Although blondes might be the Hollywood stereotype, some of the film industry’s most recognizable actresses were brunettes who could steal a scene or two.
A face Hollywood couldn’t ignore
It honestly feels like Hollywood was designed around Hedy Lamarr’s face because she was just that stunning. American audiences first saw her in 1938’s Algiers opposite Charles Boyer. Her dark hair and sharp features, along with her enormous eyes, made her very recognizable.
Then came Boom Town and Ziegfeld Girl before she starred in Samson and Delilah in 1949. It was a pretty big film. Lamarr played Delilah opposite Victor Mature, and at the time, the film was the studio’s highest-grossing release. It was all thanks to Lamarr.
The woman in the portrait
A lot of Laura features Gene Tierney as a painting on a wall. But she somehow manages to be at the center of the 1944 mystery anyway, at least until the story takes its turn. Tierney went on to receive an Oscar nomination for her work in Leave Her to Heaven.
Tierney also managed to hold her own against Rex Harrison in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. One of the reasons she was so beautiful was her green eyes. But the sculpted cheekbones and slight overbite didn’t exactly hurt, either, since they made her stand out.
Howard Hughes found his star
Jane Russell was a model in California when film producer Howard Hughes saw photographs of her. He immediately knew she was going to be a star. So, he signed her to a seven-year deal and cast her in The Outlaw, which became her breakout role.
Russell continued working in several genres, although comedy really suited her well. She appeared with Bob Hope in The Paleface and Son of Paleface, then with Robert Mitchum in His Kind of Woman and Macao. Her dark hair and strong eyebrows made her look like nobody else on screen.
From Italy to MGM
Pier Angeli’s career in America moved pretty fast. She first appeared in 1951’s Teresa as a young Italian woman who marries an American soldier. It got her a Golden Globe as a promising newcomer. It wasn’t long after that MGM had her acting alongside some very big names, like Gene Kelly and Kirk Douglas.Â
One of the reasons Angeli really stood out is that she had a much softer screen presence than a lot of her peers. You can really see that in Somebody Up There Likes Me. She played Norma opposite Paul Newman as boxer Rocky Graziano.
Those MGM dance numbers
Some people try to watch Singin’ in the Rain for Gene Kelly. Chances are, however, they’ll still end up staring at Cyd Charisse instead because of how utterly captivating she is. She appears in the movie with a sleek dark bob and barely says a thing.
Yet she somehow manages to make the whole movie feel different for a few minutes. That wasn’t her only movie, as Charisse went on to star in The Band Wagon with Fred Astaire and Brigadoon with Kelly again. Her legs may have gotten plenty of attention, but her face was just as camera-friendly.
Three classics in one year
1963 was an incredible year for Claudia Cardinale. That was the year that she appeared in Fellini’s 8½, Visconti’s The Leopard, and the Hollywood comedy The Pink Panther. Cardinale was born in Tunisia to a Sicilian family and first got studio attention when she was 18.
She was named the ‘Most Beautiful Italian Girl’ at an event, and honestly, it’s not hard to see why. Cardinale appeared with John Wayne in Circus World and played Jill McBain in Once Upon a Time in the West.
Love Story changed everything
Ali MacGraw’s life changed almost overnight, as she went from fashion work to major movie fame very quickly. Her first major movie was Goodbye, Columbus in 1969, and then a year later, she appeared in Love Story. Now she was opposite greats like Ryan O’Neal in one of the biggest romantic dramas of the period.Â
MacGraw perfectly suited this style of movie, though, thanks to her long dark hair and very simple styling. She starred with other silver-screen legends like Steve McQueen in The Getaway in 1972 and even made it onto TV with the miniseries The Winds of War.
Louise behind the wheel
Look at any successful movie from the ‘80s and ‘90s, and you’ll probably find Susan Sarandon on the cast list. She got behind the wheel in Thelma & Louise, and appeared in hits like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Atlantic City, The Witches of Eastwick, and Bull Durham.
But really, it’s her role as Louise that people truly remember. She got an Oscar nomination in 1992 for her role, and four years later, she actually won Best Actress for Dead Man Walking. She’s not the kind of actress to keep her career in one lane, that’s for sure.
Acting since she was six
Most kids are happy playing, but when Diane Lane was six years old, she began acting on stage. Her movie debut came at 14 in A Little Romance, opposite the one and only Laurence Olivier. She took on quite a different run of films during the 1980s.
The Outsiders was one, and so were Rumble Fish, Streets of Fire, and The Cotton Club. In 2002, Lane appeared in Unfaithful, opposite Richard Gere, and she earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role.Â
From fashion to Dracula
Monica Bellucci was another film star who began in fashion first. She appeared in 1992 in Francis Ford Coppola’s film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and it catapulted her to fame. Bellucci later appeared with Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman in Under Suspicion.
She also played Persephone in the two Matrix sequels, and went for a more religious role as Mary Magdalene in The Passion of the Christ. But she’s not just a pretty face. No, Bellucci has worked in several languages and several countries, too.
Much more than Mrs. Robinson
You hear Anne Bancroft’s name, you probably think of Mrs. Robinson. But the truth is, she’d already won an Oscar before The Graduate was released, and she’d won a Tony, too. Bancroft first played Annie Sullivan in the Broadway production of The Miracle Worker.
She appeared again in the same role for the 1962 film adaptation and won an Academy Award for Best Actress. It wasn’t until five years later that she appeared in The Graduate. This wasn’t a one-note actress, though, as her other films included The Pumpkin Eater and 84 Charing Cross Road.
That unmistakable smoky voice
Suzanne Pleshette’s voice was just as iconic as her look. It was pretty husky. But once you added the dark hair and her expressive eyes, it became pretty hard to confuse her with anyone else. She appeared in Rome Adventure with Troy Donahue and played Annie Hayworth in Hitchcock’s The Birds.Â
She made the transition to TV when she played Emily Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show from 1972 to 1978. Pleshette eventually returned to TV in 1990 for its wonderfully strange final scene of Newhart.
Before Lily Munster
There’s no denying that Yvonne De Carlo was glamorous. Very glamorous, in fact, and she worked as a nightclub dancer before she got her major break. That was with Salome, Where She Danced in 1945, and she later shared the screen with Burt Lancaster in Criss Cross.
De Carlo played Sephora opposite Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments. Her most famous role has to be Lily Munster in 1964’s The Munsters, but by that point De Carlo had already been around for years.
Fox’s Texas beauty
Linda Darnell was only a teenager when she made Hotel for Women for 20th Century-Fox. The studio didn’t care, though, and they had her appearing in one film after another shortly after. Her roles eventually got moodier as the 1940s went on.
Hangover Square and Fallen Angel were some of the most famous examples. Darnell landed the title role in Forever Amber, too, before playing Lora Mae Hollingsway in A Letter to Three Wives. She had a great run, especially for someone whose career started so young.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
