Journalist and critic Pia Lindström

Like her half-sister Isabella Rossellini, who followed their mother Ingrid Bergman into an acting career, Pia Lindström tried her hand at films, appearing in the 1965 Italian move The Possessed.  But it turned out that her forte was reviewing movies instead of appearing in them.

The daughter of Ingrid Bergman and neurosurgeon Petter Lindström, Pia Lindström chose to stake out a career as a broadcast journalist, first reporting for KGO-TV in San Francisco in the late sixties.  She eventually made her way to WNBC-TV in New York, where she became an anchorwoman and then a theater and movie correspondent and critic.

Ms. Lindström was fair and impartial as an arts journalist.  She could interview a movie star one day and give negative review to that same star's movie another day if she thought the film deserved it.

Though she left television in 1997, Pia Lindström is still active in media. She hosts "Pia Lindström Presents," a radio show on the Sirius XM satellite network, where she interviews literary figures and film directors. 

I love this woman. She saved me from seeing many a bad movie. :-)  

Still More Jerry Hall

I don't have any more about Jerry Hall that I can say.

However, I do have more about Jerry Hall that I can show . . .

. . . in black and white as well as color! :-D

It's been a slow month here at this blog, so I figured I had room for a third post to show three more pictures of the legendary model.  Hope you enjoy it. :-)

More Jerry Hall!

Because I know you want more Jerry Hall . . . ;-)

As an actress, Jerry Hall started out treading lightly rather than overtly capitalizing on her modeling celebrity, appearing in small roles on film and honing her thespian skills in small stage productions. 

You may be aware, for example, that she made her London West End debut playing Cherie in a production of William Inge's Bus Stop in 1990.  What you may not know is that she'd tried out the role in a 1988 production at . . . Montclair State College (now Montclair State University) in New Jersey, two years earlier.  So she was ready for London. 

She also played Mrs. Robinson in a Broadway production of The Graduate. :-D

It makes sense that Jerry Hall would play a middle-aged seductress, because she still remains seductive in, as of this writing, her late fifties (she turned 59 years old on July 2, 2015).  The picture above and the picture below are both from 2014. 

And, oh, yes, "Jerry" isn't short for Geraldine or anything like that - it's actually her birth name. :-D

Model/actress Jerry Hall

Do I have to explain who this is? :-D

Jerry Hall, of course was one of the biggest fashion and beauty models of the seventies and eighties, and certainly one of the top blonde models of that period.  To list all of the magazine editorials and commercial work she did would likely take more bandwidth than Blogger.com can handle.

Although she's most famously associated with Mick Jagger, he was not the first British rock star the Texas-born-and-raised Ms. Hall was linked to.  She was briefly engaged to Roxy Music frontman  Bryan Ferry and posed for the cover of that band's album Siren.

Many aspiring models dream of being discovered in whatever town they come from and going to the French Riviera, but Ms. Hall was actually discovered there while staying in a local hostel.  By the end of the 1980s, she was beginning an acting career, appearing in the 1989 movie Batman and playing the girlfriend of the character played by Jack Nicholson, the gangster who later becomes the Joker.  They shared the best exchange in the entire movie.  She: "You look fine."  He: "I didn't ask." 

Actress Caitlin FitzGerald

Caitlin FitzGerald has distinguished herself on the Showtime cable channel's "Masters of Sex," a series chronicling (with some artistic license) the work of 1950s human-sexuality researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson.

Ms. FitzGerald plays Libby Masters, William Masters' wife, whom he eventually left to marry Johnson.  The online magazine Indiewire describes her character with considerable respect and detail: "Libby Masters is a character who could easily have come across as insipid instead of likable and poignant . . ..  FitzGerald fully conveys Libby's willowy fragility, her fairly sheltered outlook and girlishness - she sometimes calls her husband "Daddy" - while making it clear she isn't a simple stand-in for conservative values or cluelessness . . . FitzGerald makes Libby's perceptiveness and her transparency clear."

She has been in movies such as It's Complicated (as the daughter of Meryl Streep's character) and the indie movie Newlyweds, playing a newlywed woman in a relationship that becomes, well, complicated when her sister comes to live with her and her husband.  

Actress Olivia de Havilland

Olivia de Havilland may be the oldest woman I've featured on this blog.  Not to mention one of the most distinguished.

The famous movie actress turned 99 earlier this month (July 2015), and not only is she alive and well as of this writing, but she's living in Paris. ;-)

Born to British parents, Olivia de Havilland grew up in California where she developed her acting abilities in her school drama clubs.  She hit the ground running in the early days of talking pictures, debuting as Hermia in the 1935 film version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.   She established herself with her performances as Maid Marian in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood and as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in 1939's Gone With the Wind, which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

She got her first Oscar, for Best Actress, for her performance as Josephine Norris in 1946's To Each His Own and earned a second Best Oscar Actress for her portrayal of Catherine Sloper in 1949's The Heiress.  And as Miriam Deering in 1964's Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte, she held her own against the great Bette Davis.

