Comments on the last post got me thinking a little harder about my favorites, so I decided to try and get them down, all official-like. So here is my entirely subjective personal opinion on the top 12 fur-wearing actresses of the last 80 or so years (mainly minus the last 20 since they… sucked). If you think I started with 10 then remembered some more, then you're absolutely correct. After I post this, I'll probably remember a lot more.
Greta Garbo
This list technically covers fur wearers only, but Garbo is also on top of my all-time most-attractive list, with or without fur. It's the face, really. That face is the greatest ever, and for once, I'm not alone in having that opinion. Actually, all of these women share that quality; the face is what I first “fall” for; Garbo just does it best.
Notable Fur Films: Inspiration
Marlene Dietrich
I really went controversial with the top 2, picking two of the most highly regarded women in the world. Dietrich has the face and the furs to frame it with and indeed a sultry voice to back up the entire package.
Notable Fur Films: Shanghai Express, Pittsburgh, The Scarlet Empress (lots of furs, but way too “period” for my tastes.)
Barbara Stanwyck
Her films from the '30s are the source of some of the best furs filmed, and she certainly backed them up with beautiful features and masterful performances. If there's going to be a “tough broad” in the picture, then Barbara is the one for the job.
Notable Fur Films: Breakfast for Two, Baby Face, Lady of Burlesque, The Mad Miss Manton
Joan Crawford
As usual, the sad, wish-it-weren't-needed caveat of “early” Joan. Her youth and beauty in the '30s and early '40s was exquisite. We can just conveniently overlook what happened later.
Notable Fur Films: Mannequin (1937), The Bride Wore Red, They All Kissed the Bride, Ice Follies of 1939
Ann-Margret
That face and that fantastic red hair, a beautiful combination. Red is my favorite hair color, and I generally like it like my fox fur coats: lacking any shred of subtly. Ann's fame put her in some of the “lean” years of fur fashion, but she managed to find her way into some stunning fox coats from time to time, like this one in Once A Thief, a film I've not yet seen.
Notable Fur Films: The Swinger, Once A Thief (maybe)
Natalie Wood
A broken record at this point, but I said what I liked at the top, and Natalie Wood is, in fact, another pretty face. I could even imply something stereotypical like Miss Zakharenko's Russian heritage makes her natural in fur. Much like Ann, she experienced superstardom in the '50s and '60s, which makes it more difficult to find her in fabulous furs.
Notable Fur Films: The Great Race
Sophia Loren
I don't think Italian heritage can make any dumb statements about how well you wear fur, but it certainly didn't hurt Miss Loren's attractive features. Her most productive years were similar to Natalie's and Ann's, so finding Sophia in exceptional furs is a little tricky, but there are a few gems.
Notable Fur Films: The Millionairess
Morgan Fairchild
Ah, the 1980's report in at last. Miss Fairchild embodied the 80's blonde in big furs, and she did so with the utmost glamor and class. If there was an 80's mega fox coat in the picture, she probably wearing it. After saying that, here's a shot of her in lynx.
Notable Fur Films and TV: Paper Dolls, Any other 80's soap she was ever on, most likely
Anna May Wong
She was absolutely gorgeous in fur, though sadly not afforded nearly as many opportunities to wear it as her contemporaries. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and fix that. If nothing else, that suggests I have terrible priorities.
Notable Fur Films: Piccadilly
Hedy Lamarr
Hedy's attractive features are framed by my second favorite hair color: black. Not dark brown, or really dark brown, or even so-dark-brown-it's-almost black; no: black. This kind of black is gleaming obsidian set off so nicely by a thick, white fox. There are some excellent films with Hedy in fur, but they're harder to find for some reason.
Notable Fur Films: I Take this Woman
Joan Collins
This may be a controversial choice because she's so low on the list. If it makes any ardent Joan fans feel any better, this is like the top 10 of all actresses ever, so, percentile-wise, this is still huge. Since Morgan covers that, Joan is actually here more for the '70s than the '80s. She pretty much nails it in The Bitch. I know, date-wise, that's almost a technicality, but it's still the 70's.
Notable Fur Films and TV: The Bitch, Dynasty
Lucille Ball
The downside is substantial, but much like ignoring what happened later with Miss Crawford, assuming Miss Ball's career ended in the mid-'40s means she's one of the fur-wearing greats in film. When she was young and doing films, she was quite the classic beauty and commonly draped in beautiful furs.
Notable Fur Films: Annabel films, Dance, Girl, Dance, Easy to Wed
That wraps up my current top 12, at least until I remember more. Feel free to try and help me out in the comments. Or suggest that I'm wrong, and also a doo-doo head; you can do that too.
Bonus points for throwing out names of any actress from the last 20 years. I should point out you'll need to do better than one or two furs, and, if you've been reading for any amount of time, you should know I'm not going to look kindly on any suggestion that includes mink. There are several modern actresses I'd like to put on the list, but they can't make the grade fur-wise.