It took Lars von Trier's Melancholia for me to finally see that Kirsten Dunst is a really good actress and now it was Yorgos Lanthimos' turn with Poor Things for me to see Emma Stone as more than a Hollywood actress that can't do more than average La La Land. And that's all because both of them got to play compelling or out of the ordinary characters. It's a bit more and different than Hollywood's understanding of "complex female characters". Not that there's something inherently wrong with it, but perhaps it's limitative. It can easily turned into a tried and tested recipe. But having Hollywood actresses get out a bit from that really helps and for these two at least, it revealed that they do have the range and showed other facets of their acting abilities. I'd also add Nicole Kidman in this category because as much as she's a Hollywood icon, she always challenged herself and if you look at her filmography and the directors she worked with, it's quite diverse.
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Age of Famous Hollywood Actresses in 2023 | Oldest to Youngest Actresses
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A legendary Hollywood actress, Hedy Lamarr, and world famous composer. George Antheil, are awarded a patent for their Secret Communication System. (Swipe right to read more).
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Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift and Joseph L. Mankiewicz smock fight on the set of "Suddenly, Last Summer" at Shepperton Studios in England.
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Mary Astor - The Cameo Girl
Mary Astor (born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke in Quincy, Illinois on May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an American actress of German and Portuguese ethnicity. Noted for her classic beauty and a renowned profile that earned her the nickname “The Cameo Girl.”
Recognizing her beauty, her parents pushed her into various beauty contests. Luck arrived when she became a runner-up in one of Motion Picture Magazine's photography contests and came to the attention of Harry Durant of Famous Players–Lasky, who signed her when she was 14.
Astor was a contract player first with Paramount, then Warner Bros., and finally Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and worked in film, television, and on stage until her retirement in 1964. She also had a respectable career as a writer. Her 1959 autobiography Mary Astor: My Story was one of the first confessional autobiographies to come out of Hollywood.
Although her career spanned over four decades, she is best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and concert pianist Sandra Kovak in The Great Lie (1941).
After here retirement in 1964, Astor lived the final years of her life as a resident of the Motion Picture Country House in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles where she succumbed to the effects of respiratory failure due to pulmonary emphysema at the age of 81.
Legacy:
Chosen as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1926
Won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1941
Authored two best-selling books of memoirs, Mary Astor: My Story (1959) and A Life on Film (1971) as well as five fictional novels.
Has had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6701 Hollywood Boulevard since 1960.
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