BBC. Outstanding women XX century (episodes 1-13 of 13) / Extraordinary Women / 2011
About the film:"Outstanding Women of the Twentieth Century" is a BBC documentary series about the great women of their time who overcame difficulties on their way and achieved success each in their own direction. Grace Kelly, Coco Chanel, Audrey Hepburn, Agatha Christie, Indira Gandhi, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Amelia Earhart ... They were admired and admired by millions of people around the world, loved and hated, and sometimes even feared. They proved that a woman can also achieve heights in her business and won. They seemed to have it all: power, wealth and admiration. But, in addition to the dizzying success, sufferings and personal tragedies happened in the lives of these women ...
1st series. "Madame Chiang Kai-shek"
For almost half a century, Madame Chiang Kai-shek remained one of the most powerful women in the world. She was neither the president nor the ruler of China, but she played a unique role in world politics for a woman of her time. Married to an inept leader and a mediocre general, she, thanks to her stubborn policies, led the country through military conflict, famine and the threat of a bloody coup.
2nd series. "Coco Chanel"
Coco Chanel's story is a journey from dire poverty to abundance and prosperity. Breaking out of poverty, thanks to a string of wealthy lovers, she turned from a workhouse dweller to a dressmaker who gave women freedom and completely changed the idea of women's dress.
3rd series. "Hedy Lamarr"
Hedy Lamarr was a real star - femme fatale, who was called the most beautiful actress in cinema. But when her beauty began to fade, Hollywood rejected her, and after thirty years everything in her life went wrong. But then redemption came. Because Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr was also an inventor. And her outstanding invention has put her at the forefront of the creators of modern communication technology.
4th series. Wallis Simpson
Edward VIII became the first king of England to abdicate in eight hundred years. He decided that he could not serve his people without his beloved. This charismatic monarch gave up the throne not for the sake of a woman of royal blood, but for the sake of twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson. Who was this incredible woman who attracted the attention of England's most profitable groom?
5th series. "Audrey Hepburn"
Audrey Hepburn is one of the most stylish women, the very epitome of elegance. She brought an image of natural grace and beauty to the world of Hollywood. But behind the scenes luxurious life there were tragedies and losses.
6th series. "Grace Kelly"
Beautiful, talented, emitting sexual charm, Grace Kelly charmed best men... She had money, a great upbringing and the opportunity to have everything from being a Hollywood Princess to being a real princess.
7th series. "Martha Gellhorn"
In July 1936, Spain was torn apart by a brutal civil war. The country was constantly bombarded. One reporter for the war was Martha Gellhorn, who would cover nearly every major conflict in the twentieth century. Her incredible career spanned sixty-five years and she has seen everything from Spain to the Normandy landings, from the horrors of Dachau to Vietnam.
8-series. "Indira Gandhi"
Indira Gandhi became the first woman head of state in the largest democratic country in the world. The main problems in India were poverty, hunger and social injustice. The population was about half a billion people who professed different religions... The country has not yet recovered from British colonial rule. But Indira triumphed over her critics, turned India into an independent democratic country, and dominated the political scene for nearly twenty years.
9th series. "Josephine Baker"
The dances of Josephine Baker, which conquered the world, were accompanied by dashing acrobatic pirouettes, frank striptease and improvisations, more like antics. Unique and exotic, comic and controversial. The audience was delighted with her. It was rumored that the artist Picasso wanted to get her as a model, writers Ernest Hemingway and Georges Simenon were simply big fans of Josephine. But the life of an actress is not only dancing. She was both a scout during the war and a fighter for human rights.
10-series. "Amelia Earhart"
Amelia Earhart's life is a triumph of courage and glory. By the time she was thirty, she became famous for her heroic plane flights. This American aviator was brave and free-thinking, she opened new horizons for women.
11-series. "Agatha Christie"
Agatha Christie is the queen of the detective genre. During her half-century career and withstood two world wars, she wrote eighty novels and short stories that brought unforgettable heroes to the world, such as Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. A master of dramatic intrigue, Agatha Christie has perfectly mastered the art of capturing and holding the reader's attention: a small number of characters, intricate storylines ... and the perfect crime, solved by a virtuoso detective.
12-series. "Ruth Westheimer"
Dr. Ruth Westheimer is famous all over the world. In the eighties of the twentieth century, she reigned in radio and television. She became the number one TV sexologist. Ruth entered every home, and still remains her own person for many.
13-series. "Maria Montessori"
Maria Montessori revolutionized the teaching of children and became one of the most famous educators in the world. She, a true pioneer in her field, has made an invaluable contribution to the theory of child learning. But she is more than just a teacher. Maria Montessori was one of the first women doctors in Europe, a professor at the university and an active defender of women's rights. But the path of struggle led her to success. She had to fight for her right to learn.
Writers and journalists, public figures and politicians, entrepreneurs and businesswoman - women who changed the world in the 20th century, who created something that no one else could do before. Their life stories are more like an intricate plot of a movie or a TV series, their fate was so incredible ... a fate that they made themselves.
Golda Meir , Israeli political and statesman, The 5th Prime Minister of Israel, was born on May 3, 1898 in Ukraine, the seventh child in the family, after five other children died due to the dire living conditions in the countryside.
Meir has dedicated her entire life to eradicating the elements that hurt her as a child. The massacre of the Jews is what Meir remembered with early years life. It is no exaggeration to say that Golda Meir's life was one continuous crisis from her birth in a poverty-stricken environment to those days in the twenties in Jerusalem, when she was close to starvation. An immigrant who studied for only one year in college and grew up in the Milwaukee ghetto, she became the only woman to sign Israel's Declaration of Independence, its first ambassador to Russia, its first minister of labor and social security, the first woman minister of foreign affairs, and finally the first and the only woman - the prime minister. Her spirit, tenacity, confidence helped her create the state of Israel and ultimately led her to become the first female leader. Meir served as a model for future women leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi.
