle Pfeiffer in Wolf.
Rose McGowan in Planet Terror.
Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (photo is SFW)
Seconded!
Lucky bastard: http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/01_03/romeoDM1801_468x672.jpg
http://qrst.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/olivia_hussey21.jpg
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/Romeo%20and%20Juliet.jpg
It’s been many years since I read the book, but my recollection is that it described her as being an attractive woman.
Not a conventional beauty perhaps but
Okay, then: Anne Ramsey from Throw Momma from the Train (1987) (No good image links, sorry.)
Mm, it’s been too long for me as well; I can’t recall what it said about her looks. I don’t think the movie role requires a beauty, at least. I think it works well enough with two “average” (give or take) people in the roles of the lead adults.
Grace Kelly in Rear Window
She is beautiful but even back then she looked too old for the part. I saw it in school when I was Juliet’s age. Her body is very adult for a 14 year old girl. Believe me, it was all we could talk about.
True, but it’d be really creepy to do Romeo and Juliet with an actual 13 year old girl in the lead.
He’s a beauty in my eyes - David Boreanaz as Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an amazing piece of casting based on looks alone. I wouldn’t call his acting stupendous, but he could have been tailor-made for that role.
Richard Gere in “Officer and a Gentleman” - absolutely believable as a high school drop-out with a chip on his shoulder, but oh so good looking.
Diane Lane in “Unfaithful” - An aging beauty. Beautiful enough to be married to a guy like Richard Gere, but she also has a tiredness about her that was perfect in the role of a 40 year old wife and mom. You could totally see her in a sweat shirt being the soccer mom.
Daniel Day-Lewis in “Last of the Mohicans” - With his long black hair and thin frame, he blended right in with the Indians and understood why he’d be a perfect liaison between the Indians and the whites.
Marlon Brando in “Streetcar Named Desire” - charismatic, brooding, and a perfect blue collar look about him
but the ultimate casting of a beautiful woman in a lead role…
Vivien Leigh as Scarlett in “Gone with the Wind” - She was sassy, petite, charming, but hard as nails if she wanted to. You could see why men would fall over themselves to be her beau
That entire movie was perfectly cast.
How about Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect? A true beauty whose beauty was perfect for the role of a grown woman, with a complicated life, in a difficult situation.
It might be possible to replicate the demeanor of the film, but so much of that movie’s success was dependent on the lead actors.
I mean, who else can you imagine driving around Paris in a yellow Jaguar convertible? OK, granted, Gregory Peck and Audrey riding around Rome on a scooter come pretty close.
I know you’re right, but sometimes I think people say it just to be contrary.
Because whether you prefer her “style” of beauty or not (which is the reason so many people disagree, after all - there’s delicate featured pale blondes and bold featured brunettes, etc.) I think it’s really hard to refute that AJ is just drop dead gorgeous. And this is my favorite picture of her, because she’s really just that beautiful without makeup.
(It’s guaranteed someone will say she IS wearing makeup… but she’s not. She has fantastic natural coloring, which is part of why she’s so incredibly beautiful. And we can argue about it all day, but look at the bags under her eyes - it’s a morning shot and she is in Venice where she was shooting the Tourist- she looks like she might be wearing workout clothes. if she’s wearing any makeup at all, it’s smudgy leftovers from the night before!)
Wrong: Julia Roberts in Hook.
Right: Jenna Elfman in Big Daddy.