Hollywood Legends

I discovered a whole new obsession which meant I could type in every burning question that puzzled me and be given a concise, (and sometimes long and rambling, a bit like this piece) picture of what I was looking to find out. Having soon grown tired of “expanding” my mind, (there’s only so much I ever wanted to learn about the history of Sri Lanka) I switched to modern celebrities. I soon knew everything there was to know about pretty much every film star I fancy/admire/want to be as skinny as, in but a few short hours! Where they grew up, their first jobs, their film path and more importantly, everyone they had dated/married/split acrimoniously from.

Now for an easily titillated mind such as mine, I found the overlap between all of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie’s relationships a pretty interesting read, as well as dumped high school sweethearts of now mega famous stars, supposedly upgraded to glossy Hollywood counterparts which never lasted as long, new relationships which seemed to be punctuated by fights, cheating and “scandal.” OK so Wikipedia wasn’t that forthcoming with information, this was just my heavily embellished interpretation as gauged from “so and so divorced so and so to date so and so and so who cheated with…Paris Hilton. Too much time on my hands? Moi?

Feeling my brain begin to shrink to the size of a pea, I decided to have a look at the so called Hollywood Legends of the ages, expecting them to be more tame and restrained, in view of the social expectations and traditions of the time. How wrong was I! The goings on of some of these girls made the love triangles of our IT girls seem like playground antics. Who cares about Paris, Lindsay and err Paris, when we have Lana Turner, her five husbands, countless lovers and life motto of “I liked the boys and the boys liked me.’ Her involvement with a good looking mobster, who became possessive to the point of obsessive and in a scandal which almost ruined her career was stabbed by her 14 year old daughter reads like Jackie Collins at her finest.

Then there was Ingrid Bergman, the natural Swedish beauty forced into exile in Europe and denounced as “evil” in the US Senate after having an extra marital affair with Italian director Roberto Rossellini which produced an ahem extra marital son! Yet she managed to salvage her career as Lana Turner did, due in no small part to her intelligence (she spoke 5 languages fluently) and intuitive nature the like of which would scant be seen today. (Without a high powered PR machine to generate the right publicity to get them out of the red!)

Forget union jack dresses, paternity battles, shaved heads and no knickers, to find girl power minus platforms (or any traces of make up whatsoever!) there was Katharine Hepburn, who personified girl power at its most outspoken, its most liberated and perhaps its most arrogant. Not only did she win 5 Oscars and nominated for 12, (a record beaten only by Meryl Streep with 14 nominations) and nicknamed Katherine of Arrogance, “Kate” had the kind of outspoken wit which is notably absent from the majority of high profile celebrities of today known more as being famous for the sake of it or of being outrageous to stay in the public eye and maintain public interest.

These days there seems to be nothing worse than fading into the periphery and out of our magazines. That’s not to say there aren’t many beautiful, intelligent actresses around today, it just seems that many of their achievements are overshadowed by those celebs who dominate the front of our tabloids for all the wrong reasons and who lack the subtleties the older generation had to keep the public guessing, Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Sophia Loren and Carey Grant are examples of these “were they weren’t they’ intrigues.

In a way, a lot of our modern celebrities represent a watered down version of our first film stars, lacking the fearless determination, drive and even the passionate love affairs of their predecessors. Which all in all, doesn’t make for half so entertaining reading of Wikipedia on boring afternoons in the office.