The 1940s were a dark decade dominated by war in Europe and Asia. While the US didn’t enter World War II until the end of 1941, it was not immune from the prevailing mood of angst.
As the Nazis threatened to eradicate jews, gypsies and other minorities, Europe’s loss was the US’s gain. Hollywood benefited hugely from an influx of talent – the exiles included actors and actresses, directors, producers, art directors and photographers, composers and musicians.
Not only did they help to reinvigorate the studios, they played a vital role in the development of film noir, a defining genre of the decade – a decade that produced, among other movies, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Mildred Pierce, The Third Man, Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, The Killers, Gilda, The Lady from Shanghai and To Have and Have Not.
This page is dedicated to the actresses – those who went on to become household names such as Rita Hayworth, Ava Gardner, Lauren Bacall, Lana Turner, Veronica Lake and Bette Davis. But also a host of others who never made it big or whose fame has since faded, like so many of the surviving stills that the studios circulated in their thousands. See which actresses you recognise. Then mouseover the photos and click on Read more to find out about them.
Just for fun, I’ve allocated each actress to one of three categories. The choice is entirely subjective:
- The good. The good include movie heroines and comediennes. Some actresses were just incredibly brave women either professionally or in their private lives or both.
- The bad. Badness can reflect the parts for which a star was typically cast or the role with which she is most closely associated. Or perhaps she couldn’t act or had a murky private life.
- The gorgeous. Almost all the actresses here were pretty stunning. Some though were so drop-dead-gorgeous they deserve a category all of their own. The bar is set pretty high.
Guess which actress I’ve allocated to each category and then click on the filter buttons to find out.
1946. In this publicity shot for Angel on my Shoulder, Anne Baxter poses demurely behind an ostrich-feather confection – a fashionable prop at the time (another great example is Bud...
1944. The title quote refers to Betty Field and is drawn from an article by Dee Lowrance in the 22 February 1942 edition of The Salt Lake Tribune. He reports...
1943. Nan Wynn earned her alliterative soubriquet during her days as a singer in the 1930s… despite having no children and not even being married. But hey, why let facts...
1940. In the Silent era there were the Talmadges – Constance, Norma and Natalie. The most famous movie sisters must be Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland. But before Joan...
1941. Lovely, innocent-looking, well-endowed comedienne Marie Wilson is a dizzy delight with high cheekbones, a wide-eyed expression and an attention-grabbing figure. She's been typecast ever since she followed up an...
1946. Paula Drew arrived in Hollywood and signed a long-term contract to Warner Brothers last year. Here she's posing for a publicity shot for Slightly Scandalous, one of four movies...
Around 1948. Vera Ralston's 26 movie credits prove that in acting as in most walks of life what really matters is who you know. Shortly before his death in 1979,...
1943. It all began so promisingly. June Havoc made her professional debut, age two, in silent film shorts. By age five, she was a headliner in vaudeville, billed at first...
1943. Barbara Hale has been studying painting at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. To subsidize her studies, she’s done a bit of modeling for a comic strip and for...
Around 1944. Dolores Moran has graduated from drive-in car hop to popular cover girl for Yank, The Army Weekly. "Flying Tiger" pilots have nicknamed the bombshell their "Tiger Girl". Doubtless...
1943. During World War II, one in every five American servicemen own a copy of this picture of Betty Grable. This shot was, as LIFE magazine acknowledged, one of the...
Around 1948. Tamara Toumanova is one of the European exiles who have fetched up in the US, though in her case not as a result of the Nazi threat. It...
Around 1941. Joan Bennett is entering the second phase of her career. Having played the role of winsome blonde ingenue in movies of the 1930s, she's now under the wing...
1949. In this publicity photo, Helen Walker is the femme fatale who arranges with her lover to kill her husband in a rigged car accident in Impact, one of the...
1946. In this publicity shot, Faye Emerson plays the part of Toni Blackburn, the nightclub singer who betrays the hero in Nobody Lives Forever. But at this stage in her...
Most of the stills are in portrait format – well, they are portraits in one form or another. But here, to go with them, are a few landscape shots, and what landscapes they feature!
1942. Three years on from starring as the pouty Suellen O’Hara in Gone With The Wind, here is Evelyn Keyes warming up for her post-ingenue roles in a succession of...
Around 1947. This photo dates from around the time when Lizabeth Scott's Hollywood career was just taking off and shows how she manages to lead many a man astray in...
1945. Renee Godfrey drapes herself provocatively over an ottoman at the peak of her career in this publicity shot for Bedside Manner. You might not recognise her, but her contemporaries...