Model Linda Miller

Linda Miller is a model from the late seventies.

She was represented by Elite Model Management in New York.

Weatherwoman Marja Martinez

Marja Martinez is yet another bright young star among on-camera meteorologists.

A former weatherperson at AccuWeather.com, she joined NBC News in October 2014.  According to her LinkedIn page - yes, she has one! - she would love to be part of a team of reporters, broadcasters and producers with a passion to keep viewers informed.  As a weatherwoman in a time of climate change - which is producing a lot of strong storms - she's certainly in the right place at the right time.

Maureen O'Hara: 1920-2015

It is great sorrow that I must report the death of one of my subjects on this blog. Maureen O'Hara, the Irish-born American actress who starred in films such as Miracle On 34th Street and The Quiet Man, and whom I featured on St. Patrick's Day 2010, dies on October 24, 2015.  My original post of Ms. O'Hara will remain online, but as always, I will not post any pictures of her going forward in keeping with my role against showing women who have since died.

And to acknowledge her memory  I honor her with this shamrock.  May the road to heaven rise to meet you, Maureen O'Hara. 

Model Kirsty Hume

Great Scot!

As far as models go, Kirsty Hume is, indeed, a great Scot. :-) 

The platinum-blonde British beauty is originally from Scotland, and she made her biggest splash as a model in the 1990s.  Here are Ms. Hume's credits, courtesy of Wikipedia:  Dior, Givenchy, Chanel, Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix, Gianfranco Ferré, Claude Montana, Alexander McQueen, Giorgio Armani, Gianni Versace, Roberto Cavalli, Prada, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Oscar de la Renta.  And that's just a partial list, folks.

She doesn't live in the Highlands anymore, but she is known to be a resident of Woodstock, New York.

Fun fact: Remember another Scottish celebrity, the singer Donovan?  Kirsty Hume was married to actor/musician Donovan Leitch, the singer's namesake son, for fourteen years beginning in 1997.  In other words, she was Donovan's daughter-in-law (though clearly never a mellow-yellow blonde).   

Catherine Dyer, Again

As stunning as those earlier color photos of Catherine Dyer are . . .

. . .she looks equally stunning in black-and-white photos.

Both of the photos, from the mid-eighties, were taken by her husband David Bailey. :-)

British model Catherine Dyer

Catherine Dyer has been a force in British fashion since the eighties.

She began as a model with the Models1 Elite agency in London, then moved on to the Askew Team agency.  Ms. Dyer has been one of the more sought-after models in London, and these pictures - all from 1984, showing her in Pino Lancetti dresses - clearly shows why.   

And what's her fashion philosophy?  "At the end of the day it’s not just about fashion, it’s about style and what you’re comfortable in," she says.

Oh yeah, she's been married to British photographer David Bailey - she's his fourth wife - since 1986, and she's the mother of two sons and a daughter.  Bailey, of course, is known for having been married to another woman named Catherine, an actress from France, and her surname also began with the letter D.  Know whom I'm talking about? ;-) 

Actress Blythe Danner

Blythe Danner is a legend, but until recently she'd never been a a big star.

Her memorable performances in movies such as 1776 - she played Thomas Jefferson's wife Martha -  and The Great Santini (as the wife of a tough-guy Marine pilot, played by Robert Duvall) were countered by roles in movies that weren't so successful, though not because of her.  Perhaps she was typecast to easily as a wife; she played the wife role (Dina Byrnes) in the 2000 comedy Meet the Parents and its sequels.

In 2015, though, Blythe Danner distinguished herself in I'll See You In My Dreams, about a widowed singer who pursues new friendships and a new relationship and lives live to the fullest. It's gotten her good reviews, and it's been seen as a positive response to ageism, particularly ageism against women. 

Blythe Danner has also made several television movies and appeared in numerous stage productions.  Her daughter is also an actress, I understand.  :-p

Fun fact.  Blythe Danner has actually played Martha Jefferson twice.  She reprised the role in a 1997 TV biography of the third President of the United States.    

Actress Jamie Chung

Jamie Chung started out as a reality star on MTV's "The Real World."  I don't like to include reality stars on this blog, but in the case of Ms. Chung, a daughter of Korean immigrants to the U.S., I'm happy to make an exception.  Because it turns out she can act! :-D

Although she's done some fluff (I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry), Ms. Chung has shone in more serious roles like in the satirical film Burning Palms, as well as the 2012 independent film Eden, in which she played a girl abducted and forced into prostitution by human traffickers.  On TV, she also plays the warrior Mulan in the ABC fairy-tale series "Once Upon a Time." 

She's also engaged to actor Bryan Greenberg.

Model/actress Laetitia Casta

Don't let the name fool you. She's French. :-D

Laetitia Casta grew up on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, which is Italian culturally but French politically; her father is Corsican, while her mother is from Normandy.  She emerged as a model in the early nineties and did numerous ads for many different clothing brands - as also did a lot of Victoria's Secret catalogs - and appeared in several magazines (including, inevitably, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue).

She made the transition to acting by first apeparing in Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar, a live-action film of a popular French comic book, "Asterix & Obelix."  But it was her portrayal of Brigitte Bardot in the Gainsbourg (Vie heroique) that got her taken seriously as an actress, earning her a Cesar award (France's equivalent of an Oscar).

Fun fact:  Ms. Casta was made the model for the statue of the allegorical female figure Marianne, the symbol of France which is duplicated all over France in front of public buildings.  It is an honor few French female icons have received.  Catherine Deneuve was one of them (but then, you probably figured as much). 

Model Karen Bjornson

Karen Bjornson was one of the most visible models of the seventies, thanks largely to the late designer Halston.

Ms. Bjornson, who is from Cincinnati, met Halston after only a month in New York and immediately became his muse.  And fashion buffs? They were all impressed with her Halston dress - the dress she's wearing in the Francesco Scavullo photo above - and they didn't really care about the people that she knew at Elaine's. ;-)

"He was my teacher, my employer, and a great friend," Ms. Bjornson said in 2010.  "I was so green when I started and he really took care of me. He was a funny, kind, and exceptionally talented man."

Karen Bjornson took time off from modeling to raise her daughters, but she re-emerged in the two thousand zeroes to appear in a couple of fashion shows, as well as do a J. Crew assignment.

The photo of Ms. Bjornson below is from 2010, taken by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

Actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson

Cynthia Addai-Robinson is a British-born American actress known for her roles in limited-run cable TV series.    

She is best known for her role as the loyal slave Naevia in the Starz television series "Spartacus," set in the days of Roman Republic - before the Empire, before Caesar - about a slave revolt against the Roman government.  But history buffs who concentrate on more recent history know her from her role in the History Channel miniseries "Texas Rising."

In that television production, about the Texan War for Independence against Mexico, she played Emily West, a mixed-race folk heroine believed to have been the lover of Sam Houston, played in this miniseries by Bill Paxton.  West is believed to have been the inspiration of the traditional song "The Yellow Rose of Texas." 

I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of this English-born rose in times to come.   Maybe even in another TV series about a revolution. :-)