Comments on: Whither The Great Dames, Anyway?

By: "Ladykillers" fan

"Ladykillers" fan — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:50:09 +0000

Don't forget the Brits – Katie Johnson, Gladys Cooper, and Wendy Hiller (although her birth year is 1912).

By: Mrs. Rutledge

Mrs. Rutledge — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 23:28:19 +0000

No nobody looks like that anymore, you are so right. And I am very tired of male actors building their careers by pretending to be women which no modern studio would ever allow on the screen! While nobody can compare to the great ladies mentioned, (and let us not forget Beulah Bondi, Jessie Royce Landis and Spring Byington), I would like to nominate a few formidable contemporary contenders. Although you ofen have to go to television to see them, Nina Foch; Angela Lansbury (post Jessica Fletcher); Doris Roberts; the great Elizabeth Wilson; and of course, Lauren Bacall- all carry on the tradition of the “grand old dame” as well as it is humanly possible to do in this day and age. So, maybe there’s hope.

By: Medusa

Medusa — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 01:45:27 +0000

I know exactly what you mean! I'm sure we both will admit to more informality these days, but there's a whole class of women who simply aren't out there on the screen, except, perhaps as comic characters. And even then, often played by men! (I'm thinking Eddie Murphy and Tyler Perry, maybe. Played well, though!). Maybe they don't even exist anymore in real life...could that be so? These days we only applaud the grandmothers who look thirty-five, and sometimes are, scarily enough. If there ever was a time that we needed a Margaret Dumont, this is it!I'm with you, Karen!

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 01:19:36 +0000

Thanks so much for making the point I've often remarked upon–what ever happened to little old ladies and grande dames? It's not just the Josephine Hulls we no longer see–either on the screen or on the street–it's the Margaret Dumonts, the Lucile Watsons, the Sara Allgoods? Where are the large, imposing women who wore low cut backless evening gowns with such authority? No one has the guts to look like a grandmother anymore, or the confidence to show it off. It's so crazy that there are more realistic-looking people in old Hollywood movies than we see on the street today.