Rita Hayworth. A dancer turned actress, who can forget her memorable performance in Gilda, from 1946? This photo is from several years earlier (Rowrr!).
Eleanor Parker was another of the disproportionate number of red-headed lovelies from the 1940’s and 1950’s (although she’s probably best remembered today for her role in 1965's The Sound of Music, as Baroness Elsa Schraeder). One of my favorites is Never Say Goodbye, a screwball comedy from 1946, co-starring Errol Flynn. Eleanor Parker is still with us, incidentally; she turns 86 this June.
Martha Vickers died relatively young (aged 46 in 1971), and her film credits are not among the best-known movies in Hollywood, but she gave an electrifying performance in the 1946 Humphrey Bogart noir classic, The Big Sleep. Based on the Raymond Chandler novel, Vickers played the wild, doped-up younger sister of Lauren Bacall, and she exuded a sense of erotic menace.
Update: Especially for new commenter, P. Frizzle, this short video clip of Martha Vickers in The Big Sleep.
Update II: And don't miss this front-line Israeli Rule 5 action from American Power.
God bless Rule 5!
ReplyDeleteMitzi Gaynor
ReplyDelete"Schraeder"?
ReplyDeleteCheers
"Schraeder" it is, Captain (now, anyway).
ReplyDeleteThanks for an appreciation of Martha Vickers. I was always in awe of her all too brief performance in The Big Sleep. I never really understood Lauren Bacall's appeal, but my dislike of her only increased when I read that she was furious at being upstaged by Vickers so the latter's scenes were significantly cut and/or reshot to appease Bacall.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Enjoy your blog -- have been a Paco fan since the old Tim Blair days!
"I see you met my sister."
ReplyDelete"Yeah. Cute kid. She tried to sit in my lap. I was standing up at the time."
Welcome, P. Frizzle! Glad to encounter another Martha Vickers fan.
ReplyDeleteRight on Paco!
ReplyDeleteJust checked in and saw the clip, Paco. Thanks! Must go find my copy of The Big Sleep and watch it for the umpteenth time...
ReplyDelete