The 100 Most Beautiful Actresses of All-Time...

This list isn't about personality, talent, character (or lack thereof). It is just a list of the most beautiful actresses of all-time.  The list is a distraction to all of the various situations in life that may stress one out. The descriptions written are intentionally corny!!!

Since I do not take ads for blogging, I do not make money from blogging. I would like to make note of the various photographers and studio shots that are featured in this list.  Hundreds of gifted people took the photos of these actors.

I'd like to thank all of the people who took the time to participate in the polling.  A special thank you to the "beauty" experts - the hairstylists/colorists and the cosmetics/skincare workers who participated. I'd also like to thank the movie buffs and television fanatics who supplied their votes, for without them, some of the great beauties may have been forgotten.  People will no doubt argue the list or argue the order of the list, but this is a poll that was six months in the making.  A tremendous amount of time and work went into this top 100.  In the end, I decided I could have been doing something far more worthwhile with my time, but once you start a project, you finish the project.

1) Elizabeth Taylor  - Elizabeth Taylor was stunningly beautiful. It's not arguable. She had a flawless face and her features were perfect. She possessed unique violet/blue eyes, superb bone structure and she never took a bad picture.  In poll after poll, women wanted to have her nose, her lips, her hair.  She was even beautiful as an old woman. Breathtaking. That face will always have a place in the sun and out of it for that matter. She is to beauty what Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is to music.

2) Grace Kelly - Like Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly never took a bad photograph. She was so beautiful it was impossible for her to look bad. Lighting, makeup and professional photography were irrelevant. It is virtually impossible to look at that face and not see the handiwork of a perfect genetic plan. She was absolutely stunning and certainly as regal in appearance as she was with her Royal Highness title. Absolutely flawlessly perfect.

3) Brigitte Bardot - Bardot is unique and timeless. Even now, her looks are of the moment. She wore the tousled hair look like no other. The Bardot of her heyday still has a winning look nearly 60 years after her first screen appearance.  Older men (50 plus) obviously still love her.

4) Julie Christie - Christie was superbly beautiful. Her face is classic and she easily played the period pieces, but she had the hipster swagger that worked well in contemporary fare, so she could go from "Dr. Zhivago" to "Darling" all in a season.  Everything about her is lovely.  She did blonde and brunette and she did it all poetically. She had a Bardot face, but with a more dignified air. Julie Christie still reigns supreme in the beauty department. 

5) Jacqueline Bisset - Watch the famously bad film "Rich and Famous."  Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen star in the hokey film, but they are two of the great screen creatures in all of cinema. Jacqueline Bisset never ever looked bad.  There was no angle, no shot, no awkward side view where Bisset didn't look physically awesome.  "Rich and Famous" is worth watching just to see two of the most beautiful women of all time out top each other in scene after bad scene. 

6) Candice Bergen - A rare natural blonde. She possessed a beautiful face, bold eyes and a lovely smile.  Bergen was as close to the blonde ice queen as you could get outside of second ranked Grace Kelly. Elegant and sleek at any age.  

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7) Jaclyn Smith - The most naturally beautiful woman in television history. Smith had a gorgeous brown mane of hair, lovely skin and stunning features. Jaclyn Smith was a model prior to being hired to play one of the original angels on the iconic ABC television program. A perfectly featured woman.



8) Catherine Deneuve - Deneuve had to know what face she had been born with.  No one could look in the mirror and not see that golden compass that radiated a supremely perfect face. To stare her down in a French film or from the black backdrop of a Chanel ad made you wish you could look like that for just one day.

9) Ava Gardner - A bad girl who looked good at all times. Ava Gardner was a firebrand of wild girl living. She had an earthy beauty that never slept. From those that knew her - she was more breathtaking in person than on screen.

10) Natalie Wood - Natale Wood appeared in several iconic films during a long career, but a short life. She died tragically and somewhat suspiciously in 1981. Her death at the age of 43 left us with the legacy of a forever young Natalie Wood. Always perfectly groomed and coiffed. She defined the very concept of a movie star and her graciously gorgeous face lives on.

11) Vanessa Williams - Vanessa Williams is one of the best looking women of the last 30 years. Her face is flawless. She has wonderful hair, eyes and overall features. She even sings a lovely tune which matches the lovely face. Vanessa Williams has beauty in abundance.

12) Monica Bellucci - Monica Bellucci is gorgeous. She even managed to look captivating playing Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson's powerful "The Passion of the Christ." In the film, she clearly wears no makeup, outside of screen makeup and yet she is knock down stunning. Her face is an assertive and splendid example of what makes a memorable movie siren.

13) Vivien Leigh - Vivien Leigh embodied the role of Margaret Mitchell's famed spoiled brat, Scarlett O'Hara, but one can still see 75 years later why her bratty and catty role sent shivers up the spine of Rhett Butler. Still gorgeous after all these years.

