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Fifteen Tough Film Dames
by Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner
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Book Presentation:
No delicate ingénues, these. In the middle of the twentieth century, the Mary Pickfords of the movie world were replaced by a different sort of woman—drop-dead gorgeous, witty, not afraid to speak their minds, they could slay you with a look—and if that didn’t work, look out for the pistol in the garter. These ground-breaking actresses helped change the course of movie history, charting a path for generations to come.
These profiles of fifteen leading ladies—Lucille Ball, Lynn Bari, Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Gloria Grahame, Jean Hagen, Adele Jergens, Ida Lupino, Marilyn Maxwell, Mercedes McCambridge, Jane Russell, Ann Sheridan, Barbara Stanwyck, Claire Trevor and Marie Windsor—include overviews of their lives and careers, and excerpts from interviews. Five photos supplement each profile. Jane Russell (one of the actresses profiled) provides a foreword.
About the authors:
The late Ray Hagen spent 15 years acting, dancing, and singing on and off Broadway, wrote two off-Broadway plays, co-authored a movie reference book, conducted numerous film-related interviews, and narrated books on tape for the Library of Congress. He lived in Washington D.C.
Writer Laura Wagner lives in New York. She is the book reviewer and contributing editor of the magazines Classic Images and Films of the Golden Age.
Press Reviews:
"this book fetes the most fascinating women onscreen in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s"—Classic Images.
> From the same authors:
Hollywood Boozers, Brawlers and Hard-Luck Cases (2025)
Fifteen Ill-Fated Actors of the Golden Age
by Laura Wagner
Hollywood's Hard-Luck Ladies (2020)
23 Actresses Who Suffered Early Deaths, Accidents, Missteps, Illnesses and Tragedies
by Laura Wagner
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