Old Hollywood Inspiration: Best Actress Oscar Winners

As it is the Oscars this weekend, I thought this would be great time to look back at previous 'Best Actress' winners from the beginning. Enjoy!



Janet Gaynor 1928



Mary Pickford 1929



Norma Shearer 1930



Helen Hayes 1932



Claudette Colbert 1934



Bette Davis 1935



Luise Rainer 1937



Vivien Leigh 1939



Ginger Rogers 1940



Joan Fontaine 1941



Greer Garson 1942



Jennifer Jone 1943



Ingrid Bergman 1944



Joan Crawford 1945



Loretta Young 1947



Jane Wyman 1948



Audrey Hepburn 1953



Grace Kelly 1954



Anna Magnani 1955



Susan Hayward 1958



Simone Signoret 1959



Elizabeth Taylor 1960



Sophia Loren 1961



Old Hollywood Inspiration: Betty Grable

Betty Grable was born in 1916 in St. Louis, Missouri.

At age 13 her mother sent her to Hollwood in the hopes she would be become a movie star. She got bit parts on several movies thoroughout the early 1930s, and in 1932 signed with RKO Pictures.

She married for the first time in 1937 to fellow child star Jackie Coogan, which boosted her career. They divorced 3 years later but the public started to take notice of her, and in 1940 she starred in her first hit 'Down Argentine Way'.

After a series of hit films, she became the ultimate 'pin-up' girl to boost moral to the troops serving in World War 2, which gave her the title of being the highest paid actress in Hollywood at that time.

Most famously 20th Century Fox who held her contract insured her legs with Lloyds of London for $1 million!

During the 1950's she stayed very popular, starring in mainly musicals, but as these films declined so did her career. After 1955 she concentrated on starring in broadway shows and nightclubs until her death in 1973 from cancer.

All images sourced through google

Old Hollywood Inspiration: Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh was born in Darjeeling, India in 1913 during the British reign. At age 6 her parents returned to the UK to give Vivien a convent education.

At the end of her education she pursued her ambition to be an actress. She featured in many British films such as 'The Village Squire', 'Things Are Looking Up' & 'Look Up & Laugh'.

In 1938 she went to the US to visit her lover Laurence Olivier, and while there she auditioned for the much coveted role of 'Scarlett O'Hara' for the feature film 'Gone With The Wind'. As we know now she got the part and it won her the 'Best Actress' Oscar.

In 1941 Leigh & Olivier married and starred together in 'That Hamilton Woman'.

Leighs personal life suffered after this time during which she had several miscarriages, contracted tuberculosis, and was diagnosed with manic depression.

In 1951 she starred in her second Oscar winning performance as 'Blanche DuBois' in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' opposite Marlon Brando. 

In 1960 Olivier left Vivien to marry Joan Plowright, and in 1967 Leigh died after contracting tuberculosis once again.



Old Hollywood Inspiration: Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow was born in 1911 in Kansas City, to a successful dentist and his wife.

She ran away from home at age 16 and married a young businessman. They set up home in Los Angeles where Harlow got work as an extra on movie sets. After two years, many smalls roles & bit parts, and a divorce under her belt Harlow got her big break in Howards Hughes's 'Hells Angels' in 1930.

After this she starred in such films as 'Platinum Blonde', 'Red Dust', 'Dinner At Eight' & 'Blonde Bombshell'.

Her most successful films were with which she was paired with Clark Gable (6 in total), her last being 'Saratoga' in 1937. During filming she contracted uremic poisoning which took her life at age 26.