Lizabeth Scott turns 88

Lizabeth Scott and Van Heflin in a publicity still from The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Today marks the 88th birthday of actress Elizabeth Scott, whose star burned brightly for about a decade before pretty much retiring from movies in the mid-1950s. She never quite got to be an A-level star or leading lady, but boy does she light up the screen in her supporting roles. Perhaps most notable among these is in her second film, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, where she plays a woman on probation in Van Heflin's hometown who wants to get away with Heflin to better places, or as the femme fatale opposite Humphrey Bogart in Dead Reckoning.

To be honest, there are quite a few famous birthdays today; if you saw TCM's schedule you'll realize that today marks the birth anniversary of Greer Garson. But I wanted to honor somebody else. I was also thinking of the 79th birthday of Anita Ekberg, but the photo I was going to post, from Man in the Vault, is actually of the other woman in the movie, Karen Sharpe. And speaking of Karen Sharpe, she's still alive at 76, and the widow of another September 29 birthday celebrant, Stanley Kramer (1913-2001).