14) Katharine Ross - In one way, she was the classic vision of the all-American girl and yet there aren't too many people you live next door to that look like Katharine Ross. She possessed a killer smile and a thick mane of glossy hair.  If you came of age during that time period you probably wanted to look like Katharine Ross. Raindrops (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) could fall on her head all day long and she'd look good. When you see her in The Graduate she still stands the fashion and style test of time.  

15) Audrey Hepburn - Audrey Hepburn was not necessarily a classic beauty like Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly, but she is unique and enchanting.  Her pixie look combined perfectly with her Holly Golightly and of course her overall look of My Fair Lady made her one of the great movie stars of all time; and one of the most beautiful actresses in film history.  One scene to watch: the one where she exits the room with the hat on in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." She even makes a stunning nun in the classic "The Nun's Story."

16) Ann-Margret - Fabulous face. The best looking redhead (not a natural redhead) of all time. A non-stop cycle of beauty every which way you look.  Ann-Margret was a stunner from head to toe, but that face continues to be memorable to anyone whoever had the opportunity to see it.  Viva Ann-Margret.

17) Diahann Carroll - Carroll was a trailblazer in American television history and she trail blazed with a beautiful face. Perfect bone structure. Check out that jawline, those cheekbones.  She was also blessed with lovely skin. She aged well on top of it all!

18) Ingrid Bergman - Bergman had a hauntingly beautiful face.  She always had a here's lookin' at you photo perfect look, but there is a deep rooted treasure there as well. Time may go by, but Bergman's beauty lives on. Bergman had a heartbreaking and brooding look that has survived through the last 70 years.

19) Jennifer O'Neill - O'Neill always looked like she was running in from some wide open field. She is natural and free of any textured appearance cover-ups. A former model turned actress, she was the face of Cover Girl for years and that face still works.

20) Keira Knightley - Knightley is the most beautiful actress of her generation. She looks great no matter what.  The bone structure. The hair. The face. She is also a gifted actress. The perfect face for Jane Austen novels turned into films.  

 21) Sharon Stone - Stone is even more beautiful than given credit for over the years. She was always beautiful (check out her high school yearbook shot) and her monumental face is instinctual every which way you look at it. Could you possibly have more facial symmetry?  

22) Catherine Zeta Jones - Zeta Jones has always possessed a certain elegance and dignity to match that face. She has that rare quality that inspires you to look beyond the face, but in the end, she is one of the world's most beautiful actresses.

23) Raquel Welch - Welch was probably better known for her killer body, but it's the face that lives on.  She's still beautiful. Perfect bone structure, stunning skin, superb features with a smile that is endless and forever.

24) Maureen O'Hara - The Irish born O'Hara had looks for the movie screen.  Her long career matched the beauty of her face.  She is the most gorgeous natural redhead on the list.  Most women would be green with envy, but O'Hara's beauty may outlast a few of Ireland's deep valleys. Well, probably not.   

25) Michelle Pfeiffer  - Pfeiffer has a distinctly feminine look. She is a finely tuned symmetrical masterpiece. Like Grace Kelly, she is pretty much a bore, but this list is only about the face.  How would you like to be burdened with this for a face?

26) Jane Seymour - From Bond girl to a country doctor, but always looking smooth. Seymour is regal looking. She easily could have captured the heart of a womanizing King. Seymour's face is an excellent canvas and her face often looks like a painting from another era.

27) Diane Lane - Feminine and smart. At the height of her beauty she absolutely was one of the loveliest actresses in cinematic history. This is what a movie star looks like. Evan past a certain age, Lane was a stunner.

28) Suzanne Pleshette - She had minor successes in film and a significant career in television, but she should have had a bigger career all the way around.  Great comic chops and Johnny Carson had a big crush on her.  Comedy proved to be lovely to look at when the lines were being delivered by her breathy deep voice.

29) Sophia Loren - Bold, earthy and dramatic. Loren has long been admired for her stylish looks that stood through the latter half of cinema's 20th century. Loren was a centerpiece for international beauties in film history. Those almond shaped eyes lined with Kohl have been copied over and over and over again.

30) Freida Pinto -Femininity and beauty. Wonderfully beautiful in any corner of our big world. 

31) Hedy Lamarr - Most people under a certain age have absolutely no idea who Hedy Lamarr is and what a shame. Gorgeous is an understatement. Her face some 70 plus years after the photos were taken are downright beyond beautiful.

32) Lena Horne - This list wasn't going to include singers who appeared in films and/or television as actors, therefore Beyonce, Olivia Newton-John, Whitney Houston and several other beautiful women do not appear on this list, but it would be virtually impossible not to include Lena Horne. Lena Horne is one of the finest singers/vocalists, stylists and interpreters of the great American songbook, but she also left a lasting legacy on celluloid. Lena Horne, like Loretta Young (#51) looked as beautiful as an old woman as she did as a young woman. 

