As we are locked down, and because the Old Bat showed symptoms of the Chinese Virus, I hadn't been out of the house for three weeks. To cheer myself up, therefore, I have been featuring a photograph of an actress from the past on my Facebook page every day. Facebook being an organisation run by puritan Americans I am constrained as to the type of photograph I can show but not here. So I shall be posting some slightly more revealing shots of some of the ladies on this blog. Also, in some cases, I could not choose which image to use so here can post some of the alternatives.
We begin with our first seven days.
Day 1 Agnès Laurent
Agnès Laurent, was best known for her appearance in the amusing school-set comedy film A French Mistress (1960).
Born Josette Chouleur in Lyon in 1936, the types of parts she played in her short career can be determined by the titles of some of her films: Mannequins of Paris (1956), The Twilight Girls (1957), Mademoiselle Strip Tease (1957) and Soft Skin on Black Silk (1959.
Following her appearance in Mademoiselle Strip Tease she was featured in a pictorial in the July 1958's Playboy, as part of their ongoing uncoverage of continental actresses at the time.
Délicieuse!
Day 1 Agnès Laurent
Agnès Laurent, was best known for her appearance in the amusing school-set comedy film A French Mistress (1960).
Born Josette Chouleur in Lyon in 1936, the types of parts she played in her short career can be determined by the titles of some of her films: Mannequins of Paris (1956), The Twilight Girls (1957), Mademoiselle Strip Tease (1957) and Soft Skin on Black Silk (1959.
Following her appearance in Mademoiselle Strip Tease she was featured in a pictorial in the July 1958's Playboy, as part of their ongoing uncoverage of continental actresses at the time.
Délicieuse!
Day 2 Alexandra Bastedo
For Day 2 we had elegant British actress Alexandra Bastedo, best known for her role in The Champions TV series in the late sixties
Born in Hove, in Sussex, in 1946, she attended Brighton School of Drama and her first film appearance was in 1963. Her final screen appearance was in EastEnders. perhaps surprisingly, in 2009. She was multi-lingual in five languages and even worked as a translator for Number Ten Downing Street.
Here she is in her 1970 Pirelli Calendar appearance photographed by Francis Giacobetti on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
After liaisons with men such as David Frost and Omar Sharif she married the poet, writer and director Patrick Garland who was artistic of the Chichester Festival Theatre.
Gorgeous!
Day 3 Anouska Hempel
Better known these days as one of the world's most famous interior designers, Anouska Hempel was born an a ship travelling between Papua New Guinea and New Zealand in 1946. Brought up in New Zealand and Australia she moved to the UK when she was sixteen and got her first film part in Hammer's The Kiss of the Vampire (1963) the following year.
Here she is as one of the international Bond girls in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (196(). She was also in Department S, UFO, Space 1999, The Persuaders and Carry on at your Convenience (1971).
Here she is still looking superb in the nineties!
Timeless!
Day 4 Catherine Schell
The aristocratic, Hungarian actress Catherine Schell was born Katherina Freiin Schell von Bauschlot She is known these days for appearing in Space 1999 (above).
Older wargamers will remember her enhancing Callan (1974) (above) and there were pictures of her holding some wargames figures in Military Modelling magazine at the time.
She was also one of the group of international Bond girls in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), along with Anouska Hempel (above). I also remember her luminously portraying explorer Florence Baker in the BBC's Search for the Nile (1971).
Gyönyörû!
Day 5 Anne Francis
The producers of Forbidden Planet (1956) made the most of American actress Anne Francis' world class legs, giving her the shortest skirts seen in cinema to that point, a decade before the mini skirt.
Although Forbidden Planet was her best known film she had a long career, having her Broadway debut at the age of eleven in 1941 and her final TV appearance in 2004.
For most of the sixties, seventies and eighties she was kept busy with many guest star roles in popular TV shows such as Colombo, The Virginian, The Twighlight Zone, Kung Fu, Dallas, The Invaders and Burke's Law. Her role in the latter earned her a starring role in Honey West, the first eponymous female detective TV show.
Leggy!
Day 6 Beth Rogan
Rank starlet Beth Rogan is most famous for her doeskin ensemble (pictured) in one of my favourite Ray Harryhausen films, Mysterious Island (1961). This was made at Shepperton Studios, about a mile from where I lived when I was younger and, indeed, Shepperton village square stood in for Richmond, Virginia in the film.
Here she is on location at Sa Conca beach near Girona, Spain which also appeared in other Harryhausen films The 3 World's of Gulliver's (1960) and The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958).
I met her once, at an exhibition of her paintings (she attended Wimbledon Art School) in the Sussex village. Emsworth, where she lived. I only found out who she was when I went back home and looked up her name (Jeni Cassell, at that time) on the internet.
Artistic!
Day 7 Caroline Munro
Our Harryhausen theme continued and our first seven days of Lockdown Lovelies (thanks for the term, Sophie!) ended with English actress, and genre geek goddess, Caroline Munro in my favourite still of her from The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973).
