As much as I admired Dabney Coleman — and still do — I could never understand why he and wife Jean Hale got divorced. I mean:
I guess there’s just no good explanation.
Category: Classic Beauty
Classic Beauty: Martha Hyer
Hmmmm another Texas girl, this time Fort Worth’s Martha Hyer, the impossibly-beautiful ice-cold blonde actress whose career spanned the late 1940s through the late 1960s.
Yeah, for the Safety Nazis complaining about the finger on the trigger: relax, Francis. It’s a single-action un-cocked revolver.
Anyway, someone that beautiful can hold a gun any damn way she wants.
Classic Beauty: Linda Darnell
If ever there was an actress who got crucified on the twin crosses of a pushy showbiz mother and a horny studio executive, that would be Dallas girl Linda Darnell (her story here). Her life could also be entitled: “Nice Girls Finish Last”, because the one thing about her that everyone ever agreed on was what a sweetie she was.
However, that’s not the story here. These pics are:
Because she’d been one of the youngest actresses to play adult women — she was barely 16 at the time she started — her movies didn’t show off her figure, and most especially not her legs (which were spectacular).
And when some more “grownup” pictures of her were published:
…she was promptly voted one of the “Four Most Beautiful Women in Hollywood” (alongside Hedy Lamarr, Ingrid Bergman, and Gene Tierney — pretty exalted company).
Hardly surprising.
Classic Beauty: Marilyn (My Favorites)
Of course, Marilyn Monroe needs no introduction to anyone who hasn’t been locked away in a hut in New Guinea all their life. And there’s no shortage of Marilyn pics to be found, anywhere. But these are my favorites:
And if I were to choose my absolute favorite Marilyn pic of all time:
Classic Beauty: Mitzi Gaynor
I have no idea why I’ve never featured the lovely dancer and actress Mitzi Gaynor before on these pages, but let me make up for that egregious omission right away:
And then, of course, there are those legendary dancer’s legs:
I think I’ll save the color pics for another day.
Modern Classic Beauty
I’ve featured her before, here and there, but not in depth (so to speak). So here’s Italy’s worthy successor to Sophia and Gina: Monica Bellucci. I was going to start with young Monica and work my way up [ahem] to the present day, but like Sophia and Gina, La Monica is pretty much astounding at any age. So I’ll just do a monochrome set first, and leave the color for another time. Okay?
Que bella.