33) Ali MacGraw - She looked better in blue jeans and a t-shirt than most women look in formal wear. Outside of Audrey Hepburn no actress has more true style than Ali MacGraw. Where's my hat? I saw her working on a volunteer project - she had on overalls and yes, she looked better than most women do who are going to a wedding. She was flawless, effortless and chic.

34) Gene Tierney - Stunning and beautiful enough to be remembered even after all of these years. She didn't have a memorable career filmography, but the face lives on. Reboot the circuit breaker for the design of that face.  She was most beautiful in profile. Just gorgeous and not a half bad actress. Her performance in "The Razor's Edge" is quite worthwhile, although she plays bad in this film.

35) Lana Turner - The blonde bombshell from the 1940's.  Slight features and porcelain skin. She had an iconic beauty that was downright haunting for a generation of film fans.

   

36) Paula Patton - Impossibly beautiful? No, she really looks like this.  A classy and stylish confidence with a face that lights up a room and a screen.

37) Greta Garbo - Seeing her you almost can't believe her dominant face.  Dramatically stunning. At the peak of her great beauty Garbo defined the very notion of an early cinematic star. Garbo's face is downright consequential. She was a cold-shouldered example of beauty, but the uniqueness is legendary.

38) Sela Ward - Former model turned actress, Sela Ward is strong and simply sensational. There is nothing complicated about her almost perfect physical appearance.

39) Kate Becksinsale - Beckinsale has classic looks and she's always perfectly put together. You never will see her walking around in pajama pants.  That face is beyond not being average.  Cosmetic complexity adorned on a British subject of near perfection. 

40) Rita Hayworth - Just look at her face when she opens the door in "Gilda." One need not say another thing. That's a movie star. A cyclone of womanhood for an entire generation.

41) Farrah Fawcett - Her famed red bathing suit poster outsold all others, but it wasn't the red bathing suit -- it was the blonde hair hanging loosely down over the shoulder blades, a smile with simple sincerity and blue eyes that blended in with the clouds she stood under.

42) Demi Moore - She was and still is quite dramatically wonderful to look at. She is now famous for being famous, but she had talent and charisma; and her on-screen career should have lasted much longer.

43) Angelina Jolie - Femme fatale she may have been, but her soft features and unique bone structure make her stand out in any crowd. She is a big loud wow of beauty. A gratifying definition of cinematic looks.

44) Halle Berry - Always magnificent looking. Her face, skin, eyes, hair and bone structure cannot be denied. Her face demands a second, a third, a fourth look.

45) Yvette Mimieux - Of most of the blondes who started in the late 50's and early 60's Mimieux had the face to remember.  She wasn't a cookie cutter version of the blonde ingenue. She certainly aged well to boot.

46) Kim Delaney - At the height of her beauty she was darn near mesmerizing. Does television make them this way anymore? Jenny? Jenny? A design of genes that make for a deafening depiction of wonderful looks.

47) Leslie Caron - Sunlight on a lovely backdrop.  Caron in "Fanny" may very well be the most feminine face of all time. I have never seen a woman more liltingly perfect walking down a flight of stairs. If you are an American in Paris, you won't see the likes of her on every corner.

48) Veronica Hamel - Another former model who stood out as an actress. Impressively beautiful. She was lovely in a brief cameo in 1971's Klute and then reigned supreme on Hill Street Blues.

49) Marilyn Monroe - For all the hoopla and sexuality she was a lovely looking woman. Norma Jean was a determined young woman who made one of the most significant marks in 20th century pop culture. Certainly not classically beautiful, but one would be hard pressed to find a more memorable image on the silver screen.

50) Donna Reed - Indeed, it's a wonderful life when you start out with that face. Her big fame would come years after the start of her film career, but there was never a hair out of place at any point in that long and successful career.

51) Loretta Young - As beautiful as she was when she was young she was even more beautiful as an older woman.  A class act from start to finish. There's a great moment where she is presenting the best film award to "Chariots of Fire" back in early 1982 and she was as graceful, elegant and beautiful as an 80 year old as she was as a 20 year old.

52) Angie Dickinson - What a face! Spellbinding at the height of her looks. Dickinson could gravitate toward the cheap on screen, but you just knew she was one of the great broads of all time (and that is said lovingly). Angie Dickinson was a generous and thoughtful woman in addition to being one of the great beauties in the history of filmed entertainment.

53) Claudia Cardinale - This is what Italy look likes.  Bountiful beauty.  Bellissima. She defines a look during the context of her time.  Stunning at all times.

54) Jean Simmons - Elegant and substantial. A gentle and soulful face. No one ever had more chemistry with Marlon Brando and that's the ultimate compliment to Ms. Simmons. 

55) Lesley Anne Down - A perfectly poetic face. Rarely does one see such beauty. A true diamond among some false stones.  Quite lovely and feminine.

