Old Fashioned Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 We've had "Most Beautiful Dancers" and "Most Beautiful Opera Singers," and all this Oscar talk made me want to open a new thread on this subject. I would prefer to keep these lists to today's active actresses and actors because my list would be endless if it included from all time. Women: Juliette Binoche Mariska Hargitay Lena Olin Aishwarya Rai Uma Thurman Kate Winslet Catherine Zeta-Jones Audrey Tautou- I don't consider her beautiful, but she's too cute to go unmentioned (BTW, for those who don't know yet, she'll be starring opposite Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code movie) Men: Johnny Depp Joaquin Phoenix- didn't care for him until I saw Quills I'm going to break my own rules here and include actors from the past because I'm not too attracted to many of them today, besides the ones above. Laurence Olivier Robert Taylor Marlon Brando Gene Kelly Louis Jourdan Omar Sharif Link to comment
jorgen Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Maggie Cheung! (In the mood for love, Hero etc) Link to comment
richard53dog Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Ava Gardner Catherine Deneuve Grace Kelly Julianne Moore Fanny Ardant Sophia Loren Link to comment
Petra Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Vivien Leigh (as you may guess from my user name) Emmanuelle Beart Thandie Newton It's easier to limit men to the present day - it seems like looks are more important today than in the past??? Jude Law Tom Cruise (I know, but still...) Alexis Denisof (Wesley from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Anegl) OF, who is Aishwarya Rai? Link to comment
Old Fashioned Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 Rai is Bollywood's current reigning star. She hasn't quite caught on in Hollywood yet- Bride & Prejudice isn't doing too well at the box office. I believe she was Miss World once. Link to comment
carbro Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Women: Halle Berry and (while calling her an actress may be stretching things) Jennifer Lopez. Men: Once I manage to let go of my heartthrobs of the past (Clark Gable, who may not have been classically beautiful but who oozed . . . something, and Gregory Peck, the Perfect Man ), I get to Harrison Ford and Denzel Washington. Link to comment
Petra Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Thanks. I haven't seen Bride & Prejudice but the reviews of Bride & Prejudice make it sound as if the movie is patronizing the Bollywood style and Indian traditions. That's no way to draw the Janeites or those interested in world cinema to the box office. Link to comment
Old Fashioned Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 Thanks. I haven't seen Bride & Prejudice but the reviews of Bride & Prejudice make it sound as if the movie is patronizing the Bollywood style and Indian traditions. That's no way to draw the Janeites or those interested in world cinema to the box office. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> True, although I'm not familiar with Bollywood movies nor have I seen B&P. I only know of her through Indian friends of mine and seen a couple previews of the movie, which was enough to make me consider her one of the most beautiful women in the world. Link to comment
Old Fashioned Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 Men: Once I manage to let go of my heartthrobs of the past (Clark Gable, who may not have been classically beautiful but who oozed . . . something, and Gregory Peck, the Perfect Man ) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> So that's what I find wrong with many of today's leading men! Sure, many have pretty faces ,but they're missing that je ne sais quoi... Link to comment
Helene Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 I'm horrible with names, and I've forgotten many beautiful people I've seen in foreign films. Here are ones I remember: Men: Will Smith Naveen Andrews Jet Li Ben Cross Gael Garcia Bernal Gregory Peck Andre Braugher Peter Firth Michael York Richard Chamberlain David McCallum Michael Riley Harrison Ford stopped being on that list the first time I saw of photo of him with a cigarette, so there's a certain point where I can't "see" beautiful any more. I have another list of attractive. Not that any of them are bad-looking, but I like them so much, I'm not sure what they really look like: Joe Morton, Chris Cooper, Alan Rickman, Peter Riegert, Alec Guiness, Courtney Vance, Sam Neill, Tom McCamus, Sam Waterson. (It's probably their voices.) Many of the leading men of the past are too handsome for me. Women: Juliet Binoche Madeleine Stowe Halle Berry Helen Mirren Genvieve Bujold Sandra Oh Vera Zorina Laura Linney Link to comment
Ari Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Re Aishwarya Rai, she probably is beautiful, but I've only seen her in B&P where she was wearing so much makeup that she looked like a tart. Not at all Austenian! From another P&P adaptation, Colin Firth's Darcy in the 1995 BBC serial gave me very very pleasant dreams, asleep and awake, for years. And Firth himself, minus the Darcy fixin's, is pretty dishy, too! Link to comment
perky Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Aishwarya Rai is considered the Julia Roberts of India. The Julia Roberts of the 80's and 90's. THE actress and it girl. She was indeed Miss World. Since my husband is from India we watch quite a few Bollywood movies, so I would also include Salman Khan as most beautiful man. Unfortunately in India, the lighter your skin the more beautiful you are considered. As for the rest: Men- Javier Bardem Ewan McGregor Colin Firth Denzel Washington Salman Khan Ladies- Renee Zellweger Catherine Zeta-Jones Natalie Portman Madeline Stowe Salma Hayak Link to comment
