Althouse: "Sci-Fi’s Most Beautiful Stars: 1933-2008."

September 5, 2009

"Sci-Fi’s Most Beautiful Stars: 1933-2008."

A fine list, with some cool photos, like:

34 comments:

Anonymous said...: Hands down all-time favorite sci-fi beauty:

Judy Garland

I fall in love again every time I watch The Wizard of Oz.; 9/5/09, 10:40 AM
John Burgess said...: With all respect, the definition of 'science fiction' being applied to this list is expansive to the point of stupidity.

'Walter Mitty'? Give me a break! It, as 'Oz' are simply fantasy, nothing science fictional about them.

As BSG would approve of my wv: refrak; 9/5/09, 10:52 AM
rhhardin said...: You will never see the Earthman again. But you will not miss him. Soon you will forget him, forever.; 9/5/09, 10:52 AM
Bissage said...: Those women are all very beautiful but I hasten to add that not a single one of them ever asked me out on a date.; 9/5/09, 10:57 AM
Bender R said...: Why isn't Aunt Bee in The Day the Earth Stood Still on the list??; 9/5/09, 10:59 AM
Paul said...: I have to second John Burgess's comment: several of the movies on the list are, by no stretch of the imagination, science fiction.

As I perused the photos I found myself pondering the distinction between beauty and sexual attractiveness. Some of these women are vah-vah-voom sexpots, but not necessarily beautiful. The most extreme example of this on the list, imo, is Pamela Anderson. On the other hand, others possess faces so heartbreakingly lovely that they literally take one's breath away. Sexiness is quite beside the point with such faces -- you simply want to look at them all day long.; 9/5/09, 11:04 AM
Unknown said...: Robin Hood and Ivanhoe are Sci Fi?

Granted, Liz and Olivia are gorgeous, but if Olivia was in a fantasy epic besides Midsummer, it was "They Died With Their Boots On".

(And, yes, she was never more beautiful than when Flynn told her just before the 7th Cavalry moved out, "Walking through life with you, madam, has been a very gracious thing").; 9/5/09, 11:08 AM
The Drill SGT said...: edutcher said...
Robin Hood and Ivanhoe are Sci Fi?

beat me to it :)

wv;reaver = what the chicks in Serenity could do without; 9/5/09, 11:23 AM
Laura(southernxyl) said...: Bissage said...

Those women are all very beautiful but I hasten to add that not a single one of them ever asked me out on a date.

Inconceivable!; 9/5/09, 11:42 AM
David said...: Damsels in distress, baby, damsels. It never fails to get the male motor running.; 9/5/09, 11:44 AM
fivewheels said...: Well the intro, as opposed to the headline, says "sci-fi and fantasy."

Lots of picks to quibble with, though. Look at 1990: Demi Moore in Ghost, followed by the stupid Handmaid's Tale? In the year of Sharon Stone and Total Recall?

I also would have found a place for Uma Thurman in Gattaca. That was her peak. And fans of ass-kicking chicks (as opposed to the damsels) won't find Sigourney Weaver or Linda Hamilton on there.; 9/5/09, 11:48 AM
AllenS said...: They missed Farrah Fawcett in Saturn Something, who was topless. Don't get no better than that.

WV: reembre

At least that's how I reembre it.; 9/5/09, 11:58 AM
Wince said...: I can only think of two 1980s movies, Weird Science and Mannequin, wherein a man tried create the perfect women.

You'd think that theme would have been more thoroughly explored within the genre before then.

Am I missing some others?; 9/5/09, 12:25 PM
JohnVS said...: Mea culpa.

The headline is a bit misleading since the list includes fantasy as well as sci-fi. As I explained in the post itself, there just wasn't a lot of SF on screen prior to 1950. So it became a choice between making a broader list and a shorter one. I chose the former.

Thanks much for the link, Ann. BTW, did you notice how many of these women have sexy, cropped hair?; 9/5/09, 12:39 PM
William said...: The Bagdad of Sinbad's era was much more of a party town than it is today. Where did it all go wrong?....No science fiction or fantasy writer ever envisioned metal tongue piercings. They were, however, far ahead of the curve in the field of belly button bling.....We tend to think of the future as just like today only more so. The only real difference is that the girls are prettier and wear more revealing outfits.; 9/5/09, 12:48 PM
John Burgess said...: How could Maria, from "Metropolis" be missing?; 9/5/09, 1:00 PM
halojones-fan said...: JohnVS: I was just going to say, I didn't remember that Demi Moore's hair in "Ghost" was THAT short!

PS: dingdingdingding folks we have a winner: http://www.verumserum.com/media/2009/06/1974-Caroline-Munro.jpg; 9/5/09, 1:30 PM
blake said...: Huh, I was just watching Flash. Honestly, she looks better in the stills.