56) Jane Fonda - Fonda could rock the Barbarella outfits, but it was her darn near perfect features that would make some guys run barefoot in a park. Great brow line and a perfect nose. She lifted the shag haircut (Klute) to huge heights. She defines the concept of aging well.

57) Jeanne Crain - Crain had a classic face.  She was a simple beauty with a touch of dignity and elegance.  A distinctive and distinguished looking woman.

58) Olivia Hussey - How did she not have a bigger career?  Shakespearean even when she wasn't playing in anything even remotely Shakespearean. She was absolutely radiant.

59) Ursula Andress - Andress had a tough and fearless appearance. She possessed a dangerous lioness look. This is what you hope to look like when you attend that high school reunion. Yeah, right. No one else could possibly look like this at their high school reunion.

60) Nancy Kwan - Wonderful face, but rarely seen, but if you saw it you will always remember it.

61) Kim Basinger - Basinger was a glossy beauty with completely perfect features.  Drop dead gorgeous face. She is an ejection seat for American looks from the last 20 years of the last century.

62) Heather Locklear - The all-American girl made California perfection the way to ride a wave. Pretty much beautiful all the way around.  Surfer girl blue eyes and thick blond hair.  A killer smile with stark white teeth. Cool chicks look no further than Locklear at her height.

63) Jennifer Lopez - Lopez never seems to age and yet she appears to have not made that many changes. Obviously, DNA has been on her side.  

64) Linda Evans - A serene and elegant woman. Most people have forgotten the Linda Evans of her early years and only remember the big shouldered, big framed head of hair from the 1980s.  Linda was lovely.

65) Angie Harmon  - Harmon is a raven haired beauty.  She was in the locker room at a spa I was at one day and she is fantastically beautiful. Ali MacGraw could have given birth to her. Someone should cast Ms. MacGraw as her mom.

66) Cheryl Ladd - Unquestionably gorgeous. Another example of a citizen from one of middle America's states who stunned on the small screen. A great example of a blonde from the Dakotas!

67) Sophia Vergara - Lavish in every way.  Great face with a head of hair that streams down a long and lean frame. An extraordinary looking woman.

68) Lee Meriwether - Wonderful face! Few people aged as well. Resplendently lovely. She wasn't a femme fatale, but a sincere and feline looking female. 

69) Joan Collins - She is often remembered for her fifty plus looks from her "Dynasty" days, but long before that nighttime soap opera, Joan Collins was a B movie screen princess who came pretty close to looking like the number one woman on the list.

70) Connie Selleca - A lush brunette beauty. She was the anti-blonde television star of the era. Her features were daringly bold.  A festival of a face.

71) Eleanor Parker - Parker literally kept getting better looking as she aged. She had an overwhelming elegance and yet also looked like your neighbor. A gifted actress as well.

72) Madeleine Stowe - Stowe has the most angular face on this list outside of Loretta Young. Her highlight moment on screen - "The Last of the Mohicans." One could understand Daniel Day-Lewis saying "I will find you." She has that rare combination of elegance and tough broad appeal. She speaks with perfect diction and she penetrates with that stare.

73) Natalie Portman - That bone structure alone would have Ms. Portman grace this list.  

74) Isabella Rossellini - The only daughter of another woman (Ingrid Bergman is her mom, so of course, she got some great genes) on this list.  

75) Kate Phillips - A lovely British actress capable of playing any role in any genre. Peaky Blinders, Wolf Hall, Miss Scarlet & The Duke. Name it and she can play it. 

76) Donna Mills - You couldn't miss those eyes if you had a mask on. What a face! She had a twinkle in her eye and a blistering smile of confidence.

77) Salma Hayek - I've seen her twice.  She walked into a room at an event and she turned everyone's eyes, including dozens of people that were surrounded by the beautiful people on a regular basis. I then saw her in the bathroom at a television network's Southern California office. I was struck by her petiteness, but she kind of looked almost as good dressed down as she did dressed up.

78) Gabrielle Union - Killer smile and skin. Delightfully happy and magnificent.

79) Sienna Miller - A carefree beauty.  Looks like this don't last forever!   She is a showy and vivid example of a blue-eyed British blonde.

80) Rosamund Pike - Classic looks. Those cheekbones sit way up firm and high. Gorgeous face. She is also capable of going from playing Jane Bennett in Pride and Prejudice to a portrait of pure evil in Gone Girl.

81) Dana Wynter - Elegance in spring, summer, fall and winter. Dana Wynter was a gentle flow of rain on a warm and lovely day.

82) Faye Dunaway - Bone structure from a dream.  A repeated dream. Unbelievable bone structure. Those bones are like a gladiator in full fight.

