Golden Age of Hollywood Book Club discussion
Hob Nob
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you bad girl!
Although they often played bad girl roles, Audrey Totter and Marie Windsor had a way of portraying their characters in a way that I feel sympathy for them or at least appreciate their predicament. Lizbeth Scott usually deserves more punishment than she receives!
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Ella's face looks familiar, but I can't recall the movies I've seen her in.
Recently saw The Women. Joan Crawford is at her nastiest!
Sometimes the 'bad girl' part was a ticket to better things. Then there were those females who specialized in 'shifty'.It's interesting that many of the male 'stars' were seen as heroes or villains, leaving much of the in-between to character actors while women were not so strictly defined.
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I couldn't agree more, Feliks. With those big eyes and sneering smile, she commanded the screen, And one of the baddest girls I ever saw never really made a very big splash except in poverty row pictures....Ann Savage. She was chilling in the classic Detour. My cousin, who works for the AFI in Los Angeles met her several years ago at a showing of that film......he said she was just lovely and was overwhelmed and humbled at the reaction of the audience
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Altho' she normally played a sympathetic character, Gene Tierney was pure evil in Leave Her To Heaven. She should have done more parts like that since she was very believable.
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My fave troublesome female (or at least one which wowed me)? Yvonne de Carlo in 'Criss Cross'
Good choice, Feliks. She was a bit of a b**ch in that film. I was never particularly crazy about her but she had a few good parts through the years.
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I've known young ladies like that. Struck a chord with me.
Ida Lupino! She was a talented actress but not really quite pretty enough to be a "sexy lady" ......but she could play a bad girl with the best of them. She had a great sneer when it was called for.
I agree wth you about Ida Lupino. She had an edge to her--looks and acting-wise. She had had polio and overcame that. She was a talented woman, and was also known for her directing.
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One actress that I always think of as a 'bad girl' is Patricia Barry. She always had this insidious habit of twisting men around her finger. I've seen her and her red hair mostly on tv, but she did do movies such as 'Dear Heart' and 'The Wreck of rthe Hesperus' as well.
I've thought about this for awhile, and just thought I'd make an observation. We have a 'bad girl' thread, which can include some fairly major stars, but we don't have a 'bad boy' thread. Is that because we don't like to see our male stars as 'bad', except occasionally in a role so we leave that to the character actors? Just asking.
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I suppose it's possible, but I think many women prefer to see male stars as heroes, and many men like the John Wayne type, at least in the time period we're talking about.The anti-hero took awhile to come in.
Well, Dean, Brando, and Newman. Or even Malcolm McLaren. A bad boy thread could be good.
Have neverr been much of a Dean, Brando or Nicholson fan, but I liked Paul Newman, who did have a 'dangerous' air about him. You could never tell what he was going to do.
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If height was a requirement, just think of all the retired basketball players who could be on the silver screen. :)
I read somewhere that the actors/actresses who were considered stars, were short and had large heads!!! Norma Shearer is a perfect example.
I guess Curtis and Lancaster probably fit in there, too. I am a huge fan of Sweet Smell of Success.
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Even though we don't think of her as a bad "girl" since she always looked mature, I think we can add Dame Judith Anderson to this list. Although she played in Shakespeare and was a classical actress,when she was in film, she always seemed to get stuck as a nasty person. But she was a terrific actress
She certainly was. She could be malevolence personified.
Barbara Stanwyck was a nasty bad girl in a few of her films too.....The Strange Love of Martha Ivers and most notably Double Indemnity. She could play anything from comedy to high drama but could really sink her teeth into those nasty girl roles. She oozed badness.
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Actually I like that anytime it comes about, whether male or female. Such as with Fred MacMurray ('The Apartment', 'The Caine Mutiny')
But with regard to Babs Stanwyck, something about her didn't seem as if she would ever balk at the seamy underside of life. She looked like she could weather it all with equanimity.
After seeing Lizabeth Scott in 'Too Late for Tears', I'd say she qualifies as a 'bad girl.' I must admit that I don't think she's all that attractive, but somebody must have thought so considering the 'femme fatale' parts she played.
I don't care for Scott either but I would agree that she made a perfect "bad girl". She was not much of an actress and her looks were a matter of taste, I guess but I didn't think she was very attractive.
She looks like she could rip your heart out without blinking an eyelash. BTW, I just found out that Dan Duryea, who she bumped off in 'Tears', graduated from the same high school as a friend of mine (different year.) Small world.
I have read that Duryea was a gentle, nice, man of faith. But he surely was the epitome of the nasty character. I can't think of any film where he was not either a stinker or a weakling except for The Flight of the Phoenix.
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But still kind of a stinker. I wonder how they picked him for The Flight....... It was an odd bit of casting but worked beautifully and he was very believable.
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Wanda Hendrix in, 'Ride the Pink Horse'
Joan Bennett in, 'Man Hunt'
Janet Leigh in, 'Manchurian Candidate'
These flicks could have been more 'edge of the seat' if these 'savior' women had an element of 'doubt' involved.
Angela Lansbury was evil enough for 3 women. What a performance!
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You could be right. I must admit I wasn't paying as much attention to their relationship.
Angela Lansbury was magnificent in The Manchurian Candidate. A truly top drawer performance.
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Exactly, Feliks. She was delightful as the snippy little tart maid in Gaslight but could pull out all the stops for a serious part. It is too bad that most people remember her from the tv show "Murder She Wrote". That certainly didn't show what a great actress she really was.As far as the "stars" of today, I don't even know who half of them are. And those greats of the present aren't sticking around for various reasons: Daniel Day-Lewis who I think is masterful has given up acting; I can't seem to find Helena Bonham Carter; Kevin Spacey got himself in trouble, etc.
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Think of someone like Albert Finney, who appeared each night in a West End stage play ...then slept on the train-boat while make-up men prepared him for his daily assignment with Lumet, on 'Orient Express'.
I love Angela in Bedknobs and Broomsticks
What a great picture. Do you consider her a "bad girl"?
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Memorable 'bad girl' characters and the performers who made them great?
Which ones did you feel deserve to get whacked in the end-- and which ones did you feel deserved sympathy?