Back in the mid-80s, Nick at Nite would show old movies along with old B&W tv shows.
One I happened to catch was The Rage of Paris. It featured Danielle Darrieux as an out-of-work French model.
She was quite the hottie.
Amazingly, she still alive and still acting at age 87.
Am I the only Ingrid Bergman fan here?
I also think that Katherine Hepburn was far more beautiful than she gets credit for.
I just watched “Rear Window” again the other night and re-remembered how drop-dead gorgeous Grace Kelly was.
Eartha Kitt
Kim Novak
Ursula Andress
Vanessa Redgrave
[QUOTE=Maureen
zoogirl, you’ve got good taste; I love Garbo in The Blue Angel.[/QUOTE]
Aw, shucks! :o
Thanks Maureen!
Hey, how about Marlene Deitrich in “Morocco” (1930)?!
Oh, Eve, can I grovel at your feet. Please?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of her movies, but I’ve always thought that
was one of the most breathtakingly beautiful women ever. Then I find out that she’s supersmart too! Wow.
Maybe it was cause I saw “The Thorn Birds” before any of her old movies (yikes, I am showing my age), but I have always considered Barbara Stanwyck to be the ultimate in beautiful femme fatales.
In terms of sheer sizzling beauty… Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren and Joan Crawford. (And as a gay man, to say I would never kick Joan Crawford out of my bed says alot!) 
Of course I had the worlds biggest crush for years on Olivia de Havilland, who while may not set the screen on fire like some others, had a classic charm, beauty and grace that won me over.
Did she and Marlene Dietrich get along ok?
twickster: Catherine Deneuve had been making movies for seven years before Umbrellas.
[Harvey Korman]It’s not Hedy, it’s Hedley. Hedley Lamarr[/Harvey Korman]
CURSES! :smack: Thank you, Walloon. Yep, musta been thinking of Dietrich, who was no slouch.
Yupper, she sure had. I read Ebert’s review of “Umbrellas,” but apparently not carefully – he called it her “first major film.” My bad – thanks for correcting me.
I notice you can’t argue with my point about her astonishing beauty, though!
Get out of my brain. I was going to say exactly this. I don’t have a dog, but I would probably have named it Asta if I did.
Myrna Loy. Absolutely gorgeous in the early Thin Man movies. Still a knockout in later movies like The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.
Also, and I’m surprised no one has mentioned her yet, Norma Shearer. I think she qualifies as a siren, at least of the sassy variety. I’ve seen most of her movies, and I love watching her. Can’t look away when she’s on the screen. Since you asked about favorite roles, CandidGamera, I think I like her best in The Divorcee. Or maybe Private Lives. For Myrna, other than any movie in which she plays Nora Charles, I like her best in Wife vs. Secretary.
Norma was hugely underrated as a dramatic actress–she was amazing as Marie Antoinette.
As for Wife vs. Secretary, I also think it was Jean Harlow’s only really good dramatic performance–she was terrific in it. Though they screwed up the ending: should have cut the last 30 seconds.
The original Peter Cook/Dudley Moore Bedazzled was on TCM this morning.
With Raquel Welch as Lust.
Odysseus just crashed his ship.
Am I the first to mention Loretta Young? Those eyes… Or how about Merle Oberon? That was a different era: the studio covered up her (Asian) Indian ancestry, even while they profited from that touch of the exotic.
And I assume somebody has already brought up Greta Garbo, who was in a class by herself.
They were a bit before the timeframe we’re using here, but two of the screen’s most beautiful faces belonged to Olive Thomas and Florence La Badie.
I’ve always been rather fond of Paulette Goddard and Olivia de Havilland but I’m not so sure these two are generally what would be defined as sirens, I’lll leave that up to you all to decide.
Has Bo Derek been mentioned yet?
Which is on TCM today (May 5) along with The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, Strangers May Kiss, Private Lives, Strange Interlude, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, and Romeo and Juliet – all starring Norma Shearer. Set your TiVos and VCRs!
I was glad to see a Kim Novak mention above. She’s too often overlooked.
And perhaps the sexiest woman ever to grace the screen is Charlotte Rampling.
I’m going to go “traditional” for my number one and two spots: Marlene Deitrich and Marilyn Monroe. Can’t beat that flesh impact! I’ll go with who I consider to have the most beautiful face for #3: Gene Tierney. Laura blew me away when I was a kid. But how do you choose, really? Who delivers lines better than Roz Russell? Who had more luminous skin than Garbo? Who had better tits than Jean Harlow? (j/k. sorry.) Who is more tender and feminine than Joan Fontaine or more chilly and erotic than Grace Kelly (Hitchcock, I guess!) Who looks better in her clothes than Myrna Loy? They are all amazing!
All interesting answers… I suppose my goal here is (ultimately) to get more recommendations of movies I have to go see to see these gals in action.
And to tout the infinite superiority of the smart and beautiful Claudette Colbert, of course. 