Sloan de Forest - Dynamic Dames: 50 Leading Ladies Who Made History

My heroes have all been female. Maybe women were more accessible. They were teachers. Hazel WrightSunday school. Carmelita Maraccidance. Terry Cole-Whittakerlife.

Women in the movies were my teachers, too. To me, Rita Hayworth had everything. She danced, spoke, and moved beautifully. I studied Spanish dancing with her father and her uncle, the Cansinos. Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohnbully, hustler, notorious in his timemasterminded her career. With his studio behind her, he brought her to the masses. But it was Rita who held the cards. Power seeks beauty. Look at the millions of people who travel across the world to see the Taj Mahal, built in tribute to a beloved wife, Mumtaz. It was she who inspired her emperor.

Sex, no matter how you write about it, is the real currency. On the screen, its behind the words. Mae West crafted every bon mot she voiced around it. Marlene Dietrich conquered at least two continents and millions of men with it. But true screen goddesses are possessed with more than beauty and sex appeal. While it may have been whispered that Bette Davis was less than beautiful, it made no difference. She used her eyes to force your attention. Her physical carriage star-lighted any space she inhabited. When Joan Crawford walked into a room, the weather changed. She even commanded that the temperature of her sets be eight to ten degrees colder than the rest of the studio.

Katharine Hepburn exhorted dignity in a space with anyone. The only actor substantial enough for her talents was Spencer Tracy. In Adams Rib, their male-female one-upmanship was carefully crafted by the best writers in the business. In the Thin Man movies, there was the hilarious hijinks of William Powells four-drink gumshoe up against Myrna Loys calm brilliance. I love Maureen OHaras passionate yet levelheaded Irishness. She was John Waynes true equal. But I would have to nominate Olivia de Havilland as the most successful dynamic dame of all. Living beyond 100 years takes more than genes. Character and integrity, anyone?

As Catwoman on the Batman TV series, I played a very different type of dynamic dame: scheming, sensuous, short-suffering; the fantasy female of diabolical plots. In those days, women superheroes (or supervillains) were virtually nonexistent. Catwoman was in a class by herself. Maybe thats why ladies still approach me to tell me how that confident, cat-suited bad girl inspired and empowered them.

Julie Newmar as Catwoman

Today, we have Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, Halle Berry as Storm, and superpowered girls galore. Yet the audience has become the real celebrity. Thats what they go to the movies forto be transported, to become the superheroes and superheroines they didnt know they already are.

Whether playing out fantasies is our full-time job or not, I believe everyone gets to place their foot in the cement of history. Its only recently that empowerment has been the primary force for female attention. The world changes. Somethings coming, something thats wanted or needed. In the pages of this book, youll see that its been building for a long time. You will relive cinematic history through the incredible women profiled in Dynamic Dames, a compendium of feminine force that is at once entertaining, informative, and inspirational.

Julie Newmar

What makes the dames in this book so dynamic? Not their looksthough they certainly are easy on the eyesnor their charismatic personalities, killer wardrobes, or crackling dialogue. Dynamic dames share an X-factor: they transcend the narrow confines of their gender role, whether by taking small steps or revolutionary strides. Each of these fifty women, in her unique way, is an architect of her own destiny. By taking charge of their lives, by refusing to be marginalized, these characters motivate us with their resilience, delight us with their high spirits, and thrill us with their audacity.

Our look at extraordinary screen sirens begins in the Jazz Age with the feisty Clara Bow, an untrained actress who redefined the feminine ideal and became, as F. Scott Fitzgerald observed, the quintessence of what the term flapper signifies. Nearly a century after Clara caused a stir as hyper-flirtatious Alverna in Mantrap (1926), strong, sexy Gal Gadot embodied the modern superheroine archetype in Wonder Woman (2017), stopping bullets in their tracks and lassoing evildoers into submission. In the years between, a vast array of fascinating femmes have earned their place in these pages. Outspoken powerhouses like Bette Davis in Ex-Lady (1933) and Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich (2001) mix and mingle with Melanie Griffiths soft-spoken secretary Tess in Working Girl (1988) and Whoopi Goldbergs long-suffering Celie in The Color Purple (1985). Celluloid icons such as Vivien Leigh in her immortal characterization of Scarlett OHara and Joan Crawfords unforgettable Mildred Pierce are celebrated here, but so too are lesser-known ladies, like the effervescent Josephine Baker as