chrisk217 Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Natalie Portman Salma Hayek Zang Zigi Halle Berry Emmanuelle Beart & Ash Rai Gael Garcia Bernal Jonhy Depp From the past: Vivien Leight Catherine Deneuve Link to comment
richard53dog Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Natalie Portman <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Oh yes, I was trying to think of Portman and couldn't pull her up in my memory. Also how about Ashley Judd? Richard Link to comment
Marga Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Definitely Aishwarya Rai! The young Elizabeth Taylor. Rita Hayworth Sophia Loren Claudia Cardinale Capucine Grace Kelly Catherine Deneuve Pier Angeli Yvette Mimieux Natalie Wood Shirley Jones Audrey Hepburn Jacqueline Bissett Jane Seymour Julia Roberts Demi Moore Gwyneth Paltrow Julianne Moore I am not at all drawn to male actors younger than I am, and cannot be objective nor subjective about whether they are good looking or not, so cannot comment on the likes of Jude Law, Brad Pitt, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, and other young'uns that many find attractive today. Since some of them are the same age (and some younger than) my own children, I look at them as just kids! However, I was gaga over No. 1 -- Fred Astaire!!! (talk about "je ne sais quoi"!) and... The young Albert Finney, Richard Burton, and Sean Connery Paul Newman at ALL ages Robert Redford Tom Selleck !!! (of 20 years or so ago) Harrison Ford and I would've keeled over Patrick Swayze had he been just 5 years or so older! Link to comment
dirac Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Limiting myself to Most Beautiful, as opposed to Sexiest or Most Attractive, and in no particular order: Jean Marais Robert Taylor Montgomery Clift Gary Cooper (check him out in those early thirties movies with Dietrich; he's stunning, with beautiful eyes) Marlon Brando Robert Redford Jude Law Antonio Banderas Gael Garcia Bernal Gordon Warnecke (he played Omar in My Beautiful Laundrette) Tony Leung Vivien Leigh Greta Garbo Michele Morgan Elizabeth Taylor Kate Winslet Rita Hayworth Sophia Loren Madeleine Carroll Dolores Costello Francoise Dorléac (just as pretty as little sister Catherine D. for my money, and a lot livelier) Hedy Lamarr Gong Li Thanks, Old Fashioned! Link to comment
Old Fashioned Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 Jean Marais <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I knew I was missing someone from my men's list! While I'm at it, I'll add two of his leading ladies to my women's list: Josette Day and Lee Miller. I've never understood the fascination with Zhang Ziyi. Gong Li by far outshines her. Chow-Yun Fat is another attractive Asian superstar, and newcomer Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior) is not bad, either. IMO, no actress has every been as alluring as Garbo. That voice! Others: Rita Hayworth, Hedy Lamarr, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Anita Ekberg Link to comment
Helene Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Thanks to perky and dirac for reminding me of two I missed: Renee Zellweger and Gary Cooper. I first saw Zellwegger in a movie called The Whole Wide World, in which she played a schoolteacher to Vincent D'Onofrio's Bob Howard, and I've been hooked on her beauty ever since. Gary Cooper looked great in his early 50's in High Noon. Link to comment
dirac Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 No. 1 -- Fred Astaire!!! (talk about "je ne sais quoi"!) I, too, have always had a little thing for Fred, but I was going strictly by beauty, so I couldn’t include him. Astaire’s secret is charm, I think. Immense charm, greater even than Cary Grant’s. (I recall reading that Fred’s sister, Adele, was possessed of even more personal charm than her brother, a frightening thought.) (Clark Gable, who may not have been classically beautiful but who oozed . . . something,) Gable always struck me as very likeable, but not that sexy. Until I saw a casual photograph of him from the early Forties. He’s astride his Harley and wearing a black fitted shirt (this is from memory), and suddenly I took a different view. I saw him again recently in It Happened One Night on Turner Classic Movies, and was struck by his warmth and humor, too. The third Mrs. Gable, Carole Lombard, was one I forgot. And how could I have failed to mention Tyrone Power? Link to comment
carbro Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 The young Albert Finney, Richard Burton, and Sean Connery<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Young Finney, Burton at all ages (although he didn't have enough), and Connery more as he gained maturity. Paul Newman at ALL ages Well, at least until he became yet another poster child for too many face lifts. Link to comment
chrisk217 Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 I've never understood the fascination with Zhang Ziyi. Gong Li by far outshines her. I couldn't also, then I watched the Echo Dance at the House of the Flying Daggers. After the Echo Dance she improved considerably in my eyes... But you are right, Gong Li is simply stunning. Link to comment
perky Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 Well since we are including the golden oldies Men- Laurence Olivier, especially as Heathcliff and Mr. Darcy Yul Brynner Errol Flynn Basil Rathbone Ladies- Jean Simmons Ingrid Bergman Maureen O'Hara Julie Christie Link to comment
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