German actress Elke Sommer

Every European country seemed to have a young, glamorous international actress in the 1960s. France had Catherine Deneuve, Italy had Sophia Loren, and Great Britain gave us Julie Christie. And then there was Elke Sommer, representin' Deutschland! :-)

Born Elke Schletz in Berlin, Germany, Elke Sommer grew up in the Bavarian town of Erlangen and moved to England as a teenager, where she was discovered by move director Vittorio De Sica. She won recognition for her work in 1964's The Prize, with Paul Newman and Edward G. Robinson. Other movies in which she appeared include The Venetian Affair and The Swiss Conspiracy, as well as the second Pink Panther movie, A Shot in the Dark. She even performed successfully as a singer on the side!

More recently, Elke Sommer has concentrated more on painting than on acting, finding yet another artistic muse with which to express herself. She lives in Los Angeles now, and she turns seventy in November 2010.

Model Maria Rowe

Maria Rowe is a fashion model from the late 1980s.

But you probably figured that out from the hair style. :-D

She was represented by the Los Angeles office of the Elite modeling agency.

Indian actress Freida Pinto

Freida Pinto played Latika, the lifelong love interest of an impoverished game show contestant in the astonishing movie Slumdog Millionaire, set in her native India. Her sweet and endearing performance made her one of the breakout movie stars of 2008.

As of this writing, Freida Pinto appears in three movies currently in post-production - Miral, Dawn of War and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, the latter movie directed by Woody Allen.

Actress Maureen O'Hara

What's St. Patrick's Day without a tribute to Maureen O'Hara? :-D

Maureen O'Hara has been one of the most ubiquitous actresses in movies and television. The Black Swan, Miracle On 34th Street, and The Quiet Man (in which John Wayne plays an Irish-American who returns to his ancestral homeland) are among her many movie credits.

She's long been known for her friendly rapport with men. Asked what he thought of Maureen O'Hara, John Wayne replied, "Helluva guy." :-D

Born in Ireland, she became a naturalized American citizen in 1946.

Though she's retired, Maureen O'Hara is still going strong. She turns ninety years old five months from today.

Lana Ogilvie and Karen Alexander

Here are two beautiful high-profile fashion models for the price of one . . . and because they're Lana Ogilvie and Karen Alexander, you know this is a bargain. :-)

Both Lana Ogilvie (at left) and Karen Alexander (whom I featured back in June) developed reputations for being sweethearts in the modeling trade, balancing motherhood and marriage along with professional interests beyond modeling. This picture is from a Cover Girl ad, for those who want to know.

Model Lana Ogilvie

Lana Ogilvie is not an African-American model.

She's from Toronto.

That means she's an African-Canadian.

Silly PC labels aside, Lana Ogilvie is one of the most legendary black models - no, one of the most legendary models regardless of color - of the eighties and nineties. She became the first black woman to have an exclusive contract with Cover Girl cosmetics, and she's also done ads for everyone from Banana Republic to Victoria's Secret.

She's also written two children's books, and she is a co-host for "The Review" on the Fashion Television Channel in Toronto.

Kim Nye, Again

Internet connection problems have temporarily rendered me unable to feature the subject I had planned to follow up my pictures of Kim Nye with, so in the meantime, here's another picture of Kim Nye. :-)

The photo is from a 1992 Ralph Lauren ad.

Model Kim Nye

Kim Nye is best known as a spokesmodel for Ralph Lauren, providing a blonde alternative to Clotilde in the 1980s.

Her look was all cool, all contemporary . . .



. . . and all good.

Ralph Lauren's waspish Northeastern image rarely looked better. :-)

Actress Allison Miller

Allison Miller is a young actress who first gained notoriety in 2009 for two separate projects in two different media.

She appeared in the Zac Efron movie 17 Again and starred in "Kings," an NBC series that was a modern retelling of the Biblical story of King David. It was canceled after twelve episodes.

A lot of people didn't know about this series. Neither did I. :-O

But I have a feeling more people are going to learn about Allison Miller.

Actress Jaime King

Jaime King is a young actress who has been gaining a good deal of attention during her career.

A former model, King is known for roles in smaller movies, such as Slackers, Bulletproof Monk, and Two For the Money. She also starred in Sin City and is to appear in the sequel as well.

Fun fact: King, originally from Nebraska, was named for Jaime Sommers, the title character in the TV series "The Bionic Woman."

TV newswoman Jackie Hyland

Jackie Hyland is a news anchor at WPIX-TV in New York, anchoring the weekend evening news broadcast.

She was a reporter at WPIX-TV from 2000 to 2005 and returned to the station in August 2009 after a stint at WFAA-TV, the ABC affiliate in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She had worked at ABC News in the nineties.

Fun fact: Jackie Hyland was born in New York but spent her teen years living in Ireland, where her family claimed ancestral property. She later reported on New York life for an Irish newspaper.