Gloria Steinem , public and political figure, the leader of feminist movements, the founder of many organizations and projects, was born on March 25, 1934 in Ohio, USA. Ruth, Gloria's mother, had several nervous seizures shortly before she was born. Most Gloria's childhood mother was bedridden and the girl was forced to serve as her nurse, friend and guardian. The mother's helplessness left her feeling deeply resentful of the need to sacrifice her youth to her illness and abandon children's entertainment in order to care for the patient.
Gloria Steinem combined her work as a journalist with political activity and has made tremendous contributions to improving equality laws (Civil Rights for Blacks in America, Supporting the Poor, Women's Rights). She also advocated: “Free family planning by women; Encouraging and rebalancing careers and families and placing more emphasis and respect on traditionally feminine pursuits; Democratic family with separation family responsibilities between husband and wife; Separation of culture and politics with the aim of guaranteeing a serious attitude of men to the life problems of women ”.
Steinem sacrificed her family and children for her life's work. Steinem's eternal fear of ongoing commitment is psychologically based on memories of courting a helpless mother. Her enormous contribution to the development of society was the reason why "McCall" s "named her" Woman of the Year "in 1972, and" Harper "s Bazaar magazine - the most powerful woman America in 1983.
N Rand , American writer and philosopher, creator of the philosophical direction of objectivism, or, more correctly, Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum was born on February 2, 1905 in St. Petersburg. As a nine-year-old girl, Rand was in despair when almost her entire family was killed in the invasion of German forces during World War I. Three years later, when she was only twelve, chaos turned into a global catastrophe of the Bolshevik revolution. The communist slogan "A person must live for the state" was imprinted on the psyche of a precocious teenager. And at this time, she vowed to prove that the state should live for a person, and not vice versa. In 1926 she managed to leave for America. The seven most famous books Rand (We Are Alive (1936), Anthem (1938), The Origin (1943), The Virtue of Selfishness (1964), and others) have sold 50 million copies over the past 50 years. Her novel Atlas Shrugs is an epic myth that explains the philosophical mistakes of collectivist societies and is the greatest philosophical and epic work in history, in a language that its author barely spoke.
Esti Lauder (Josephine Esther Mentzer) was born on July 1, 1908 in Corona (Italian Immigrant Quarter) in Queens, New York. Lauder later admitted that she was ashamed of her immigrant background and her parents who spoke English with a strong accent. Esti was the youngest of eight children. Esti was six years old when the First World War began and her uncle John Scotz joined the family then living in Queens. He had a huge impact on the impressionable Esti, who, like many girls, great importance gave the appearance. Soon Esti became obsessed with "beauty from a jar", as she called her uncle's magic "Cream Pak". It was her dermatologist uncle who pushed Este to create 4 formulas of skin creams that have not yet been discontinued. Even then, Uncle John's magic elixirs were fulfilling her childhood dreams of beauty and elegance at a time when the world was engulfed in war.
With almost nothing but a dream, Esti Lauder started in 1939 by creating the world's greatest privately-owned cosmetics company. Since the early nineties, Esti Lauder's sales revenue has exceeded $ 2 billion a year. The Lauder makeup empire has made her one of the richest women in the world, according to Fortune magazine. Lauder was the only woman on this list to do it all on her own.
Elizabeth Klayborn Born in Brussels, Belgium on March 31, 1929, the son of Americans from New Orleans. When Liz was ten, her family fled Brussels to escape the Nazi invasion and returned to New Orleans in 1939, Liz's mother taught her the art of sewing with a very early age and her strict rules regarding clothing and appearance firmly imprinted in the memory of the girl. Early study of art in art schools in Brussels, Belgium (1947), Nice, France (1948) and at the Academy of Arts in Paris, became Klayborn's entrance ticket to the field of production fashionable clothes... Having won the main prize at the age of 19 in a national design competition announced with the support of Harper's Bazaar, Klayborn quarreled with her father, saying goodbye forever to his dream of her artistic career, and left for New York to make her own destiny. fifty dollars and solemnly said goodbye that "a woman's place is in the house," and not among the crowd of New York fashionistas, visitors to shameful rag shops.
Today, her brainchild, founded in 1976, is not just a company with 5 billion in annual income and a staff of 15 thousand people. Subsidiaries Liz Claiborne Inc are Mexx, Juicy Couture, Kate Spade, Lucky Brand Jeans, DKNY and other equally well-known brands.
Maria Callas (Cecilia Sophia Lina Maria Kalogeropoulos) was born in New York on December 2, 1923. Her elder sister Jackie was born in Greece in 1917 and brother Vassilios was born three years later. Vassilios was a favorite of his mother, but fell ill with typhoid fever at the age of three and died suddenly. This tragedy shocked the family, especially Mary's mother, the gospel. Her mother longed for another boy and refused to even look at or touch her newborn daughter for four whole days.
At the age of six, Maria was hit by a car on a street in Manhattan, and she was dragged across a block. She was in a coma for twelve days and no one expected her to survive. Her mother decided to compensate for her failed life with the help of Mary and pushed her to achieve perfection with all her might. Callas later recalled her childhood: "It was only when I sang that I felt loved." The classic records became her toys. She was a wonder child who began taking piano lessons at the age of five and singing lessons at eight. At nine years old, she was the star of concerts at her school.
