Apologies yet again for the delay in putting out a new blog, I blame life! Anyway, I want to talk about the actresses who made the 1940's a memorable decade for film and Hollywood. Already seasoned actresses like Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne and Margaret Sullavan really came into their own in the 1940's, Hepburn in particular with films such as Adam's Rib (1949), just one of several films she made with Spencer Tracy. Irene Dunne's performance in I Remember Mama was outstanding!
Then we have the beautiful but seriously underrated Veronica Lake. She made a lasting impression with her performances in films such as I Married A Witch (she showed a flair for comedy in this film), Ramrod, The Glass Key and This Gun For Hire, the latter two films were ones in which she was paired with frequent co-star Alan Ladd. She could switch between comedy and drama with ease, yet everybody seems to focus on her famous peek-a-boo hairstyle and not her actual talent!
One of the biggest films to come out of the 1940's was Waterloo Bridge, which teamed Robert Taylor with the sensational Vivien Leigh. She had already made her mark in British cinema with films such as Fire Over England in which she starred with husband Laurence Olivier, then went on to portray Scarlett O'Hara in the classic Gone With The Wind in 1939, but she excelled herself in Waterloo Bridge.
One of my many favourite actresses is another underrated gem; Paulette Goddard. She is probably best remembered for her performance in Charlie Chaplin's films Modern Times and The Great Dictator and The Women (1939), but she drew acclaim for her brilliant performance in So Proudly We Hail. I just wish she was given more credit for her amazing talent.
Other actresses I adore from the 1940's include Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck (fabulous in Double Indemnity, Ball Of Fire and The Lady Eve), Maureen O'Hara, Ava Gardner (started her career in the late 40's in films such as The Killers and One Touch Of Venus), Deanna Durbin (yet another underrated actress who had so much more to her than her singing and musical films), Hattie McDaniel, Marsha Hunt, the list goes on and on and on!
Actresses I highly recommend watching include Ann Sheridan, Simone Simon, Elsa Lanchester, Claire Trevor, Lauren Bacall (her career took off big time in the 1940's in classics such as To Have And Have Not and Key Largo), the supreme Bette Davis, Dolores Del Rio, Dorothy Lamour and Jane Wyman.
My next blog post will focus on my favourite movies of the 1940's and I will wrap up my mini series on this amazing decade with a section on iconic directors such as Ida Lupino, Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges. Hopefully, I won't leave it too long to blog again!
Photo of Veronica Lake, credit to Pinterest.
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