83) Julia Roberts - She gained her great fame by playing a pretty woman, so it's no surprise she is considered a stunner. She has aged gracefully and in many ways is even more beautiful as an older actress than she was as a younger one. 

84) Nicole Kidman - Porcelain skin. Fragile, feminine and always elegant.  Kidman is a graceful grab of gold in the face department. Does anyone wear any piece of clothing better than Kidman?

85) Jane Asher - A wisp of Shakespearean gracefulness. She may be the one living person on this list that manages to look even more beautiful as a senior citizen than she did in her 20s. She enters a room as though she were a member of the Royal family.

86) Dorothy Dandridge - Dandridge was a blueprint for healthy, good looks. A gifted singer and actress who died tragically at the age of 42. A grand looking woman with a great wealth of lovely physical attributes.

87) Rene Russo - The photographer, Francesco Scavullo who photographed almost every well known woman of the 60's and 70's said she was the most beautiful "girl" he had ever seen. Russo had it all, including one heck of a great head of hair. That face is a handy lethal weapon.

88) Virna Lisi - One of the most lovely of all of the Italian actresses.  She was a big wow from every vantage point. It's all about those bones!

89) Lucille Ball - The most gifted comedy actor in the history of film and television is still iconic some sixty years after the debut of the monumental "I Love Lucy," but most people forget how bountiful her beauty was.

90) Barbara Parkins - Parkins worked quite a bit back in the 1960's and then disappeared, but if you catch a glimpse of that fabulous face on one of those TCM not so classics you will be reminded of what a great beauty looks like.

91) Ziyi Zhang - Radiant in any hemisphere.  Zhang qualifies as a major high five in the department of beautiful on-screen women.

92) Bo Derek - Derek gained near phenom fame back when the film "Ten" was released. Her look became an iconic statement in film beauty circles for years to come. She couldn't act, but even over 30 years later Derek packs a a whole lot of holiday in that face.

93) Barbara Eden - This kind of face could be on your three wish list for the genie to grant you.

 

94)  Senta Berger - The Austrian Raquel Welch. She had what people used to call "exotic looks." Berger has the face of dramatic flair with rock star singer looks. Her career in Europe was much bigger than the mark she left in the U.S. film and television worlds.

95) Tuesday Weld - A near faultless face in some imperfect cinematic worlds.  Her on screen combination of innocence and world-weariness still resonates with viewers of her performances.

96) Courtney Cox - Cute in Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" video and eventually the best looking of the friends.

97) Linda Darnell - At one point, she was sold as the girl with the perfect face. She was a lovely actress who couldn't quite the get big roles. She died tragically in a house fire at the age of 41. One is inclined to look and then look again.

98) Janine Turner - No matter the exposure she was in, her delicate and almost too perfect of a face could turn heads.

  

99) Dina Merrill - Absolutely stunning woman who graced both television and film with her magnificently elegant face. Class act with perfect features.

100) Maria Montez - Maria Montez died at the age of 39, so her life was cut short by a heart attack. She was born in the Dominican Republic and wound up becoming the unofficial queen of Technicolor. Her exotic (at the time) looks catapulted her to highlighting swashbucklers and a variety of big event films.

COPYRIGHT C) 2014 by Read On Read Now

The Magical Adventures of Brian Leonard - Interview with the Author: Mr. M

We all have childhood adventures and some of us even create imaginary friends. I had three of them. In the long Midwest winters, I hung out with Candy, Cookie and Cocoa. Yes, I have always loved chocolate.

Mr. M is a former television executive who worked in programming for ABC, CBS and UPN. He walked away from that career path to follow his heart. His first book, The Magical Adventures of Brian Leonard will be released in mid-July.   

I had the good fortune to work with Mr. M while we were both at ABC. It isn't imaginary - he not only is a genuinely good guy, but a gifted one at that.

 

JT: You have a BFA in Film & Television and a MFA (masters of fine arts) in screenwriting from the American Film Institute.  What led you to study film and television? What and/or who were your influences?  

Mr. M: My father and the late, great, John Ritter were close friends. John had an amazing gift as an actor. For my generation, he invented the stage falls.  John could walk into a door and people would fall over laughing. At the same time, he would co-star in Sling Blade, which was incredibly dramatic. While I was in high school, I produced a short public service announcement about AIDS. It won a contest and was shown nationwide. Working with other students on films was really exciting.  Some of the films were good.  Some of the films were awful. However, failure teaches you things.      

JT: You worked as a creative executive at three networks - CBS, ABC and UPN. How did you land your first “show biz” job?

Mr. M: My first showbiz job was as a production assistant on a series called Highlander. The showrunner was a family friend.  While I was at AFI I interned a lot as well and produced short films. I started meeting with anyone who was gracious enough to take a meeting with me.  Eventually, I sat down with Leslie Moonves at CBS. He hired me to work in the current programming department.  Three years later, I was the manager of current programming.    