She lived and sang in Athens when the Nazis took over Greece in 1940 at the start of World War II. Maria's family began to starve due to the many battles during the occupation. Maria literally had to eat from garbage cans during the war.
Both before the war and after, Maria constantly ate, trying to make up with food for the lack of affection for her cold but demanding mother and soften her insecurity. By the time of reaching adolescence her height was 173 cm, but she weighed 90 kg. And even having managed to lose weight later, having achieved success, Callas remained unprotected for life. In 1970, she confessed to a reporter: "I am never sure of myself, I am constantly gnawed by various doubts and fears."
When Maria Callas was 11 years old, she listened to the then very famous Lily Panet at the New York Metropolitan Opera and predicted: “Someday I will become a star myself, bigger star than she. ”And she became the most deified diva of the theater. 
Linda Joy Wachner was born on February 3, 1946 to an elderly couple living in Forest Hills, New York. At the age of eleven, Linda suffered a spinal injury as a result of an unsuccessful joke from a classmate. She was in a cast for almost two years, and at that time she was not sure that she would ever get back on her feet. Linda said to herself then: "Everything that I have today was concentrated in me when I was bedridden. When you want to walk again, you learn to concentrate all your strength on this desire and you do not stop until you achieve his own. "
After the misfortune that happened to her, the decision came to succeed. According to Linda Vachner, it looked like this: “When I could not walk, I learned to make small vows to myself, for example: if I ever get on my feet, I will never get tired of walking! I know I could have done more. was a kind of psychological self-hypnosis. "
The childhood crisis was the first, but not the last in her life. She lost her husband after only twelve years married life in 1983. She lost her father when she was 23, then her only sister, Barbara, in 1981, and eventually her mother in 1987.
Left alone, Linda Vachner devoted all her time to work. Wachner started from scratch: she was hired as a buyer at a sales organization in New York for $ 90 a week. Her first job was as a market researcher, but in essence she was just an errand girl, in the language of business management. And she, thanks to her tireless energy and perseverance, became the first woman who managed to lead the company in the conditions of fierce competition, reorient it and conquer the consumer market. Ms. Magazine named her "Woman of the Year" in 1986 and Fortune Magazine "Most Prosperous business woman in America "in 1992. As the head of" Warnaco ", the most big company in the Fortune magazine rating, Wachner cut the company's debt and increased its share capital to 75 percent. Linda Vachner is widely regarded as one of the creative geniuses who changed the world's view of women leaders.
The great women of the 20th century who changed the world. Fame and success in spite of, and thanks to.
4.75 Rating 4.75 (2 Votes)
An exhibition of paintings by the legendary Mexican Frida Kahlo, not only one of the greatest artists in world history, but also a woman with a very difficult fate... We talk about Frida and other extraordinary women of the 20th century, whose life was tragic.
Marilyn Monroe
Norma Jean Baker's mother ended up in a psychiatric clinic when the future movie star was still a child. Girl long years wandered to the homes of relatives and shelters, experienced a series of sexual harassment. At the age of 16, Norma was forcibly married off. Despite worldwide recognition and an endless series of lovers and admirers, Marilyn Monroe was a very lonely person all her life, she could not have the desired child, she was afraid, like a mother, to go crazy and said that life in the light of spotlights and the title of “sex symbol "Is not her dream at all. The actress died under mysterious circumstances: she was found dead in her own house with a telephone receiver in her hands. Nearby lay a package of sleeping pills.
"What good is being Marilyn Monroe? Why can't I just be an ordinary woman? A woman who can have a family ... I would like to have just one child. My own child.
Anna Akhmatova
Many of Anna's relatives were victims of repression. The first husband of the poetess, Nikolai Gumilyov, was shot, the third died in the camps. Tragic fate was prepared for the son of Akhmatova, who spent more than ten years in prison. Anna wrote a letter to Stalin asking him to release the boy, but it remained unanswered.
"Shakespearean dramas - all these spectacular villainies, passions, duels - a trifle, childish games compared to the life of each of us"
Vivien Leigh
Vivienne's marriage to main love her whole life, Laurence Olivier, was not easy: the actor was jealous of his wife's success, once even threw her Oscar out the window. A lot of grief brought the star of "Gone with the Wind" and poor health - she was prone to manic depression, and in 1945 she contracted tuberculosis. Vivien Leigh suffered from hysterical fits, at times did not recognize her husband and even beat him, lay in psychiatric clinic, received the diagnosis “ bipolar disorder personality ". Olivier was not ready for life with Leigh, whose mood was jumping from side to side, and in the end asked for a divorce in order to marry another. Seven years after breaking up with her beloved, Vivienne died during another attack of tuberculosis.
"Remember that scene from Gone With the Wind where Scarlett says, 'It's good that my mother died and doesn't see what her girl has become?" So, this is about me "
Marina Tsvetaeva
After civil war the poetess ended up in emigration, where, due to the cooperation of her husband, Sergei Efron, with the Soviet government, Tsvetaeva's works were almost never published. The poetess's family almost starved to death. As a result, Efron, and then Tsvetaeva herself, went home. But at home, Marina was awaited by terrible news: it turned out that her sister had been arrested several years ago. Then the daughter of the poetess went into exile. Efron was shot by the communists. Tsvetaeva hanged herself in 1941, almost immediately after she and her son went to evacuation.
