Posted under Free for All & Heath Ledger & George Clooney & Jack Nicholson & Abigail Breslin & Meryl Streep & Katharine Hepburn & Clark Gable & James Cagney & Shirley Temple & Grace Kelly & Amy Adams & James Dean
 
This year’s Oscar’s ceremony, otherwise known as the Academy Awards, is going ahead and this year’s theme is Old Hollywood Glamour.
The Hollywood glamour of yester-year will once again be on display as stars such as Keira Knightley and George Clooney walk the red carpet in gowns, suits and hairstyles meant to evoke the glamour of 1930s Hollywood. Pin curls, naturally formed waste lines, strings of pearls and big broaches coupled with a setting of white organza curtains, endless vases of white roses and crystal chandeliers that compete with the stars for that sparkle that will have the cameras clicking and the bulbs flashing.
Greta Garbo and Monroe, Dietrich and DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean, on the cover of a magazine. Grace Kelly; Harlow, Jean, picture of a beauty queen. Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, dance on air. They had style, they had grace. Strike the pose!
Don’t the lyrics of Madonna’s Vogue just sum up the glamour of Hollywood in yester-year? And now the writer’s appear to have called a ceasefire to their three month strike the glitz and glamour is about to be restored to Hollywood.
So with all that in mind, here at Yuddy we thought we’d offer our thoughts on the glamour of the stars of yester-year and compare them to the stars of today and bring a little opulence to a rather dull forecast.
  
So we’ll begin with the very charming Clark Gable, who starred in Gone with the Wind along with the beautiful Vivien Leigh. As Rhett Butler, Gable melted the hearts of not only Scarlett O’Hara but every other woman in the 1930‘s. Tall, dark handsome, smoldering and loved by women both young and old alike. Today, in 2008 the only actor who matches that description has to be the squeaky clean, debonair George Clooney! And if you don’t agree with me, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,”
  
For the ladies it has to be accomplished actress and holder of 12 Oscar nominations, Katharine Hepburn. Although not a natural beauty, Hepburn always delivered a performance that kept movie goers glued to the screen. In the 2000’s a comparison to her star attributes and accomplishments could come in the form of Meryl Streep. Meryl is the holder of 13 Oscar nominations and that doesn’t come without the skill and tenacity that Hollywood demands.
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Jack Nicholson, 70, love him or hate him, is right up there when it comes to performances of a varied kind and with 5 Oscars to his name he rates alongside many of the old Hollywood greats. He is a figure of immense guile and cunning, talent with a twist, wit with a cutting edge, passion with blazing anger. An avenger with a killer smile. Still I guess a man who’s sister turned out to be his mother and his mother his grandmother was certain to be a ‘little’ off the wall. So who in the 1930’s brought all these qualities to the silver screen? Maybe James (Jimmy) Cagney?
  
Then there’s the cute Abigail Breslin whom we all want to take home and care for. With occasional signs of precociousness, coupled with talent, she could be compared with the young Shirley Temple. As the youngest person to ever receive an Oscar in 1934, at the age of 5, Shirley Temple’s Oscar was known as honorary. Abigail Breslin is the youngest Oscar nominee this year, and at just 10 years old has garnered a best supporting actress nomination for the film, Little Miss Sunshine along side her screen father Steve Carell.
  
The beauty and grace of a real life Princess can be seen in the performances of Grace Kelly who later went on to marry one of Europe’s Princes, became a Princess herself and was taken all to soon from the world of movies and Hollywood in a fatal car accident. But today we see the same grace and beauty in the face and roles of Amy Adams, star of the Christmas 2007 movie Enchanted. Maybe one of the royal sons of the late Princess Diana, Prince William or Prince Harry, will step forward and create Hollywood’s next Princess of the silver screen.
 
Then sadly there is the now departed Heath Ledger. What Hollywood greats list would be complete without a mention of his name and his accomplishments, all be it a short list. With his deep, almost spiritual portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in the 2005 movie, Brokeback Mountain, many have likened Heath to another actor who was taken too soon, James Dean. As with Dean’s inherent charm, sex appeal, and undeniable talent, coupled with his tragic and untimely death, Heath will always remain one of Hollywood’s lasting film icons.
ABB