JT: What was the most creative part of your position while working with writers and producers?  

Mr. M: The most creative part of my job was to nurture and guide writing talent. I was lucky enough to work with some incredibly talented writers, directors and actors during my stay as an executive.   

JT: I remember when Alias took off for ABC.  It wasn’t necessarily a huge ratings grabber, but it certainly was somewhat influential culturally. Why do you think that series had such an impact on viewers at the time?  

Mr. M: I think viewers had not been exposed to such incredible story telling. Prior to shows like Buffy, Alias, and Lost, procedural shows ruled the airways.  Shows like NYPD Blue, Law and Order, and JAG ruled our universe. Alias was serialized. One episode built upon another. As an executive, I worked on the later seasons of Alias. I remember watching the rough cut for the premiere of season four. It felt big and important. That’s the thing about story telling. It should always feel big and important.       

JT: Out of nowhere or so it seems you decided to make a major career change.  You left the television industry and went back to school to earn your Masters in Human Development. What led to your own major character arc? 

Mr. M: While I was in college I was a camp director. I loved being around children. After college, I was an assistant PE coach at a small private school.  A part of me always wanted to work with children in some capacity. I went back to school and got my multi-subject credential and later a Master's.

   

JT: What courses are you teaching?

Mr. M: I have primary aged children.  I am currently tutoring children in language arts and math. I have also become a character education consultant.  I help other educators learn about what they can do to strengthen their programs. 

JT: Your wife is still in the television industry? When she comes home with her stories do you find yourself missing the television business?

Mr. M: I don’t find myself missing it.  I still work with great writers.  They are just shorter!

JT: You wrote a character education curriculum and you have published an article in a major education publication. What then led to the decision to write a book?

Mr. M: Like John Wooden, I have always loved character education. I am currently working on a character education book right now. Being a writer means that you like to share and explore ideas with other people. I love sharing ideas with people. 

JT: Most of The Magical Adventures of Brian Leonard takes place in the city of Santa Monica, California. I lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years and one of my favorite places to go for a long walk was Santa Monica. Tell us what made you gravitate to the location of Santa Monica?

Mr. M: My wife and I lived in a fantastic apartment on 2^nd Street 3 blocks north of the pier. I loved the area. I love the Santa Monica Pier!  It is one of my favorite places to go visit. 

JT: If a person had only one day to spend in Santa Monica what would you tell them to do?  

Mr. M: Wow! That is a huge question. Go to the pier! Get a strawberry lemonade from the Hot Dog on a Stick stand! Ride a bike on the bike path. Get some buffalo wings from a restaurant called Slice on Wilshire Blvd. Oh, I almost forgot about Bay Cities!  I love their subs! Last but not least, get married at Shutters Hotel!  I did!

JT: I lived there all those years and I never went to Hot Dog on a Stick or Bay Cities. Of course, I don't eat processed meat or any meat for that matter, so missing Hot Dog on a Stick was clearly not on my radar. Where did the idea for Brian Leonard come from?

Mr. M: Originally, I had an idea for a teenage character who wanted to be popular.  It was a short story about a middle schooler who has a crush on a girl that he sees on a field trip.  The story continued to evolve with crazy things like black magic and ghosts.    

JT: This is a fictional tale, so I suppose you don’t really have a mean grandma?

Mr. M: No. They are both wonderful people.  Fran Myman and Gloria Leonard have been great influences in my life. I have a wonderful family. 

JT: Did your own love of water sports drive you to include water in your first novel?

Mr. M: I played water polo in college for 2 years.  I also love the ocean.  I love body boarding and body surfing.  My son is taking surf lessons in Malibu. However, most of the time we love messing around in the swimming pool. 

JT: You must become a ghost to defeat a ghost? What was your favorite ghost story growing up?

Mr. M: Well, as a kid, whenever there was a unexplained noise in the house my mom would say, “Oh, Joan is back!” Freaky? Yes.  I am sure the house was just settling. My favorite ghost movie of all time is Ghostbusters!  That is why I reference it in the book. 

JT: Have you ever had an embarrassing family moment?

Mr. M: My family is pretty cool! However, one time when I was much younger, my whole family ran across the street before the green walk sign lit up.  My whole family got a jaywalking ticket!

JT: We both share a love of baseball. I know you are a Dodgers fan. Tell me about the attachment to the Dodgers?

Mr. M: I played a lot of baseball when I was in elementary school.  I grew up at a time when baseball players were loyal to their team and their fans. The Dodgers had guys that kept representing Los Angeles year after year.  I came to know them as my guys! Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey were unbelievable to watch and cheer for.  

JT: As a White Sox fan I admire the loyalty Paul Konerko (retiring this year after 15 years with the White Sox) displayed to his team. He's my all-time favorite Sox player. Who is your all-time favorite player?

Mr. M: Ron Cey was my favorite Dodger.  He ran like a penguin.