“No one can imagine the poverty in which we live. My only income is from what I write. My husband is sick and cannot work. My daughter earns pennies by embroidering hats. I have a son, he is eight years old. living on this money. In other words, we are slowly dying of hunger. "
Frida Kahlo
At the age of 6, she suffered polio, and one of her legs remained thinner for the rest of her life, and at 18 she became the victim of a terrible accident: the bus in which Frida was traveling collided with a tram. Fractures of the spine, clavicle, ribs, pelvis, bones right leg, a dislocated shoulder and a stomach pierced with a metal pin ... Frida, an energetic and cheerful girl, was chained to the bed for a long time. Health problems tormented Kahlo all her life: she could not bear the child she dreamed of, and underwent several dozen operations. The mental suffering in the life of the great artist was no less than physical. Her husband, the artist Diego Rivera, constantly cheated on her (one of the artist's mistresses was Kahlo's own sister). Frida and Diego repeatedly tried to part, once they even divorced, but could not live without each other - and in the end they got married again. The great artist died of pneumonia.
"There were two tragedies in my life. The first was the tram. The second was Diego. The second was worse."
Grace Kelly
One of the most prominent actresses of her time left a brilliant career to marry the Prince of Monaco Rainier III... The monarch's relatives were opposed to the newly made princess continuing to be a “playboy”, and the beauty had to devote herself to her husband and children. However, life at court did not bring Grace happiness: the Hollywood beauty felt like a bird in a golden cage. Rainier was unsociable, often publicly laughed at his wife, hated her popularity with his subjects. Grace's pursuit of charity work and exhibitions angered him. The children grew up too capricious and spoiled. Kelly dreamed of returning to her former acting life ... It all ended tragically: the princess had a stroke while she was driving a car. Grace died in the hospital the next day.
"Here in Monaco, being Rainier's wife, I can only play one role ... to be his princess."
Regina Zbarskaya
"Soviet Sophia Loren" is known as the queen of the catwalk, the darling of the entire USSR and a woman shrouded in mystery. Regina was completely devoted to her husband, artist Lev Zbarsky, who forced the model to have an abortion when she became pregnant. Trying to cope with her feelings of guilt, Regina became addicted to antidepressants. Leo suddenly left the faithful and started new family... Zbarskaya, whose mental state was rapidly deteriorating, quit her career in the hope of returning her husband, but loving man emigrated to the USA. Then Regina realized that Leo was irrevocably lost, opened her veins and fell into mental asylum... After a long treatment, unsuccessful impulses to return to the podium and another suicide attempt, Zbarskaya again ended up in a hospital. There she died after swallowing sleeping pills.
"I have brought so much evil into this world, and now comes the punishment for my sin."
Margarita Nazarova
The tamer and star of "Striped Flight" shared her main passion - taming tigers - with her husband, Konstantin Konstantinovsky. But, ironically, it was this passion that killed the unfortunate man. He died after being attacked by a tiger while performing. Margarita could not come to terms with the loss of her beloved, without whom life became not sweet to her. She left the circus because of nervous breakdown... The son of Nazarova and Konstantinovsky grew up and went abroad. Margarita, refusing any help to the last, died in poverty and loneliness.
"Did you fall in love with me? Yes, often. All my partners offered me a hand and a heart. But I answered:" Why leave my family? "
Jacqueline Kennedy
A journalist, style icon and one of the most prominent first ladies of the United States was not happily married: she was coldly received by the Kennedy clan, her husband kept walking to the left, the first child was born dead, and another died two days after birth. Portraying the ideal spouse of the president was probably not easy, but Jacqueline became a model of strength and resilience in the eyes of the whole world when John F. Kennedy was shot right in front of her eyes. For a long time she refused to take off the pink suit stained with his blood, stating that she wanted everyone to see what they did to John. Five years after the assassination of the president, his widow married the Greek businessman Aristotle Onassis, whom, alas, she was also destined to survive. Jacqueline died in the 90s from lymphoma.
"Who is able to understand what it is like to live in the White House, and then suddenly become the president's widow? There is something hopeless in this. And the children? The whole world sympathizes with them. I am scared for them, because they are all mind. How to provide them with a normal childhood? "
XX century women
What do you know about portrait films? Well, yes, generational. There are few of them, of high quality - even less, and the latter are united by one very important point: I want to be THERE. And it doesn't matter at all, it's the roaring twenties, or post-war years, - the generation / decade is depicted as if this is "the very time" in which it was necessary to be born in order to feel ... But what, exactly? Happiness? In fact, there is one more common feature: the search for a place in the world and the search for happiness, it just so happened that these are important things for a person at any time.
So, the film "Women of the XX century" is exactly like this: a generational portrait with a special charm.
Let's talk about the title: the main characters (there are three of them) of different ages appear with their bunch of problems and a ton of charm on the screen as the environment of a 15-year-old boy named Jamie, and the plot, in fact, winds a spiral around him. The guy found himself at a time when doubts drive everything, and any guy starts with his mother ... And she, too, is driven by doubts.
Mother, Dorothea (aged Annette Benning), born in 1924, survived war time and the Great Depression, her son was born when she was 40, and, in part, precisely because of the age difference, it is difficult for her to establish a bond with her son, which she finds fragile. In addition, she raises Jamie alone, and is worried that she cannot cope, which makes her close not only from the world, but also from her son, however, at the same time, she remains optimistic. She smokes a lot, works with stock market figures, makes lengthy renovations in a large house, and has fun dinners.
There is Abby (Greta Gerwig), Dorothea's tenant, 9 years older than Jamie. She is a creative person who survived cancer, looking for herself now progressively, now aggressively, she listens to groups that sing, knowing that they cannot sing, dresses brightly and takes a lot of pictures. She is from a generation of girls whose mothers were treated for infertility with a dangerous drug that guarantees cancer to their children. But then they had not yet heard about HIV. Of course, she influences the boy, she enlightens him, or simply devotes to stories from her life, teaches something, shows something, sometimes it even opens his eyes.
