Gloria Paul — accomplished dancer, actress and singer in England in the late ’60s and ’70s
Just by looking at this photo it may seem like Gloria Paul has everything. This English beauty began her career as a ballet dancer before quitting her professional dance company to try her hand at acting. Her bet paid off paltalk dating and she quickly found herself in films like Goldfinger and For a Few Dollars More before transitioning to television where she appeared in the Benny Hill Show.
Paul continued acting in England until the ’90s when she suffered a freak accident. While she was taking a shower in her home, the water heater fell through the ceiling and landed directly on her. She was paralyzed from the waist down. This accident ended her career and forced to her to retire completely. In a recent interview Paul said that she’s lucky to have friends who’ve stuck by her side even now that she’s not on screen:
After the accident I discovered that people truly wished me well and I’ve been very lucky in my choice of friends. As the saying goes: ‘You discover who your true friends are in bad times,’ and at bad times, they were always at my side. I had a good nose for friends, and when I need them they’re there. With my job, you know a thousand people, but in life one must be selective. You shouldn’t judge people too quickly, it takes time.
Helen Mirren performance in Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida” — Royal Shakespeare Theatre (1968)
Helen Mirren has long bee considered one of the sexiest actresses of the 20th century. When she was a part of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the late 1960s, the Guardian referred to her as “The Sex Queen of Stratford,” which is nice and all but they didn’t really mention her acting. That headline made Mirren averse to dealing with the media from early on.
Mirren has had to deal with this kind of thing from the onset of her career thanks to her e fluff that every other actress works with. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand the audience’s desire to see someone beautiful onscreen. In 2015, she explained:
On the cinema screen, your face is 10ft high and 6ft wide. It’s huge. And I, as a cinemagoer, like to see beautiful faces up there – it’s a pleasure. But there’s also story and entertainment, and one wants variety in that. You also want, as an audience member, to see people that you recognize and can identify with.
Action-packed movie, Bullitt (1969), with Steve McQueen and Jacqueline Bisset
Bullitt is more than just a car movie, it’s an action movie that changed Hollywood forever, paving the way for movies to be shot on location. Most well known for its car case, the film was innovative and exciting, taking audiences on a ride that they didn’t expect.
At the forefront of this film was Steve McQueen, already a huge star and someone that put butts in seats. With Bullitt, he went from star to something else completely. Co-star Jacqueline Bissett noted that he was great to be on set with, and nothing like the star people believed him to be. She explained:
Steve was a major star at the time but very patient with me and we would go out for meals with the director and producer when we’d break for lunch. Watching those cars jumping in the air on the streets of San Francisco was amazing. There were also some scenes where I had to drive Steve around in a yellow convertible and remember thinking God almighty, I don’t want to mess this up with a race car driver next to me!
