Rosemary Redux - More Rosemary McGrotha

Why did I post three more pictures of eighties model Rosemary McGrotha?

Because I can! :-D

Love grows where my Rosemary goes. . . . :-D

What I loved about Rosemary McGrotha was that she was an unconventional model in so many ways. She enjoyed good food, and she was never interested in dieting. She was like a real woman . . . because she was a real woman.

Donna Karan used her extensively in ads, including one featuring her taking the oath of office as the first female President of the United States. The only problem was that Rosemary McGrotha was, I believe, in her twenties at the time, then making her constitutionally ineligible for the Presidency. :-D

The downside of showing this picture is that there are men in it. :-p

Eighties model Rosemary McGrotha

With her full, curvaceous figure, her sharp, triangular nose, and her steely blue eyes, Rosemary McGrotha was not your typical fashion model. Her unique look is what made her so famous.



She worked with most of the top fashion photographers of the 1980s, and she was the original muse of designer Donna Karan.

French fashion model Amélie Latournald

Amélie Latournald is part of the latest generation of black fashion models.



Born in Lille, France, Amélie Latournald is associated with no fewer than six modeling agencies. She's done advertisements for Garnier, H&M, and Nike, among others.

Actress January Jones

Today, I offer a touch of January in November. :-)



January Jones is best known for her role as Betty Draper in the cable television drama "Mad Men," which just completed its third season.

Ms. Jones has also had supporting roles in movies such as Anger Management and Love, Actually.

Fun fact: Although January Jones was in fact born in January - her birthday is January 5 - she was named for a character in a Jacqueline Susann novel.

Actress Mariel Hemingway

When model Margaux Hemingway, granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway, starred in the 1976 thriller movie Lipstick, it was supposed to make her a Hollywood star. It didn't turn out that way; the movie was a flop. Critics, though, noted the acting ability of a young actress who also appeared in Lipstick . . . Margaux's younger sister Mariel, then only fifteen years old.

Three years later, Mariel Hemingway played Tracy, the young adult love interest of neurotic Isaac Davis - played by Woody Allen - in Allen's movie Manhattan. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. A star was born.



Mariel Hemingway went on to star in other films, such as Star 80 (portraying murdered Playboy model Dorthy Stratten) and The Mean Season. She also played a lesbian athlete in the 1982 movie Personal Best, and she has enjoyed taking similar roles and being on the cutting edge.



Mariel Hemingway turns 48 today. She is currently the host of "Spiritual Cinema," a monthly television show dedicated to spiritual-based films.

Fun fact: When Margaux Hemingway married in 1979, Mariel - the bridesmaid at Margaux's wedding - reportedly said, "Yecch! I don't ever want to get married!" In fact, she has been married to writer and director Stephen Crisman since 1984, and they have two daughters.

Broadcast journalist Savannah Guthrie

Savannah Guthrie is one of the new faces of late in NBC's news division.



An attorney as well as a reporter, Savannah Guthrie covered the 2008 presidential election in part for NBC News. She became their White House correspondent in December of that year.

Actress Joely Fisher

Several weeks ago, I posted a picture of actress and sci-fi-geek icon Carrie Fisher. Today, I offer a post devoted to her half-sister. :-)



Joely Fisher, the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Connie Stevens, is an actress who has appeared primarily on television but has also appeared in the movies and on Broadway.

Her best-known roles have been as Paige Clark in Ellen DeGeneres's mid-nineties sitcom "Ellen" and as Joy Stark in the show "'Til Death" with Brad Garrett.

Actress Cameron Diaz

There's something about Cameron. :-)



Cameron Diaz had been featured prominently in movies such as The Mask before breaking through in a big way in the Julia Roberts comedy My Best Friend's Wedding in 1997 (as the woman who marries the Roberts character's secret crush), then reinforcing her comedic reputation in There's Something About Mary a year later.

Cameron Diaz has done lots of popcorn fare like the Charlie's Angels movies, but she's appeared in more artsy films such as Being John Malkovich and Gangs of New York.

British actress Julie Christie

Britain's Julie Christie caused a big sensation in the 1960s in films like Doctor Zhivago and Fahrenheit 451, and she quickly became an icon of the "Swinging London" days.