There is also Julie (Elle Fanning), she is a couple of years older than Jamie, and they have been friends since childhood. Her mother is a psychologist, it is fashionable, popular, and sometimes even useful, but not for Julie. She tries to be strong and free from all feelings, she is closed and quiet, although inside, of course, she hides the same thing as other owners of a quiet pool. She is very close to Jamie - until he realizes that this is closer to friendship. She rushes about in search of anything - herself, or sensations, or that very strength with freedom, and it is not easy for her.
Here are three ages of women who were tormented by doubts in the 70s. And this portrait of the decade is played out beautifully: awkwardly tall, stooping, lop-eared and with bangs in front of El's eyes; red-haired Greta, whose facial expressions for some reason devilishly resemble the touching physiognomy of Jared Leto in Aronofsky's film (also a portrait film, by the way); Annette Benning, a wonderful non-stereotypical mother who fits perfectly into the running 70s, who seeks to get to know her son through the music he listens to, through conversations with his friends, through a tour of modernity from a lodger. It just worked beautifully! It is a pleasure to watch the performance of this cast. By the way, Jamie was perfectly played by Lucas Jade Sumann, who had not previously had roles in large-scale film projects, so he will surely grab better and more serious roles after this film. But his character and type does not have to be pronounced, because in the title of the film there is not a word about men (although he is oh so good and oh how important!), And let there be at least some intrigue for the viewer.
The atmosphere of those years, the time of doubt in the United States is perfectly conveyed. Trips by car look magical and narcotic everywhere, the variety of costumes that speak of that time are interesting, the wonderful music of the group "Talking heads" sounds, and the humor of this picture is very charming, which allows you to join the atmosphere of a rather difficult and painful one - if only it weren't for the sun and a smile.
The greatest and most beautiful women of the 20th century ... admired by millions ...
02.10.2012, 23:57
By Editorial
The most beautiful women ... the most beautiful men ... rating of all kinds of the most-most ... Now it is fashionable. And every self-respecting print or Internet publication at least once a year will post a list of the best for a century or for the outgoing year. And almost always the results will be relative, since all lists are drawn up based on the survey results. ordinary people, and, as you know, a sufficient number of factors influence the choice of people.
In the same rating - the most beautiful women of the 20th century - I would like to take into account all those generations who admired their beauty. Of course, now these beauties have either long gone to another world, or are not in the best prime of life. And perhaps today their names are not so often remembered. However, at one time they were followed by crowds of fans, they ruled the ball in the secular chronicles, and posters with their images dispersed fleetingly. Currently, other faces, other stars, but women of the 20th century have left the most indelible mark in the history of beauty and femininity, and it is simply impossible to imagine the past century without them.
Sofia Villani Shikolone. She was born on 09/20/1934 in the city of Rome, but spent all her childhood and interesting youth in the town of Pozzuoli near Naples. From the age of 14, she dreamed of becoming an actress. Sophie took part in the Miss Italy pageant, she was also a fashion model. Sophie Schicolone met with Carlo Pontius in 1952, famous producer, who not only became her husband, but also opened the doors for her to a big cinema.
At first she got bit parts, for example, "Hearts at Sea". But Sophie quickly managed to win the love of the audience and also attract the attention of notable directors. Therefore, by the age of 20, she became a recognized cinema star.
For the film "Chochara" in 1960, Sophie received the most prestigious awards - the American Oscar and the Cannes Film Festival. For many years, Marcello Mastroianni was her constant partner in so many films. For the romantic film "Marriage in Italian" the actress also received an Oscar and was awarded in 1965 the prize of the International Film Festival in Moscow.
And in total, she managed to star in more than 20 tapes.
Marilyn Monroe
Norma Jeane Baker Mortenson was born 06/01/1926 in Los Angeles. She died in 1962 in Braytwood, California.
She was a legend during her lifetime, and remains a legend even after her death. She lived a rather bright, but also short and difficult life. The subject of dreams of many men, the sex symbol of America, the beauty that many women envied, the actress, whose meteoric rise to the top of the cinema was a miracle, but in fact she was a tragic figure.
Unsuccessful personal life, vain attempts to prove to himself and the directors that the "beauty" is capable of more than just showing her charms. These are the main reasons for the tragedy that took place in a large, wealthy mansion in 1962 on the morning of August 5, where Monroe's body was found.
But to understand the full depth of that tragedy, it is enough to go back in time when Jean was just beginning to comprehend the first steps of life. And these lessons were harsh: mother's tantrums, poverty, rape by her stepfather when she was only 8 years old, melancholy and a feeling of loneliness.
And it is not known how her fate would have developed in the future, if God had not endowed her perfect body, pretty face and amazing skin, when the charm of an angel is combined with seduction. Early unsuccessful marriage and a quick divorce, an invitation to work as a fashion model and a fashion model - this is Marilyn's youth.
In 1947, she received her first movie invitation when the actress appeared in the episode "Dangerous Years". Then other sentences followed - "Skudda-U! Skudda-hey!" (1947), "Ladies from the corps de ballet" (1949), " Ball lightning"(1950), etc. Then critics and the public liked the young and pretty actress.
However, for all directors, Monroe has always remained sexy, beautiful woman, so none of the invited directors saw an actress in her. Therefore, such is the repertoire of films with her participation, the contents of which can be judged even by their titles: "Love Nest" (1951), "Let's Get Married" (1951), "We Are Not Married" (1952), " You can enter without knocking "(1952)," Gentlemen Prefer Blondes "(1953)," How to Marry a Millionaire "(1953), etc.
The excitement around Monroe reached its climax when it became known that her next husband was the famous American writer and also playwright, Arthur Miller.
