Foreign Actresses

I probably made some brief mention back in 2010 that I'm a soccer fan, so I've been enjoying the World Cup. The tournament has reached the semifinal stage. Today's first semifinal features:


The Carmen Mirandas

vs.


The Marlene Dietrichs

Well, not quite, but it's Brazil vs. Germany. As far as I can tell, Marlene Dietrich never appeared in a movie with Carmen Miranda. I'm trying to imagine what it would have been like. It would have to have been a musical, I think; I just couldn't see Miranda as a Witness for the Prosecution or one of the nuns in The Garden of Allah. Dietrich, on the other hand, could have fit in doing a musical number, as she did in movies such Blonde Venus pictured above. I have no idea what movie the Carmen Miranda photo is from, of if it's just a generic publicity still. All those fruity hats start to look alike after a while.

The other two teams in the semifinals are Argentina and the Netherlands. I can't really think of too many classic-era actresses from either of those countries, although I was surprised to learn when I was looking up Argentine-born actresses that Olivia Hussey from the 1960s version of Romeo and Juliet was born in Argentina. Maria-Renee Falconetti escaped to Argentina to get away from the Nazis and died there in 1946. Italy went out early, even before the US, but TCM is giving us a bunch of Italian actresses tomorrow, with three movies starring Sophia Loren, two starring Claudia Cardinale, and two starring Gina Lollobrigida. Ireland didn't even qualify for the World Cup, but Irish-born Maureen O'Hara is back on TCM tonight, inclduing Sitting Pretty at 1:00 AM. And hey, TCM is also showing the new-to-me They Met in Argentina at 9:45 PM. (Actually, Argentina is the setting for a surprising number of classic movies.)