Good actresses, past and future

Tools    





MovieForums Extra
I'm wondering what we look for these days in actresses...are the days of actresses like Elizabeth Taylor, Marylin Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Greta Garbo, Sophie Lauren etc. gone?? There seems to be a trend in Hollywood where only "beautiful" actresses are breaking through, making it big time, becoming famous for their good looks and ideal proportions rather than their acting abilities....Pamela Anderson for example Is it just me, or is there something really there??



Registered User
Well said!

There are some terrible actresses slipping through the net, one might say!

Salma Hayek? WTF?

Goldie Hawn isn't too bad. Midler is obviously Broadway trained. Meryl Streep is a class act. But the younger ones really struggle.




jamesglewisf's Avatar
Didn't see it.
My favorite actresses, past and present are:
  • Katherine Hepburn - I don't think she was pretty at all.
  • Audrey Hepburn
  • Grace Kelly
  • Josephine Hull - Not pretty. (Arsenic and Old Lace, Harvey)
  • Kathy Bates - Not pretty.
  • Meg Ryan
  • Jessica Tandy - Later stuff. Not pretty.
  • Jane Wyman
  • Minnie Driver
  • Myrna Loy
  • Sandra Bullock
  • Ingrid Bergman
  • Gene Tierney
  • Shirely MacLaine - Not Pretty
  • Olympia Dukakis - Not pretty
  • Sally Field
  • Julia Roberts
There are others that I have to look up.
__________________
Jim Lewis
To BE or Not to BE, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barium Enema
Crouching Tiger, Paint Your Wagon - Forums



Female assassin extraordinaire.
oh man, the comprehensive list would have to go on and on ...

sort of going off of james' list ... also .. i think it's hard, to divide up who we just like for whatever reason and who is actually GOOD. who's actually worthy ...

old timer/good:

Katherine Hepburn - "I don't think she was pretty at all. " - wha? you don't think she was pretty? she was passable, at least. she fit the socialite pretty that was necessary to frequently cast her against Cary Grant ...
Audrey Hepburn - oh yeah
Kathy Bates - "Not pretty." - but oh, she's good.
Jessica Tandy
Myrna Loy
Ingrid Bergman
Catherine Deneuve
Bette Davis (come on people!
Shirley MacLaine - "Not Pretty " - gasp! did you see this woman work with Jack Lemmon? she was the cutest thing out there! she was wonderful. wonderful comedic actress.
Judy Garland - that woman had some serious talent.
Judy Dench - great actress.
Jodie Foster
Sally Field
Cate Blanchett - for what that girl did in Elizabeth, i will always admire her.
Barbara Stanwyck
Isabelle Huppert
Juliette Binoche

like her, but not "great":

Meg Ryan - she can only do one type of thing, but she's cute
Minnie Driver - acts passably well, but not terribly well. nothing challenging really. She just looks vulnerable and fits the romantic element.
Sandra Bullock - love this girl to death, but she is also not a "great" actress. yet.
Doris Day - great voice, good actress, but no genius.
Julia Roberts - like Meg Ryan - good at what she does, but no great actress yet.
Grace Kelly - people lauded her acting ability but i really think it had more to do with that ice princess way she had about her. she was skilled at being a distant, unattainable, beauty, who could act (though not ingeniously) as well.
i'm kinda torn on Isabella Rossellini - i love her to death but haven't seen anything terribly moving of hers. though i've heard a lot about Blue Velvet...

hmm ... a few others rolling around in the brain but the ol' hands are tired



Is Pually Shore an actor or an actress?

Just kidding....
__________________
I watch movies, I eat, I lift weights, I eat again.



MovieForums Extra

By the way, what claim to fame does Carmen Electra have?? Isn't she a singer or model or something? And Jennifer Lopez...I admit, she as a nice voice, but I think even I could act better than her (and I'm about as good as actor as one of those guys who do a Menthos commercial on a bad day!)



jamesglewisf's Avatar
Didn't see it.
Carmen Electra was on MTV before Baywatch. I had to look that up, BTW.

I thought Jennifer Lopez was pretty good in Out of Sight.



They're both BIMBOS with BOOTIES!



I like that Laura Linney. She did really well as the prosecutor in that movie with Richard Gere and Edward Norton. Primal Fear, I think it was called. She was also pretty good in THe Truman Show (as Truman's wife). She's got a movie coming out soon that she's supposedly really good in, too.

And she's certainly easy on the eyes, too.



MovieForums Extra

Couldn't have said it better my self Poo!! That was the exact point I was trying to make with this tread!

By the way, I am about to make a claim that probaly none of you will believe, but it's true nevertheless.

So here it goes:

I once had a dog that looked like Richard Gere!

I'm dead serious, I analysed both of their pictures, it's something about the eyes...and he looked a bit like David Duchovny from the X-Files, and a little bit like Pres. Elect Dubya!

I WILL back this up with scientific proof, but for now you have to take my word on it



Registered User
Oh, forgot one!

Susan Sarandon

Old (like ryan ), but very talented, and, for some reason, incredibly sexy.



MovieForums Extra
I can't believe that there was no reaction to my sensationalist claim that my dog looked like Richard Gere!

I was actually expecting a lot of "WTF?" and "Really?" responses, oh well...