All attempts to change their sexy on-screen image were doomed to failure. And she receives invitations to participate only in the next dramas, where she is also assigned the role of an empty-headed and seductive beauty.
A divorce from Arthur Miller, thoughts of approaching old age, constant dissatisfaction with work - all this led the actress to acute depression. And she found a way out in alcohol, drugs and sleeping pills. Despite the fact that the official conclusion is suicide, and to the present day of death greatest actress causes a lot of speculation and gossip.
After the death of Marilyn Monroe, everything also continues to attract attention. And in Europe and America, many books have been published, many articles in which an attempt was made to understand its phenomenon.
And already after almost half a century, the authors of many books and films are trying to penetrate the soul of this woman, who has remained incomprehensible. But the memory of her is alive and proves that Marilyn Monroe was a much more striking phenomenon than just a sexy and beautiful blonde.
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was born on May 4, 1929 in Belgium (Ixelles near Brussels), the daughter of a Dutch baroness and an English banker.
Audrey your school years spent in Holland, in Nazi-occupied Arnhem, where she lived after the divorce of her parents from her mother. There, Audrey Hepburn studied ballet at the Conservatory. Then, after the war, she continued her education in London. Audrey starred in several films and attended classes in the 50s. acting Eilmer Felix.
The French writer Colette in 1951, after seeing the actress on the set of the film "Baby from Monte Carlo", strongly recommended that she starred in the film based on her novel "Slurry". And it was after this successful work that Audrey soon got a role in the comedy "Roman Holiday", for which she received an Oscar, as best actress... She then nominated for an Oscar four times.
An extraordinary and stunning appearance, combined with acting skills, provided her with a dizzying career in show business and cinema. Free time she dedicated social activities and charity, was the UNICEF ambassador, took part in the Somalia mission of mercy, and also other hot spots.
Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot was born in 1934 on September 28 in Paris, to the family of Anne-Marie Musel and businessman Louis Bardot. She, together with her younger sister, has been dancing since childhood under the influence of her mother. Bridget was not a very capable student in primary school, but at the same time possessed grace and natural plasticity, so she focused on a ballet career, while younger sister, Mizhanu, showed the greatest inclination to the exact sciences, and therefore left dancing.
Then, in 1947, Bardo applied to the National Academy of Dance, but, despite the most severe selection, she was among the enrolled, and there were only eight of them. She attended the class of Boris Knyazev, a Russian choreographer.
Bardot participated in a fashion show in 1949, then her photographs were shown to screenwriter and director Marc Allegra, who invited Bridget to screen tests. These screen tests Bardo successfully passed and got the role, but soon the shooting of the film was canceled for unknown reasons. Nevertheless, these acquaintances influenced her career and further destiny.
At the age of 18, she starred in a film for the first time and in the same year she married Roger Vadim.
In total, from 1952 to 1956, Bardo starred in 17 films, these were mainly lyrical comedies or melodramas, she also played in stage plays in the theater.
Worldwide fame came to her after the film "And God Created Woman", in which she played the main character rushing between men. This film in Europe caused shock and a lot of negative responses, was condemned by the Catholic Church because of the nude scenes and defiant behavior of Bridget. But in America, the film became a sensation. Some historians consider this picture to be the beginning of the sexual revolution.
Since then, Bardot began working with such famous world directors as Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle, Christian Jacques. No less famous films with the participation of Bardot: "Babette Goes to War", "Rum Boulevard", "Viva Maria!", "Contempt". "True".
During her cinematic career, Bridget starred in more than 50 films.
Shortly before her 40th birthday, Brigitte Bardot announced her retirement and dedicated herself to the fight for animal welfare.
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve. She was born in Paris on 10/22/1943 and became the third child in acting family Reni Deneuve and Maurice Dorleac.
Deneuve began her acting career at the age of 16 in the comedy "College Students" by Andre Junnebel. However, they did not pay much attention to her, but noticed only in 1963 after participating in the film "The Prophet and Virtue" Roger Vadim, Catherine's lover. Vadim Christian was the fruit of their love, born in 1963.
But Deneuve gained world fame after Jacques Demi's film musical masterpiece "Umbrellas Cherbourg", which received the main prize of the Cannes Film Festival.
More than once, Catherine starred with her other lover Marcello Mastroianni. In 1972, they had a daughter named Chiara.
Catherine Deneuve has always kept the image of an icy bourgeois beauty, so she remained in demand as an actress for long and difficult decades and was not afraid to appear in projects of radical and extraordinary directors. Films with her participation - "Bitch" and "Savage" (1975), "Dancing in the Dark", "Hunger", "Favorite mother-in-law", "East-West", "Place Vendome", "Monastery", "Letter", "Time Found" and others.
Elizabeth Taylor
It is impossible to imagine the history of Hollywood without this extraordinary beauty of a woman with bright purple eyes, scandalous character and velvet eyebrows. Self-willed, capricious, cruel, sinful, hung with jewels and dressed up, it was she who personified femininity, which was so attractive not only in art, but also in life.
Elizabeth Taylor was born into the family of an English merchant who traded in sculpture and painting. But at the age of seven, her parents moved to America, where Elizabeth's dad opened an art gallery in Los Angeles' most fashionable and wealthy neighborhood.
From childhood, Taylor was distinguished by her extraordinary beauty. Therefore, the first proposal to act in films was at the age of 10. "Every minute is born like this", it was this film that marked the beginning of her acting career.
From childhood roles such as Lassie Come Home (1943), Jane Eyre (1944), The White Rocks of the Louvre (1944), Lassie's Courage, Cynthia (1947), gradually Liz moved on to romantic roles - "Places in the Sun" (1951).
