His PRESENCE was special. Superior faces to Brando's were...Now we move into the decade of the fifties. New faces on thescreen but first, let’s recall those faces belonged to the following actors:
G Garbo Cooper
M Dietrich T Power
Maria Felix RTaylor
Vivien Leigh C Gable
Rita Hayworth L Olivier
K Hepburn C Grant
I Bergman R Donat
H Lamarr Crabbe
J Russell
L Turner
Claire Trevor
J Crawford
B Stanwyck
L Young
Of all the male actors of the decade of the fifties, Brando comes to mind. Of course, he was handsome to a degree quite above average, but it wasn’t so much that face of his as it was his acting abilities and sheer screen presence. His PRESENCE was special. Perhaps superior faces to Brando’s were Alan Ladd’s, Cary Grant’s, Rock Hudson’s, Paul Newman’s, and young Dean Martin’s. I can’t bring myself to say that young Robert Mitchum’s face was superior to Brando’s, although it comes close. It wouldn’t be unusual for some readers to prefer Mitchum’s face because of the cleft chin and/or its manliness. Other men’s faces that also come near Brando’s in handsomeness during this decade are Stewart Granger’s (See it in ‘Salome’!), William Holden’s, Olivier’s, and Heston’s. Some people may like Victor Mature’s face, but it certainly wasn’t a first tier face. Now, let’s move on to the female faces.
The famous violet-eyed Elizabeth Taylor can be mentioned now as she is all grown up during this decade. She was never more radiant than she was in ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof’ and ‘A Place In The Sun’. In fact, for the fifties and part of the sixties, she’s hard to beat. Who could? Who did? Monroe, could, of course, but she’s practically the only one. Even at that, she didn’t and some of it had to do with her acting ability. For beauty only, they ran neck-to-neck for a good number of years - one, the blonde and the other, the brunette. We should mention those other beauties who came close to these two lionesses of countenance, however. They are Sophia Loren, Rita Hayworth, Diana Dors, Jane Russell, Ingrid Bergman, and, not least of these, Grace Kelly. Other beauties a bit farther down are Eva Marie Saint, Angie Dickinson, Dorothy Dandridge, Doris Day, Kim Novak, and Judy Garland. Some people might even move one or two of these actresses to the next tier descending. For example, Judy Garland was a lovely young girl, therefore, beautiful, in her late teens and early twenties, but later much of it faded for various reasons. Then again, she is not thought of in terms of mainly beauty (as is Garbo, for instance) but more in terms of a good and/or great non-operatic singer, depending on one’s tastes. She’s sort of like a generation before Streisand.
Natalie Wood was the prettiest thing in ‘Rebel Without A Cause’ and had a special appeal to many of the viewers in her audiences. However, she was not truly a first- or second-tier beauty. Well, maybe second, right?
James Dean is here now in this decade in full force. His acting was similar or on par with that of Brando’s, but Dean did not have the Brando face, although he certainly matched the power of Brando’s screen presence.
Also, let me add a personal preference that has only grown over the years. It is Lee Remick. She’s with Jimmy Stewart in ‘Anatomy of a Murder’. What Remick lacked in first- or second-tier beauty, she made up for in charm and personal/screen appeal. Even years later look at her elegance in ‘The Omen,’ alongside the great Gregory Peck.
I hope I haven’t left out any major actor or actress of the fifties where a face is mainly concerned. Millions loved Audrey Hepburn and she did, indeed, have a cute and appealing face. Young Bette Davis and Shirley MacLaine did too. There are probably several foreign actors and actresses who could be named but aren’t due to my lack of knowledge of them. I know about Moreau, Bardot, and Lollobrigida, but I am not sure just where they would fit among these American names.