JT: Oh yes, the great Ron Cey! Baseball has changed and is changing. With the disintegration of some of the live attendance at baseball games, where do you see the future of the game?

Mr. M: I think one of the things that hurts the sport is the amount of injuries. For example, players used to pitch full games. Rarely do you ever see someone pitch a full game. The Dodgers also made a terrible broadcasting deal.  Direct TV customers do not get to see Dodger games. This means a whole group of people will not tune in to see the Dodgers. Since the players do not stay on a team for long periods of time, the fans invest in players, not teams. It must be a challenging time to be an owner.  I would love to write a baseball book someday.   

JT: I hope you do write a baseball book. One of my favorite genres. I love baseball. If you are recommending good reads to students in junior high and high school what classics or maybe not such classics do you suggest to them?

Mr. M: I have lots to recommend.  There are so many incredible authors.  I love S.E. Hinton books.  I especially enjoyed The Outsiders and Rumblefish. I read just about every book in The Sackett series by Louis L’amour. The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger blew my mind in 8^th grade.      

JT: I have an autographed copy of The Outsiders. Young people today spend way too much time looking at their phones, but then again so do their parents. We need parents to encourage reading!  What are your favorite television programs of all-time?

Mr. M: I am a television junkie.  My two favorite Buffy episodes of all time were Hush and Once More With Feeling!  The pilot of Alias was out of this world.  ER had some amazing episodes.  The pilot of Lost.  Every episode of The West Wing was incredible.  Martin Sheen in my heart will always be my president.  Currently, The Walking Dead is my favorite show.  If it does not get a nomination for best writing, then I have no idea what should. 

JT: Your favorite films of all-time?

Mr. M: I loved watching older films when I was in college. The first two Godfather films were unbelievable. I screamed so loud when I saw the horses head inside Jack Woltz’s bedroom. I am also a huge Star Wars fan. I saw John Williams (composer) conduct the soundtrack at the Hollywood Bowl last year with my wife and friends.  We each bought a light saber. I am a nerd!

JT: The Star Wars museum is coming to Chicago. I assume you will get there one day, but in the interim, when is the release date of The Magical Adventures of Brian Leonard?

Mr. M: Mid-July 2014! 

JT: Will you be doing any signings or promotional appearances?

Mr. M:  I started a Facebook page.  I am happy to come to schools or book groups. That would be so cool!!!

JT: Thank you Mr. M for a delightful chat. 
 

Mr. M's Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mr-M/676524319075068?ref=hl&ref_type=bookmark

You can purchase The Magical Adventures of Brian Leonard on www.amazon.com.

Copyright (C) 2014 by Read On Read Now

The Mind Behind Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted - Interview with Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

             Photo courtesy of Jennifer Keishin Armstrong - Photographer: A. Jesse Jiryu Davis

Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted: And All the Brilliant Minds Who Made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic is one of the best reads of the last couple of years. I looked forward to reading a book that dealt with all aspects of one of my all-time favorite television programs, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. 

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong is a gifted writer who has worked on staff for Entertainment Weekly and written for several other magazines, including New York and Writer's Digest. She has appeared on CNN, A&E, ABC and VH1 providing commentary on pop culture. She also teaches writing courses.

Jennifer was raised and educated in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. After her success with Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted she will now take on Seinfeld in her follow-up book.   

JT: Jennifer, you were too young to have been an original fan of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. How did you come to the series?

Jennifer: I was born in 1974, which is about halfway through the show's run, but I watched when I was a kid -- definitely by the time I was 5 or so, which tells me I was watching in syndication (though obviously I didn't know the difference then). I loved Mary and Rhoda even at that age, but of course related to the show a lot more when I came back to it in reruns as an adult.

JT: We are both originally from Chicago. Did your Chicago roots influence your decision to become a writer?

Jennifer: I don't think so, per se. I would have been a writer no matter where I grew up. At the time I thought I wanted to write for the Chicago Tribune, but I'm sure I would have picked a different respected newspaper if I'd lived somewhere else.

JT: What were the inspirations behind what you do? A particular person? Book? Story?

Jennifer: Speaking of Chicago, I spent a strange amount of time in my youth wanting to be Mike Royko, of all people. Not that someone wouldn't want to be a great journalist like him, but it was an odd choice for a cheerleader in the southwest suburbs. I also loved Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert and they obviously had a more direct influence on what I ended up doing.

JT: Obviously, you have an affection for television. What other shows rank high on your list of all-time favorites? Comedy and/or drama?

Jennifer: It's so hard for me to choose at this point! I've been re-watching Friday Night Lights, Freaks and Geeks, and The OC lately, but I do like things other than teen dramas, too. LOST in its early years was mind-blowing, and Seinfeld is the most influential show of our time, as far as I'm concerned (of course, I'm writing a book about it now). The book on Seinfeld will be the follow-up to the MTM book.