As for her personal life, there has always been food for gossip. When she turned 17, she began an affair with Howard Hughes, a billionaire. And soon there was a wedding with Nick Hilton, the owner of numerous hotels. After only a few months of a happy life, scandals, squabbles, noisy quarrels began, which became public. Then a divorce and new marriage... This time, Elizabeth's marriage to Michael Wilding lasted five years. After that, a new hobby, so strong that Taylor accepts the Jewish faith. And maybe everything would have turned out happily, but her tritiated husband Mike Todd, a film producer, crashes on a plane that was named after his beloved wife - "Happy Liz". Eddie Schiefer, the deceased's closest friend, became another beauty's hobby. But this time America was insanely outraged, because for the sake of Taylor Eddie went to a noisy divorce proceedings with Debbie Reynolds.
Stormy romances only created additional bright advertising for her and films with her participation. Even skeptics admitted that Elizabeth was not only insanely beautiful, but fantastically talented. There were also passing roles that did not require much effort - "Little Women", "Ivanhoe", "The Girl Who Had Everything", etc., there were many serious works - "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "Rhapsody", “Suddenly Last Summer” - where she also proved to be a wonderful intuitive actress who can play any psychological role.
Despite the fact that she was presented for the highest award three times, she received her 1st Oscar only for the film “Butterfield, 8” (1960), and not for her most successful role.
Then everything also her personal life is intertwined with her creative one. After filming the film "Cleopatra" with actor Richard Burton, she begins a stormy and dizzying romance, which lasted with varying success for 20 years. The couple's booze and noisy scandals have been savored in print for many years. But still, this union also led to high creative successes. Such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, for which she won her second Oscar, The Taming of the Shrew.
Elizabeth is a rather unpredictable person. Many times newspapermen wrote incredible fables: Taylor will soon have an eighth grandson, or Elizabeth is getting married for the eighth time. Of course, this was preceded by a considerable number of whirlwind romances with actors, jewelers, barons and an official marriage with Jack Warner, a senator. And in general, hardly anyone will predict her future fate, but so far she is quite happy with the former truck driver Larry Fortensky, whom she met by chance in a clinic for alcohol addicts.
But maybe this is precisely what Elizabeth’s most important charm lies in: just as it is impossible to predict her fate of the next film screen work, so it is impossible to predict her subsequent actions in life. But in one thing she still remains constant ... she is a unique phenomenon, she is just an Actress and a Woman. And no more words are needed.
Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly was born on 11/12/1929 in Finland and died on 09/14/1982 in Monte Carlo.
Unapproachable, elegant, beautiful and charming Grace possessed a fantastically attractive power. It was she who became the symbol of a gorgeous woman, followed by enthusiastic glances from all those who were not just looking in their idol for something that was exhausted by the inviting swaying of the hips and a large bust, but something completely more. She was endowed with a special slightly chilling charm, which was clearly expressed in her fine lines face, broke through the impeccability of manners and aristocratic behavior.
Despite the fact that Kelly was born in America, Irish blood flows in her veins. Her father was a wealthy industrialist who was engaged in construction, and in the past was the world champion in rowing. Her mother was a fashion model in her youth. Uncle, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright George Kelly. The Grace family lived in a luxury mansion in Philadelphia. From childhood, Kelly had access to high society. But she longed for a different world, different from where her parents lived.
Grace received her Catholic education at Rainhill Religious College. And it was in college that she first appeared on stage at the age of six, playing the role of the Virgin Mary in a Christmas play.
After moving to New York, Grace began working as a fashion model, while studying acting. She often auditioned for various roles, but received contracts only for advertising of cigarettes, beer, vacuum cleaners and hats.
Finally, in 1949, she still managed to play in the play "Father" by A. Strindberg. And from 1950 to 1952, she often began to appear in all kinds of television programs. Therefore, they paid attention to her beauty, and in Hollywood they offered to play a cameo role in the film "14 hours" in 1951. And this is how her wonderful began, but short life to the cinema.
She has played in just over 10 films. But at the same time she has an Oscar, as well as the fame of the highest-grossing actress of the time of her glory. Grace starred with Fred Zinnemann in High Noon, with John Ford in Mogambo. Also in the 1954 painting "Country Girl".
There is no doubt that in her beauty there was something attractive, but at the same time alarming. It is possible that it was precisely these qualities that Grace drew attention to Alfred Hitchcock, in whose three films she later starred. "In case of murder, dial" M "" and "Window to the courtyard" - best works director. And when the third film "To Catch a Thief" was filmed, the Prince of Monaco drew attention to Kelly. This was followed by a lavish wedding, Grace became a princess on April 18, 1956.
Basically, this was the end of her film career. However, from 1976 to 1981, she was a member of the board of directors at XX Century Fox. Several times she was asked to return to the cinema, the Monegasque court was against it, because Grace is their first lady. Now her face has appeared on stamps. As before, the newspapers wrote about her, but already in the secular chronicle.
Grace died tragically on September 14, 1982 in a car accident. Survived by her daughter, who was driving the car.
Grace Kelly has achieved everything in life that she aspired to. She worked with the best actors and directors, won an Oscar, was not only the princess of American cinema, but also in real life crowned aristocrat.
Vivien Leigh
Vivian Mary Hartley was born on November 5, 1913 in India, the city of Darjeeling, and died in London on July 8, 1967.
Vivienne was the daughter of an English official, so she was educated in more than one closed boarding house. different countries Europe, and in 1932 Lee entered and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. The first appearance in the cinema was in 1934, and on the stage in 1935. The first screen tests did not bear much fruit, but the appearance of the young actress at the Ambassador Theater was noticed immediately. A. Kord immediately signed a contract with Vivienne. "Flame over England", it was after the filming of this film was born romantic legend cinema, which linked the names of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.