She continued to work sporadically in the seventies and eighties, especially on television - she even appeared in an episode of "The Love Boat" once - and she earned a Golden Globe Award and Emmy nomination for playing the Dowager Empress Maria in the 1986 miniseries Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, about the Grand Duchess Anastasia, who was famously impersonated by many women after the Romanov dynasty (including Anastasia herself) was executed by the Bolsheviks.  (Fun fact:  This miniseries was Christian Bale's first film.)

Olivia de Havilland is still alluring to her many admirers.  In 2012, historian David McCullough, seventeen years her junior, met her at a U.S. Embassy reception in Paris.  He kissed her, fulfilling a lifelong dream. :-)  

Another fun fact: Actress Joan Fontaine was her sister.

Fashion model Nancy Decker

The early 1980s saw a plethora of high-profile models named Nancy.  Nancy Donahue, Nancy Dutiel, Nancy DeWeir . . . oh, and did I happen to mention that their surnames all begin with the letter D?  Well, here's another Nancy D. from that era . . . Nancy Decker.

The Wisconsin-born beauty was discovered in Milwaukee by a talent scout from the Elite modeling agency in 1979 and encouraged to become a model.  By the end of 1980, she was already well-established, having appeared in various editions of Vogue, Glamour, Elle, and Mademoiselle, and she even appeared in Gentlemen's Quarterly.      

She remained a mainstay of the modeling trade for much of the eighties, being represented by Elite in both New York and Los Angeles and by Viva in Paris. 

Ms. Decker helped define an era of style and beauty that, for obvious reasons, I like to call "the age of Nancy." ;-)   

Model Shelby Coleman

Shelby Coleman is part of the latest generation of black fashion models.

The Illinois-born beauty has done editorial work for Marie Claire and New York magazine, and she has appeared in fashion shows for designers such as Christian Siriano and Sophie Theallet. 

As of this writing, she's only 23.  I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the future. :-) 

Musical actress Laura Benanti

It's hard not to be into Broadway these days without noticing Laura Benanti.

The singer and actress has appeared in various stage productions in New York and has excelled in all of them.  In addition to her performances in the Broadway revue Swing! and her portrayal of Cinderella in a revival of Into the Woods, Ms. Benanti also played Claudia in a production of Nine, the musical based on Federico Fellini's movie 8½, and her performance as Louise in 2008 Broadway production of Gypsy won her a Tony award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

She's exhibited her singing and acting talents on television as well; she played Elsa Schraeder in NBC's live 2013 production of The Sound of Music, starring Carrie Underwood as Maria von Trapp.

Fun fact: Ms. Benanti was briefly married to former Spin Doctors lead singer Chris Barron.

TV newswoman Sharyn Alfonsi

Sharyn Alfonsi has accomplished much in a career in broadcast journalism going back to the mid-nineties.

She's currently a reporter for the sports-news version of CBS's "60 Minutes"on the Showtime cable TV channel network, and she has also begun reporting for the regular "60 Minutes" program as well.

Ms. Alfoinsi worked for several local TV stations throughout the country, including WVEC–TV in Norfolk, Virginia, and also KIRO-TV in Seattle where she covered the riots that resulted from protests against a World Trade Organization meeting there in 1999.   

She became a CBS correspondent in 2004 after having worked for its Boston affiliate, WBZ-TV, but she left to join ABC four years later.  Since her return to CBS in 2012, she's  appeared on "CBS This Morning"in addition to her "60 Minutes" and "60 Minutes Sports duties.  

The Latest Numbers - Big Change!

I have now posted pictures of 902 different women on this blog.

I was going to wait until later to present my census and the latest statistics on the top ten posts, but a big change has necessitated me to do so now.  Look and see who's number three.  (Click on the graph to enlarge it and see it better.)

My March 2014 post of weather forecaster Stef Davis has displaced my February 2011 post of model/actress Joan Severance for the number-three spot.  I didn't think Joan would ever be severed from her third-place post, but Ms. Davis's popularity cannot be denied.  My second Stef Davis post, from May 2015, shouldn't take long to join the top ten and displace another post from the list entirely.

However, my July 2011 post of NBC reporter Kristen Welker and my September 2009 post of Sheila Johnson remain far, far ahead of any other, in first and second places, respectively.  That's unlikely to change soon.

I think. ;-)

These statistics are based on all individual posts of pageviews on this blog  since may 2010.  Some earlier statistical charts were based on pageviews going back farther than that, but that's Blogger.com for you.

Back soon with my 903rd subject . . .