B E B E R E

Norm's too good an egg to have one of his polls given a "one way ticket to palookaville," so here goes for my favorite ten actors/actresses (not in any particular order):

Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura
Two of my favorite actors all around. Though both are probably best known in their samurai roles (Mifune in Yojimbo/Sanjuro/The Seven Samurai, Shimura as the Blind Swordsman), they had amazing ranges. My favorite films by both (so far) take place in postwar Japan: Mifune as the financial head of a shoe factory in "High and Low," Shimura as the aged bureaucrat who only learns to live when given a death sentence in "Ikiru."

Jimmy Stewart
What can I say about him that hasn't been said already? A girl could do worse than end up with someone like Stewart.

Peter Sellers
One of the best comic actors I can think of, whether he be playing a bumbling French detective or a diverse number of characters in one of my favorite films ever. If you're interested, Harvard Radio will be having a mini Sellers orgy this Sunday (June 5) from 12:30-2:30pm. WHRB is on the web, so the programming's not limited to the Happy Few in Cambridge/Somerville.

Gene Kelly
How he could make dancing look so effortless as he did floors me. I never get tired of watching him.

Katherine Hepburn
Extraordinary comedienne and Strong Woman. To paraphrase another groundbreaker: "She was through with equality for women before the baby boom generation knew what to do with Equality for Women."

Audrey Hepburn
Her effect on me is just like Gene Kelly's. I forget everything when watching her.

Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn gives me hope in that she's probably the only true star I can think of who has similar body proportions to mine. It's hard to look like that in a culture that worships the heroin-addicted boy look. Her characters also tend to follow a common thread: that of a woman who, though of humble means and blonde hair, is no dumb bunny (I think of a lot of her humor as Bombshell Gracie Allen), has a good heart, and genuinely wants to improve herself. This resonates very deeply with me and is partly why I love her so much.

Katherine Deneuve and Jeanne Moreau
One is the architypical Ice Princess. The other has a more smouldering sort of sensuality. I tend to think of them as two sides of the same coin.