By then, the actress was married to Herbert Lee Holman, a lawyer, and Lawrence was married to Jean Esmond, an actress. The romance of the two lovers painfully developed until 1940, then they finally joined their destinies.
It was then that the image of Lee's on-screen heroines was formed. They were fragile beauties who were mercilessly pursued by the vicissitudes of life. However, this image did not take shape right away. In her first films, she played a frivolous beauty - "Yankees in Oxford", and in "St. Martin's Lane" - a young street girl.
She became a star after filming Gone With the Wind in 1939, where she played the role of Scarlett O'Hara. This film was the box office champion until the early 70s. Vivien Leigh won an Oscar for the female lead in this film.
Only in 1941, joint performances with Olivier moved to the cinema. A. Corda, who for many years was their heartfelt attorney, involved both in the melodrama, filmed in the United States, "This Woman is Hamilton."
Later Vivien Leigh often performed together with L. Olivier in the theater. Despite this, everyone remembered her role as Anna Karenina from the otherwise unsuccessful film by J. Duvivier. And the role of Blanche Dubois, the film "A Streetcar Named Desire", brought her another Oscar.
By this time, Lee's personal crisis, associated with an unstable psyche and frequent outbreaks of mental illness, had progressed. A strong blow for her was the divorce from Olivier, which occurred in 1960. She made two more movie appearances, Mrs. Stone's Roman Spring and The Ship of Fools. And in 1967, Lee died of tuberculosis, which plagued her for almost a quarter of a century.
Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale was born on April 15, 1939 in Tunisia, where she lived with her parents who moved from Italy. Italian television and film actress.
The career of the actress began in 1957 after winning a beauty contest. In Venice, during the incentive trip, many producers began to offer the Cardinal screen tests, and then cameo roles, but she initially refused them. Cardinale began attending acting courses at the Rome Cinema Experimental Center. Then the film company "Vides" offered and signed a contract with her for the next seven years, playing supporting roles. According to the contract, she had no right to cut her hair, get married and gain weight. However, Claudia soon married Fr. Kristaldi, who owned the Vides company and became its producer for many years. It was cooperation with this company that provided the actress with quite good roles in many films. And her name became known after the film "Handsome Antonio" by M. Bolognini.
Cardinale made her debut in 1960 in the film "Rocco and His Brothers" by L. Visconti. And despite the small number of episodes and the minimum of words, her Jeanette was very well remembered by the viewer. Visconti also invited her to the films "The Misty Stars of the Big Dipper", "Leopard II", "Family Portrait in the Interior".
Cardinale in 1963 for the role of a simple girl in the anti-fascist film "Boubet's Bride" received the "Silver Ribbon". In this film, the actress herself voiced her actress for the first time - many did not like her hoarse voice. In the same year she starred in the film "8 1/2".
Despite the fact that Cardinale worked a lot in Hollywood, she never achieved the fluent English spoken like Sophia Loren. Her American works include The World Is A Circus, The Pink Panther, The Professionals, The Lost Team, The Devil with Heroes, Don't Ride the Wave and The Wonderful Couple. Cardinale divorced her husband Cristaldi in the early 1970s, and a few years later married P. Squitieri and had a daughter.
Like most of the sexual symbols, Cardinale has shifted to psychological roles. Such paintings: "Red Tent", "Fitzcarraldo", "Audience", "Skin". The actress starred in almost all of her husband's films. Including in "Corleone" and "Iron Prefect II".
In 1988, for her contribution to the art of cinema, the actress received the "David", the Italian national award. And in 1965 she was awarded the British Order. She has played over 100 roles. Lives in Paris, and very often appears in documentaries and television films.
Gina Lollobrigida
Gina Lollobrigida was born in 1927 on July 4th in a very poor a large family... Therefore, very early for herself, she realized that she wanted to achieve fame in life that could bring her money, and most importantly - freedom.
Gina had her most important weapon - hard work. And, of course, her beauty. At the age of three she was christened the most beautiful child all over Italy. In 1945, her entire family moved and settled on the outskirts of Rome. Gina also continues to paint, sells her cartoons and cartoons. It was a real help to her family, as well as an opportunity to raise money for studying in Rome. But even this is not enough. She begins to study to be a sculptor, and at the same time takes vocal lessons.
Her film debut took place in 1964, when she began acting in cameo roles: "Love Potion", "Black Eagle", "The Crime of Giovanni Episcopo", "Lucia Lammermoor". But this is only the way to the beginning of her career.
In 1947, Gina took part in a beauty contest, but still took only second place. The audience gave her a standing ovation, demanding that it was she who went to the Miss Italy contest. However, there again failure, it again takes second place. But now Gina became famous, many people began to recognize her on the street, an invitation to the cinema was not long in coming. Again small roles - "Nabat", "Pagliacci", "Anselmo forever". This continued until 1951, when she was invited to take part in the film Carlo Lindzani "Dangerous Bandits". It was from 1952 that the "big cinema" began for her. She becomes famous outside the country. New works appeared - "The Roman Woman", "Provincial", "Bread, Love and Fantasy", and others. The first awards were the Silver Ribbon. ...
In the late 60s, the actress appears less often on the television screen, and then stops acting altogether.
In 1981, Gina insured her bust.
Gina ran for the European Parliament in 1999 and works with UNICEF and UNESCO.
She is now 75 years old and in great shape. The actress has already had a grandson, and she still adores strongly low-cut bright dresses and says that everything is still ahead of her.
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