Celebrities etc.- past and present

JaniceM

JaniceM

Well-known Member
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still lost between two shores..
Has anyone else wondered why so many celebrities in the past had a certain indescribable "Star quality" that celebrities these days seem to lack? I'm mostly referring to actors/actresses, but also musicians, politicians, etc.

I've had a theory: in the distant past, the public wasn't generally let in on celebrities' personal lives except the made-up stuff in movie-star magazines, teen magazines, etc. I started noticing a change in the 1980s- long before I saw a computer, an example was a long story about a "Brat Pack" actress's time in Rehab and a musician doing a t.v. spot about drunk driving after he killed some people in a DUI accident. These days, virtually everything celebrities do is in the media, and it's rarely anything good.

If the purpose was to make "famous people" seem like all the rest of us, I believe it's backfired- especially when it comes to young people who are influenced by those they admire.

So I was wondering what you guys think of this topic.
 

I just recently (on the net) found out Randolph Scott and
Rock Hudson were more than friends. Rock Hudson, knew that, but Randolph Scott?
See double RR's post
 
jerry old said:
I just recently (on the net) found out Randolph Scott and
Rock Hudson were more than friends. Rock Hudson, knew that, but Randolph Scott?
See double RR's post
Click to expand...
oooh there's so many more than those 2 you'd be surprised about...many were married with children.. lots were women who were having affairs with other actresses much less other men...and equally lots of closet gays... shame really that people just couldn't be people, but the problem back then was that to become box office gold...both actors and actresses had to appeal to the opposite sex.. ..same with musicians...
 
I like watching the legacy TV shows I grew up with and sitting on the couch with my laptop, researching the stars of yesteryear. Not only was there a lot of shielding done back then, but these days many celebrities act out as though stuck in perpetual adolescence. There seems to be no middle ground: you either know nothing about these people, or it's TMI (too much information.)

Raymond Burr was another one of those who was kept in a closet, much to his own chagrin. He had a place on Fiji where they did not care about a person's sexual proclivities, and apparently hated coming back to the states where he had to be closeted. Armed with that knowledge, it puts his demeanor on some of his Tonight Show interviews into perspective.

What amazes me is to see the number of actors of that era whose parents were immigrants from Russia, Lithuania and other eastern European countries, many fleeing Jewish repression. (Tony Randall's birth name was Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg.)
 
There were those actors and actresses who radiated certain qualities. There was "presence", "sexiness", "power", and even "evil".

Consider Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"; she was incandescent, so beautiful and you couldn't take your eyes off her.

Grace Kelly had an aura of "class". You felt like you had to sit up straighter and drink your tea quietly.

James Earl Jones.....well, you knew who was in charge.

Paul Newman.....the perfect combination of "sexy" and "bad boy". But, good bad boy.

Meryl Streep....what can I say? Star quality all the way.
 
yes, i had heard Raympnd Burr always had a group of young boys following him. (never cared forhim)
When I watched Randolf Scott as a kid, Ialways thought all his shirts had extreme padded shoulders because the rest of his body was so thin. (never cared for him either)
Rock Hudson? What a waste!
 
jujube said:
There were those actors and actresses who radiated certain qualities. There was "presence", "sexiness", "power", and even "evil".

Consider Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"; she was incandescent, so beautiful and you couldn't take your eyes off her.

Grace Kelly had an aura of "class". You felt like you had to sit up straighter and drink your tea quietly.

James Earl Jones.....well, you knew who was in charge.

Paul Newman.....the perfect combination of "sexy" and "bad boy". But, good bad boy.

Meryl Streep....what can I say? Star quality all the way.
Click to expand...

I agree with you 100%
 
Audrey Hepburn is one actress that I think of as being classy and having "star" quality (eg. Breakfast at Tiffanys!) She was a multi talented award winning actress, a fashion icon and was also recognized for her involvement in humanitarian work.
 

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