In the 1970s she had a relationship with Warren Beatty and starred in a few films with him - McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Shampoo, and Heaven Can Wait.



More recently, she has appeared in the Alzheimer's disease drama Away From Her and in Finding Neverland. She remains an ageless symbol of English-language cinema.

TV newswoman Brenda Blackmon

Brenda Blackmon has been a fixture in local broadcast journalism in the greater New York City area for years.



She has been at WWOR-TV (Channel 9) in Secaucus, New Jersey, since 1990 as an anchorwoman and a reporter, having won many Emmy awards for her work. She's one of the most respected broadcast journalists in the New York City media market. She also runs her own communications firm, Brenda Blackmon Communications, Inc., whose site is available here.

This post is an act of support for Ms. Blackmon and her co-anchor, Harry Martin. Their nightly newscast on WWOR-TV had been one hour long and had aired at ten o'clock, but it's been pushed back one hour (to eleven o'clock) and halved to thirty minutes to make room for a talk show that has nothing to do with the news.

Scandinavian model Anna Anderson

Anna Anderson was a highly visible fashion model in the late seventies and early eighties.



She even appeared in a couple of movies, notably in the 1978 thriller Eyes of Laura Mars, about a fashion photographer whose violence-themed pictures may foretell a murder. Anna Anderson played one of the models. She also appeared in Portfolio, a semi-fictional 1983 movie about the modeling trade.

Updated Rules

Here's a brief update, with a minor revision, on my rules for who's eligible to appear on this blog.

All women from all walks of life remain in contention, just as long as they are still alive. Regarding women I know personally, I would like to define that rule to mean that I will not post pictures of women whom I have met in person.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have become friends on Facebook with Rosaura Lezama, whom I featured in September, through our mutual friend Arthur Eisenberg, who photographed her. I have never met her in person, though, so technically she's eligible to appear on this blog.

I have also befriended another woman whom I have featured on this blog - Virginia Mesones, a New Jersey-based actress I'd met before in New York but have since connected with. I had met her in person when I featured her on this blog, but as we were not friends yet when I featured her, this does not violate my rule.

I decided that the original rule of not posting pictures of women I know personally was too strict, so I made exceptions and retroactive provisions to keep everything consistent and fair.

Right, are we done? Splendid! On to more beautiful women!

The Beauty of Retrospect: Supermodel Beverly Johnson . . . Without Makeup!

Beverly Johnson never looked more beautiful than in this picture, taken by fashion and celebrity photographer Francesco Scavullo, in which she doesn't wear any makeup at all.

And, dare I say, she never looked sexier. :-)

I've always appreciated women's natural beauty, and I've come to prefer women who were less makeup or, ideally, none at all. True feminine beauty comes from facial contours, eye color, and skin tone. Lipstick, rouge and mascara can get in the way of all that.

This picture of Beverly Johnson accentuates her best features - her deep, dark eyes, her soft, supple lips, and her glowing complexion. It's an astonishingly breathtaking portrait.

I'd been wanting to post this picture for a long time, but I'd never been able to find it on the Internet. Then two things happened. First, I got a scanner. Then I found the Scavullo book this picture appeared in.

It was worth the wait.

The Beauty Of Retrospect, Birthday Edition: Happy Birthday, Famke Janssen!

Dutch actress Famke Janssen, who has appeared in movies as diverse as the James Bond film GoldenEye and Woody Allen's Celebrity, in addition to the X-Men movies, turns 44 today.



What a coincidence - so do I! :-D

Happy birthday to my lovely astrological twin! :-)

The Latest Numbers

I have now posted pictures of 285 different women - some women, obviously, have been featured more than once.

Having wrapped up my second special series on beautiful women in music, I look to return soon to featuring my usual assortment of actresses, media personalities, models, and even politicians (I have featured Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, remember).

Speaking of which, today's Election Day in the United States, and so I'd like to ask anyone who's interested to make the following choice: Who's the most beautiful woman in the world today? Feel free to leave a comment here or, if you're a Facebook friend, on my Facebook profile. :-)