# Prettiest actress from 40's-50's crime/film noir
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 8, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971 "2006-06-08T22:51:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Don\_Logan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Logan)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/1 "2006-06-08T22:51:00Z")
With due respect to Lana Tuner and Gene Tierney, I would have to say my final three favs would be Myrna Loy, Jane Greer and Gloria Grahame, with Gloria Grahame winning by a hair (the great lisp may have sealed it). Anyone else care to list their choice?
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/2 "2006-06-08T23:03:46Z")
Veronica Lake.
Yummy.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/3 "2006-06-08T23:07:30Z")
I vote for [Alida Valli](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alida_Valli), especially the way she looked in **The Third Man**.
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/4 "2006-06-08T23:18:30Z")
Grace Kelley. (Maybe that would have been the early ‘60’s tho’.) Also Ingrid Bergman.
–Cliffy
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/5 "2006-06-08T23:47:45Z")
Rhonda Fleming had a small part in a Robert Mitchum movie, Out of the Past. Gorgeous woman, impossible not to notice, even in a bit part. She didn’t do a lot of crime/noir though, so I’m voting for Jane Greer. She was pretty hot in the same movie.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/6 "2006-06-08T23:54:27Z")
Myrna Loy? _Noir?_
For “pretty” noir gals I’ll go with [Rita Hayworth](http://silverscreensirens.com/rita.htm), though as actresses I prefer [Barbara Stanwyck](http://silverscreensirens.com/stanwyck.htm) and [Gloria Grahame](http://silverscreensirens.com/galleries/gloria1.htm).
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/7 "2006-06-09T00:05:29Z")
Paulette Goddard must’ve been in a noir flick or two.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/8 "2006-06-09T00:08:59Z")
> [@Eve](#):
>
> Myrna Loy? _Noir?_
Don’t you remember when she slipped a mickey to Dick Powell in his martini? 😉
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### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/9 "2006-06-09T00:24:36Z")
Myrna Loy was in ‘The thin man’. Witty and gorgeous 🙂
Ingrid Bergman was in ‘Casablanca’. Totally gorgeous. 😃
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### Author:  [@Don\_Logan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Logan)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/10 "2006-06-09T00:33:39Z")
**Eve** , that’s why I added “crime” to the “film noir” in the OP, so I could add Myrna Loy- the Thin Man’s are definitely not noir, but each of them have a crime of some sort to movie the drunken antics along!
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### Author:  [@Don\_Logan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Logan)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/11 "2006-06-09T00:35:10Z")
to **move** the drunken antics along :smack:
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### Author:  [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/12 "2006-06-09T00:55:29Z")
Marilyn Monroe in Niagra is the prettiest, to me. Out of anyone in any movie ever, maybe.
Barbara Stanwyk is really pretty to me, but only as a brunette so she’s my second place.
Jane Greer was extremely perfect in Out of the Past but there’s something about her that never looks quite as pretty to me anywhere else. I think being around Robert Mitchum probably did something to a woman’s hormones that caused temporarily increased beauty. It’s science.
I am a big fan of Gloria Grahame but every time I look at her I’m completely distracted by her lipstick. It’s strange but it’s her daring disregard for the lipline nature gave her that first made me so interested in her. If she had been living now, she’d be a collagen addict, for sure.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/13 "2006-06-09T02:22:39Z")
Ruth Roman in _Strangers on a Train_. Manalive, she looked good enough to eat in some of those evening gown scenes.
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### Author:  [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/14 "2006-06-09T02:22:49Z")
Does [Hedy Lamarr](http://www.bluetoothnews.com/graphics/Lamarr2.gif)count?
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/15 "2006-06-09T03:07:09Z")
> [@bluethree](#):
>
> Does [Hedy Lamarr](http://www.bluetoothnews.com/graphics/Lamarr2.gif)count?
Is that the actual photo or the CorelDraw production that caused such a ruckus?
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### Author:  [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/16 "2006-06-09T03:07:45Z")
> [@bluethree](#):
>
> Does [Hedy Lamarr](http://www.bluetoothnews.com/graphics/Lamarr2.gif) count?
I could do a thing or two with her in her prime. Guest **Don Logan** in the OP asked only for prettiest, so I don’t want to call attention to anyone drop-dead gorgeous, like the teenaged Linda Darnell. Theresa Harris (Out of the Past, etc.) is another favorite. And just a minute of 20 year old Dorothy Malone in “The Big Sleep” has encouraged me to favor independent bookstores. Though Sonia Darrin – Agnes, at Geiger’s across the street – cetainly knows her grapefruit.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/17 "2006-06-09T04:28:35Z")
> [@kunilou](#):
>
> Don’t you remember when she slipped a mickey to Dick Powell in his martini?
How could you tell?
> [@from\_a\_to\_z](#):
>
> And just a minute of 20 year old Dorothy Malone in “The Big Sleep” has encouraged me to favor independent bookstores.
Oh, yeah.
This has got to be the only board in the world where someone else would mention Dorothy Malone before I could get here.
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### Author:  [@Don\_Logan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Logan)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/18 "2006-06-09T12:26:20Z")
God, how could I have forgotten the prettiest and sexiest one of all- Barbara Payton in the legendary Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye with James Cagney?
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### Author:  [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/19 "2006-06-09T13:23:55Z")
> [@Don Logan](#):
>
> God, how could I have forgotten the prettiest and sexiest one of all- Barbara Payton in the legendary Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye with James Cagney?
Barbara Payton came to a bad end. Too much the party girl; eventually she ended up hooking. Sad.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2006, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prettiest-actress-from-40s-50s-crime-film-noir/359971/20 "2006-06-09T13:30:31Z")
> [@from\_a\_to\_z](#):
>
> Theresa Harris (Out of the Past, etc.) is another favorite.
I _love_ Theresa Harris. She never starred, of course, but she stole every scene she was in.
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