Ladies of the Silver Screen Pt 2

Leslie Crosbie in "The Letter" ('40) Bette Davis pumping bullets into a man in a white linen suit on a moonlit veranda in Manila, then spending the rest of the movie successfully (mostly) professing her innocence. Kudos to Max Steiner for creating the perfect score to carry this drama and its leading lady to an inevitable conclusion.

Mrs. Hampton in "The Letter" (40): Gale Sondergaard parting sparkly bead curtains to reveal her mysterious and regal self to a dripping-in-white-lace Bette. A loopy opium addict snickers in the background while tinkly wind chimes accentuate that haunting score.

Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" ('60): Audrey in Givenchy!

Prissy in "Gone With the Wind" ('39): In later years, Butterfly McQueen said: "Now I am happy I did "Gone With the Wind". I wasn't when I was 28, but it's part of black history. You have no idea how hard it is for black actors, but things change, things blossom in time." Butterfly was one of the blossoms.



Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With The Wind" ('39): The girl had a way with men and drapery. Vivien Leigh beguiles and infuriates as the spoiled Southern belle.

Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire" ('51): "Oh, look we have created enchantment." Vivien Leigh calls upon her vocal chords to help create Blanche's bruised psyche - dipping way down low then rising to a frantic pitch, she inhabits Blanche's unhinged mind with expertise.

Maude in "Harold and Maude" ('71): "My body is in the earth, my head in the stars." Ruth Gordon's autobiographical play "The Actress", about her keen desire to be a theatre artist against all odds, was made into a movie in 1953; eighteen years later, she gave life to Maude, blessing us with the most vibrant, free-spirited octogenarian in all of cinema.



Margo Channing in "All About Eve" ('50): "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night". Another great turn from Mother Goddam.



Anne Sullivan in "The Miracle Worker" ('62): In her portrayal of this kindhearted and determined real life woman, Anne Bancroft shone brighter than the Oscar she won for it.

Mrs Robinson in "The Graduate" ('67): A 180 degree turn from Anne Sullivan, Bancroft revelled in playing this sexy but cold mother/seductress.

Fran Kubelick in "The Apartment" ('60): Whether in her elevator operator uniform or her fabulous career girl coat Shirley MacLaine gave Fran a touching and elegant vulnerability. "Shut up and deal."

Irma LaDouce in "Irma la Douce" ('63): French prostitute packing a mean poodle. The awesome Ms MacLaine in another Wilder jewel. This one in Technicolour!



Cathy Ames aka Kate Trask in "East of Eden" ('55): Jo Van Fleet won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing James Dean's mom in both his first film and hers. She was 41 years old at the time and had up until then been exclusively a stage actress. She brought the right balance of tough madam/hurt mother to this role.

Marsha P. Johnson in “Happy Birthday Marsha!” (2017): She was a dynamo in real life and Mya Taylor does a bang up job of portraying this legend, who once said the “P” in her name stood for “pay it no mind."

Baby Jane Hudson in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" ('62): Wearing ringlets and rouge not fit for lady nor courtesan, Baby Jane (former child star now in her 60s) taunts and tortures her wheelchair-bound sister: "But ya ah in a wheelchair, Blanche, ya ah." Bette Davis chewing up the scenery.

Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard" ('50): Gloria Swanson as the has-been star of the silent screen: "We had faces then." Full of silent actress gesturing and grand dame overacting, Swanson is perfectly creepy in her stagey, needy turn as the deluded diva.



Almira Gulch & The Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz" ('39): "I'm all but lame for the bite on my leg!" Not lame enough to stop her from pedaling a mean bike. Margaret Hamilton rued the fact that her career never veered far from spinster/crone typecasting, but in this one film she gave us two of the great evil ladies of cinema.

Glinda in "The Wizard of Oz" ('39): Billie Burke in sparkly splendor with that inimitable dance of consonants off her enchanted tongue: "Toto too." Ah, the glitter and glimmer of the Good Witch of the North!

Dorothy Gale in "The Wizard of Oz" ('39): I love Judy.