Great idea, right? In searching for clips and trying to save them to my cell (and my laptop) has proven every feeling of ancientness that I have had in the last year. I know that you're only as old as you feel. And if that's the case, them I am feeling about 174 years old. That's okay, cause I'm glad that I can remember so many fabulous stars. I am going to expand my choices to 20th Century actors and the roles that I had the biggest screen crushes on. These are listed in order of impact.
1. Faye Dunaway in Chinatown. She is the reason why I love blood red lipstick. I remember thinking she was the most beautiful woman in the world.
2. Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon. My first crush in kindergarten was Peter Wong; I thought he looked like him.
3. Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik. I was mesmerized by him. The story of the Woman in Black that used to go to his grave every anniversary of his death with the single red rose is classic Hollywood.
4. Dorothy Dandridge in Carmen Jones. Just gorgeous. Halle Berry won me over to her acting with her excellent portrayal (she won an Emmy).
5. Yes, she occupies two spots on my list, cause I am including screen couples on my list. Faye Dunaway (no second link) and Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair. Dayum, they were so elegant!
6. Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood. I think that was the film that let me know old movies were pretty darn good.
7. Paul Newman in Exodus. I was already a big fan of Mr. Newman when I finally saw the film - which doesn't stand up to the book it's based on, but man. Ari Ben Canaan? Yes please. And I just noticed I realize that some of the talent behind these choices includes assholes like Otto Preminger and Roman Polanski. In this case, I am separating the reprehensible personal conduct from the art. And let me add that Mr. Newman was an outstanding human being.
8. Billy Dee Williams in Lady Sings the Blues. Yup, I was def gonna be a bigamist.
9. Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack. I happened to watch this yesterday with Cam. After Scott and I talked about how influential it was back in the day, he wondered why, if it was so popular, no one has remade it. I responded, because Tom Laughlin is Billy Jack. No one would dare.
10. Robert Redford & Paul Newman in The Sting. I was gonna marry Robert. Still can, I guess.
11. Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient. I've said it before, the film is grand, while the book was unreadable. Thank goodness for film.
12. Tamra Dobson as Cleopatra Jones. She was beautiful, bad ass, did those high karate kicks and drove a Corvette!
13. Edward James Olmos as El Pachuco in Zoot Suit. Not enough folks have seen this LA classic - the play or the film. He is riveting and will understand how his career began.
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