For Day 2 we had elegant British actress Alexandra Bastedo, best known for her role in The Champions TV series in the late sixties
Born in Hove, in Sussex, in 1946, she attended Brighton School of Drama and her first film appearance was in 1963. Her final screen appearance was in EastEnders. perhaps surprisingly, in 2009. She was multi-lingual in five languages and even worked as a translator for Number Ten Downing Street.
Here she is in her 1970 Pirelli Calendar appearance photographed by Francis Giacobetti on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
After liaisons with men such as David Frost and Omar Sharif she married the poet, writer and director Patrick Garland who was artistic of the Chichester Festival Theatre.
Gorgeous!
Day 3 Anouska Hempel
Better known these days as one of the world's most famous interior designers, Anouska Hempel was born an a ship travelling between Papua New Guinea and New Zealand in 1946. Brought up in New Zealand and Australia she moved to the UK when she was sixteen and got her first film part in Hammer's The Kiss of the Vampire (1963) the following year.
Here she is as one of the international Bond girls in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (196(). She was also in Department S, UFO, Space 1999, The Persuaders and Carry on at your Convenience (1971).
Here she is still looking superb in the nineties!
Timeless!
Day 4 Catherine Schell
The aristocratic, Hungarian actress Catherine Schell was born Katherina Freiin Schell von Bauschlot She is known these days for appearing in Space 1999 (above).
Older wargamers will remember her enhancing Callan (1974) (above) and there were pictures of her holding some wargames figures in Military Modelling magazine at the time.
She was also one of the group of international Bond girls in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), along with Anouska Hempel (above). I also remember her luminously portraying explorer Florence Baker in the BBC's Search for the Nile (1971).
The Legatus does enjoy a fur bikini clad jungle girl so I particularly appreciated her in her first film, the West German Lana - Königin der Amazonen (1964) in which she played the title role.
Gyönyörû!
Day 5 Anne Francis
The producers of Forbidden Planet (1956) made the most of American actress Anne Francis' world class legs, giving her the shortest skirts seen in cinema to that point, a decade before the mini skirt.
Although Forbidden Planet was her best known film she had a long career, having her Broadway debut at the age of eleven in 1941 and her final TV appearance in 2004.
For most of the sixties, seventies and eighties she was kept busy with many guest star roles in popular TV shows such as Colombo, The Virginian, The Twighlight Zone, Kung Fu, Dallas, The Invaders and Burke's Law. Her role in the latter earned her a starring role in Honey West, the first eponymous female detective TV show.
Leggy!
Day 6 Beth Rogan
Rank starlet Beth Rogan is most famous for her doeskin ensemble (pictured) in one of my favourite Ray Harryhausen films, Mysterious Island (1961). This was made at Shepperton Studios, about a mile from where I lived when I was younger and, indeed, Shepperton village square stood in for Richmond, Virginia in the film.
Here she is on location at Sa Conca beach near Girona, Spain which also appeared in other Harryhausen films The 3 World's of Gulliver's (1960) and The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958).
I met her once, at an exhibition of her paintings (she attended Wimbledon Art School) in the Sussex village. Emsworth, where she lived. I only found out who she was when I went back home and looked up her name (Jeni Cassell, at that time) on the internet.
Artistic!
Day 7 Caroline Munro
I have already covered Miss Munro extensively on Legatus' Wargames Ladies here.
Now, I counted the number of likes each lady got and the clear winner was Caroline Munro with thirteen. Second was Alexandra Bastedo with 11 and joint fourth were Agnès Laurent and Anouska Hempel with ten each!
The nest seven soon!
I live on the outskirts of Emsworth... who'd have thought it, I might even have met the lovely lady though I feel sure I would have remembered...
ReplyDeleteYou have been so missed! Hard to come up with an order of merit. Ms Bastedo was gorgeous but always a little distant. Ms Schell was perhaps even more stunning (took hair washing to a different level?) and her autobiography is a very entertaining read. My particular favourite would be Ms Hempel. Her TV series "Zodiac" (with that heartthrob Anton Rogers) is available on DVD and she looks luminescent. There's also a little gem called "Black Snake" where she plays a mean slave owner with a bullwhip! Please feel free to keep us entertained over the next few weeks (months???).
ReplyDeleteMiss Hemple had an outrageous hip/waist ratio but my favourite here (sadly she had the least votes of any lady so far) was Miss Rogan, partly because I met her! Unfortunately, I remember the Zodiac show all too well because I was watching the first episode the night my father died...
DeleteThank you for this great idea. I remember several of these but pinups have come a long way since! The Callan film is very memorable, I watched it again last year mainly for the Peter Gilder battlefields. Cheers Chris. http://notjustoldschool.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteI confess I have never seen the Callan film or the TV series even though it was my mother's favourite!
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