For those taking umbrage at the miuse of "science fiction" note he doesn't, in fact, ever use the phrase "science fiction". He says "sci-fi" which pretty much covers anything that might fall under the "speculative fiction" classification.

Loose to be sure. Why not Donna Reed in It's A Wonderful Life? Did she not make the cut or was the movie not considered? Who knows.

Carrie Fisher was iconic more than actually beautiful in Jedi. Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon were naked together in The Hunger that year. Kathleen Turner was in The Man With Two Brains.

You could make a similar list by thinking of beautiful women and finding some kind of sci-fi they'd starred in.

The author is obviously more familiar with modern movies. Lots of runner-ups the later in time you get. And almost all A-Listers.

And about the mid- to late-80s, you start have a bunch of not-quite-direct-to-video stuff that pretty much required at least one gorgeous woman per movie: Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death, etc.

That's not even counting the overt soft-core. Sure, Cameron Diaz looked good in The Mask, but more beautiful than Krista Allen in Emmanuelle, Queen of the Galaxy?; 9/5/09, 1:34 PM
blake said...: John--

It's done by year, and the first year is several years later than Metropolis. (Was my first thought, too.) There was also Alraune...; 9/5/09, 1:36 PM
David said...: A beautiful woman is never out of style.; 9/5/09, 1:55 PM
bagoh20 said...: "I can only think of two 1980s movies, Weird Science and Mannequin, wherein a man tried create the perfect women.

You'd think that theme would have been more thoroughly explored within the genre before then."

That's about when the real thing became extinct.

Present company excluded, of course.; 9/5/09, 2:25 PM
bagoh20 said...: I agree with halojones-fan, That still of Caroline Munro sends a tingle up my leg. I don't even remember her. I'm sure she left some article of clothing here around the house somewhere.; 9/5/09, 2:33 PM
J Lee said...: Good grief! No Allison Hayes? What kind of list is this?; 9/5/09, 3:47 PM
Cedarford said...: Not a very good list, but worth the effort. Problems include conspicuous omissions (Sigourney Weaver, star role in a major hit movie, Charlotte Ramplig - Zardoz, Sean Young, hot MILF Joanna Cassidy & Darryl Hannah in Bladerunner) and "reaching" during periods when Hollywood made few if any Sci-Fi movies (40s).

And omission of later-famous babes cast as "the girl" in many real stinkers..like Farrah Fawcett.

-------------

Aside from that, you also have a contingent of "Scream Queens" that later became famous, even Oscar winners. (Jamie Lee Curtis, Hillary Swank) or famous simply for being a great Scream Queen, like Linnea Quigley.; 9/5/09, 3:52 PM
Big Mike said...: Last Starfighter had what I think was one of the top twenty movie lines of all times.

"How many Starfighters are left?"

"Counting you?"

"Yeah, counting me."

"One"; 9/5/09, 3:56 PM
blake said...: Big Mike,

The Last Starfighter was Robert Preston's last feature. It has a bit of a cult following, I think.; 9/5/09, 4:37 PM
blake said...: periods when Hollywood made few if any Sci-Fi movies (40s)

They didn't make many in the '30s, either, and most were really of the mad-scientist-makes-a-monster genre, which petered out during WWII.

The big surge was in the late '50s of course, though it started before Sputnik.

Linnea Quigley immediately came to my mind: For iconic movie moments, rising naked from the mud as a zombie is certainly one of them.; 9/5/09, 4:49 PM
traditionalguy said...: In the early 70s I recall seeing a depressing sci fi coming that seems ready to come true soon staring the beautiful Julie Christie and a computer lover.It was called The Demon Seed.; 9/5/09, 5:03 PM
blake said...: That was based on a Dean Koontz, novel, right around the time his career sort of tanked.

Also, since the premise is that a computer rapes Julie Christie, I don't think it's very close to coming true.; 9/5/09, 5:23 PM
Paco Wové said...: Julie Christie

I thought it was some superfuturistic house, and the house itself raped Julie Christie. Which makes it semi-prophetic considering the recent surge of foreclosures.; 9/5/09, 7:20 PM
blake said...: Well, we don't want to get into metaphorical raping, do we? Then we have to talk about Spielberg and Lucas and the last Indy Jones movies.; 9/5/09, 8:41 PM
SteveR said...: Britt Ekland!

Well that's hardly fair.; 9/5/09, 8:57 PM
Richard Lawrence Cohen said...: I'm glad Cedarford corrected the horrendous omission of Sigourney Weaver. A couple of other favorites: Karen Allen in Starman, Brooke Adams in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and The Dead Zone.

word verification: torso; 9/6/09, 10:21 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: EDH said...
I can only think of two 1980s movies, Weird Science and Mannequin, wherein a man tried create the perfect women.

You'd think that theme would have been more thoroughly explored within the genre before then.

Am I missing some others?

Katharine Ross looked very impressive in The Stepford Wives (1975).; 9/8/09, 11:06 AM