Western women

I stumbled across these pictures of Dale Evans and was reminded what a babe she was. No wonder Trigger had to give up second billing.


http://www.picsdrive.com/dale-evans/1


It made me wonder how we all felt about the women of the western. From Dale to Julie London to Selma Hayek there have always been women in westerns but how has that changed over the years.

Usually, it was always the ranchers daughter, the sod buster's wife, or the girl in the dry goods store were the good girls, and any woman in a saloon was a bad girl. I think Claire Trevor in Stagecoach showed that the soiled dove is no different from other women, if you cast aside your prejudices.

Geraldine Paige in Hondo gave Duke a run for his money, and Angie Dickinson in Rio Bravo stand out for me.

Pards,

There,s been quite a few Lady,s who haved graced the screen in westerns,but I,m mentioning a couple of "modern" girls,Cate Blanchett and,especially,Anette Benning,in,The Missing and Open Range.

I think Cate Blanchett is an excellent actress,I,ve never seen her being anything less than very good,and in some cases,Missing/Elizabeth,truly excellent/brilliant.

I,ve long championed Gail Russell,but Anette Benning in Open Range captures "the western woman" perfectly,it still mystify,s me how a beautiful woman like her could make herself look "plain",I,m almost certain that Costner thought she was too beautiful for the part until he seen Anette,her own doing,in a "trial effort",but looks aside,I thought she was magnificent,Oscar material.

In fairness,there,s been loads of Lady,s who have graced the screen,I must admit,after watching Hondo blu-ray,that I can see where Iain,s coming from concerning Ms Page,and a wee mention for Virginia Mayo,in Fort Dobbs,she was in a few westerns,but I think she was perfectly cast alongside Clint.

Davy,westernnut.

Maureen O'Hara will always be the quintessential western woman for me! Iain, have you ever read of the interaction of Duke and Page on "Hondo"? Duke recoiled every time he had to be close to her. Apparently she had extremely bad breath and body odor. Read that in one of my Duke biographies, cant remember which one but I'll look it up.

Robert Fellows cast Page, but Duke had no interest in an inexperienced movie actress.
When she appeared on set Fellows winced.
Her teeth looked as if they had already spent a lifetime
on some frontier where toothpaste and dentist were unknown!
She was immediately packed off to a Holywood dentist,
to be patched up.
Duke was soon to learn why her teeth were in such miserable shape,
Duke's secretary Mary St. John remarked Quote: "She had the hygene habits of a five year old boy,who loathed toothpaste and bathwater.You could literally smell her on set." Apparently her table manners were not much better,eating mashed potatoes and gravy with her fingers.
Duke got so irritated one dinner,that he dumped a plate of food over her head!
Ward Bond recalled,Duke dreaded the love scenes,Quote:"Jesus Christ.... I'm afraid I might puke, the next time I have to kiss her.Maybe if I hold my breath, it won't be so bad". Although Duke never warmed to Page, she was completely charmed by him. Quote:

He's a fantastic, fantastic man.... He's an enormous man, with the boots and the hat, he's about seven feet tall.. I felt so dainty next to him. I loved him...

Please read John Wayne: American
for a fuller account of Geraldine Page's comments

We've got 5 posts on this thread (not counting this one) and nobody's mentioned Dorothy Malone. So let me be the first. Whether as a blonde or a brunette, she had that sultry look you couldn't ignore.



Yvonne DeCarlo was a very beautiful woman, as well. Most people would immediately think of Lily Munster, but remembered seeing her in several movies made before The Munsters, and was surprised by her beauty.

Pards, I am not into Women so I will let this one up to you guys........

There are certain actresses I say were quite beautiful in Westerns though....... Can't name them off hand. I am bad with names and I have to look them up but I don't have time right now.

I'm like you tinhorn, i was shocked how Yvonne DeCarlo was a very beautiful woman. I have seen her lately in some old westerns and I said that's the Mrs Munster ( Lily). Surprised both Mike and myself.

Mike too thinks Dorthy Malone was pretty, but I don't think she was. Maybe in a few but mostly just the normal.............girl.

Oh, I think the fair haired maiden of the East/West Miss Lily is very pretty. And I love some of her dresses. I want them to wear.

There is a difference when it comes to being beautiful and beautiful and sexy. I see a certain dress on one of those actresses and I say there's my dress......or Mike will say to me when we are watching a movie same thing........she has your dress on, that it would look good on me.

Back to you guys and your thoughts........

P.S. those pictures are nice of Dorthy Malone.

Howdy Pards!!

Here , Here, now!!

Let's not leave out Karen Steele, Jayne Russell or Claudia Cardinale!!

Ed

I always thought there was a resemblance between Claudia Cardinale and Raquel Welch:

Claudia

Raquel

I think the comparison of Raquel and Claudia had as much to do with '60's style as with similar features.


I was surprised to see that Dorothy Malone acted from 1943 (including The Big Sleep) through 1992's Basic Instinct, making many westerns along the way, Warlock and Tall Man Riding amongst them.


When I saw The Ten Commandments after I saw The Munsters it made me wonder if her Sophora was a bit earthy for my man Moses. And in McLintock she gives Maureen O'Hara a run for the money as the healthiest woman in the movie. I'd hate to live on the difference.

Steve, I can never forgive you!!! Geraldine Paige had bad breath? I'll never be able to watch Hondo again without thinking about this. I knew that she and Duke didn't get on. Paige was a brilliant stage actress ,who would later get an Oscar for best actress at the age of 65 for The Trip To Bountiful. I liked her in Hondo because she stood up to Wayne in every way, but I thought he was backing away from her toughness, not her breath!

Ron, you're right about Yvonne DeCarlo in McLintock. Especially the stairway scene!

Also, about Geraldine Paige: She was very nervous around John Wayne and Ward Bond because of their conservative views.

Don't forget...Ella Raines and Rhonda Fleming....

or Phyllis Coates, Lois Hall, Marion Shilling, Peggy Stewart & Virginia Vale from all those good old B-westerns.....and one of the best "bad" ladies of them all, Marie Windsor. And then there was Olive Carey as one of the great women character actresses (along with Jeanette Nolan). Donna Reed showed up good in several westerns.....and she didn't do too many westerns, but who can ever forget Jane Darwell from Ox Bow Incident.