JT: Did the character of Mary Richards have a particular impact on your career choice?

Jennifer: It's hard for me to say. I never really thought about it until I returned to watching the show in my adult years, which was long after I'd already become a journalist. I had this weird moment when I started rewatching, right after I'd also ended my engagement to my longtime boyfriend, and I was living in the city by myself for the first time, and I wondered if I'd subconsciously patterned my entire life on Mary Richards.

JT: That sounds like the pilot episode! It's impressive to read all of the accounts by cast members, producers, writers and television executives. What was the process behind the book? Where did the idea of writing this book originally come from? How did one thing lead to another?

Jennifer: I like when people ask me about "process," because it makes it sound so organized! Every time I write a book I feel like it's a disaster and I have no idea what I'm doing, but then it all turns out okay. Basically the process behind talking to people is just contacting anyone who had anything to do with the show and seeing what sticks, though in this case I definitely prioritized the women who worked on the show. I wanted to tell their stories as parallel to the significance of Mary Richards as a feminist icon. I knew I wanted to write about a show, probably from the '70s, which is an interesting time in sitcom history; when I heard that this was the first show to hire lots of female writers, because the creators wanted to mine women's experiences for authentic storylines, I knew there was a story to be told. 

JT: It's a great story - told well. Once the idea was hatched how did you pitch this to your publisher? 

Jennifer: Well, I sold it to Simon & Schuster on proposal in a competitive auction, so I actually got my current publisher through this process. When I say "I," I really mean my awesome agent, Laurie Abkemeier. 

JT: The characters from the series are memorable and distinct.  It was interesting to see how the actors were quite similar to the characters they portrayed with the exception of Betty White. Were you surprised by that?

Jennifer: I had my suspicions! I think it's pretty common on sitcoms, especially, and even more so for those that run for a while, for the characters to take on a lot of the characteristics of the actors. Especially on a show like this, where most of the characters were grounded in reality and within the realm of reason. In contrast to, say, Seinfeld, where the characters are cartoonish and awful people (on purpose, obviously). That is not a show where I see the characters as too similar to the actors, who for the most part seem to be moral and pleasant in real life.

JT: I now look at Seinfeld and realize how selfish every character was, so yes, I certainly can't imagine the actors being a whole lot like their famed characters! How did you gain the confidence of James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, Treva Silverman and the others?

Jennifer: I was lucky, I guess! Some of that comes from finding connections in common, and I think having spent years reporting on the industry for Entertainment Weekly helps. Having a publisher like Simon & Schuster certainly helped. Treva Silverman and I honestly just got along, too. We stay in touch even now. I consider her both a role model and friend at this point. 

JT: Do you personally relate to one character more than any others?

Jennifer: I'll always be a Rhoda girl. I related to Mary growing up, because I actually was a perfectionist type with a pleasant, suburban upbringing who got good grades, ran all the school functions, etc... I always wanted to be Rhoda, which is contrary to what a lot of others felt like. I aspired to be more outspoken and cool and funny like her, and I actually think I got closer to her as an adult.

JT: What is the best career advice you have ever received?

Jennifer: I have oddly few distinct memories of getting career advice, but what pops into my head is a moment while I was writing this book. After my first draft, my editor, Jon Karp -- I was lucky, I got my publisher as my editor, and he's brilliant -- gave me this talk wherein he did nothing but seemingly compliment my draft, but I somehow got off the phone wanting to rewrite the whole thing. The salient point I remember was that he said I'd get respectful reviews for what I'd written so far, but he thought I could do better than respectful. I think of that all the time now when I write, and it was a huge lightbulb moment for me.

JT: Since you are a Chicago native I have to ask. White Sox or Cubs?

Jennifer: White Sox! I'm from the Southside.

JT: Love that. Now from baseball to food. What's the best restaurant in the Chicagoland area? Best pizza?

Jennifer: I always want pizza when I go home, and I like the regular, cheap, thin crust pizza that comes in square slices. You can get it at lots of local places, and I'll take it from any of those. Though Home Run Inn is always reliable. 

JT: I love thick, thin and stuffed, but yes I prefer thin crust too. Home Run Inn is definitely one of the best pizzas in Chicago. I'm also a big fan of Giordano's and Lou Malnati's. If someone told you they were going to Chicago for a long weekend what would you recommend they do while in town?

Jennifer: I still just love downtown, period. You can do so much in a day just wandering around -- I love the lakefront, I love the museums, I love Michigan Avenue shopping. Just walking along the river is one of my favorite things. It's more exciting to me than New York City, where I live now, simply because I live in the city now. When I was a kid, going into Chicago was such a big deal.

JT: Thank you Jennifer. I look forward to reading your next book on Seinfeld and I'll look forward to reviewing it.  

    

Copyright (C) 2014 by Read On Read Now