There was an era in Hollywood when blonde bombshells reigned supreme as the most sought-after, admired actresses in show business, all achieving sex symbol status. During the 1930’s through the 1960’s, platinum blonde, voluptuous women dominated the silver screen and were popular pinup girls. Here are ten of the most famous, beautiful blonde bombshells of this era:
Marilyn Monroe
She’s undeniably the most famous of the blonde bombshells here. Marilyn Monroe started out as red-headed Norma Jean before coming up with the moniker and the famous look that we know her by today. Her quiet, flirty voice and soft features made her extremely loveable, but her curvy body made her a sex symbol. It’s sad that she was never recognized enough for her acting ability and lived an unhappy, stressful life. She may have left the world too soon, but she has definitely not been forgotten as the best of the blonde bombshells.
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was often called the poor man’s Marilyn Monroe, but she was no less of a sex symbol. She was much bustier than Marilyn Monroe, but had a very similar look when it came to the way she did her hair and makeup, a look that many other blonde bombshells would immitate. Jayne Mansfield was an incredibly talented, smart woman. She spoke five languages, was a very good pianist and violinist, and had an I.Q. of 163, however the public wasn’t too interested in this side of Jayne Mansfield. Most of her films were all about displaying her cleavage and having her wear tight or skimpy outfits. She married Mr. Universe, Mickey Hargitay, and their daughter, Mariska, is well-known for her role on Law & Order. She also was the victim of a tragic death, dying in a car accident in her 30’s. But she lives on as one of the best blonde bombshells of all time (and one of my personal favorites).
Mamie Van Doren
This is one of the lesser-known blonde bombshells, one of the many beautiful discoveries of Howard Hughes destined to become a sex symbol. She dated the notorious director/producer for a few years, and the relationship launched her acting career. It was hoped that she would obtain the same sex symbol status as Marilyn Monroe, but most of her films weren’t box-office successes. Like Jayne Mansfield, most of these movies required her to wear revealing clothing and didn’t focus on her acting ability, but many of these B-movies have since become camp classics. Monroe, Mansfield, and Mamie were often referred to as “the 3 M’s”, the trifecta of drop-dead gorgeous blonde bombshells.
This “M” was sexing up the silver screen long before “the 3M’s” started developing their famous curves, and Mamie has stated that Mae West was her childhood idol (I’m sure her sexy persona and legendary sex symbol status was an inspiration for many blonde bombshells). By today’s standards, she may not be considered sexy, but she definitely was during her time. Her deep voice and double entendres were very popular with male audiences, but her mouth often got her in trouble with the censors. She was even jailed once for a few days for obscenity. Before her movie career, she wrote and starred in controversial plays that were about topics like sex and homosexuality, and was a bit of a feminist. She outshines anyone in any film she’s ever been in, and is famous for many of her one-liners. One of her quips that is famous wasn’t in a film, however. When being escorted home by a policeman, she delivered the famous line, “Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” And it’s for lines like this that Mae West is one of our favorite blonde bombshells of all time, as well as the most-quoted sex symbol.
Often called “the blonde bombshell” or “the platinum blonde”, Jean Harlow was the original of all of the blonde bombshells. She was another blonde discovered by Howard Hughes, and started her career on the silent screen. Her first few films were all about her sexy screen presence and she was very unpopular with film critics, but she later would become one of Hollywood’s most respected and popular actresses (as well as a favorite sex symbol). She accomplished a lot in very little time: by the age of 26, the time of her death, she had been in many films and had gone through 3 marriages. Many people said that she died from the bleach in her hair seeping through her scalp, but she actually died from kidney failure. And so another of the best blonde bombshells of all time befell a tragic end in which she died much too young.
Anita Ekberg is most well-known for her role in Frederico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, and is definitely one of my favorite lesser-known blonde bombshells. She is so incredibly beautiful and curvaceous in the film that she almost seems unreal. Bust-obsessed Russ Meyer has stated that she was the most beautiful woman he ever photographed. She is Swedish sex symbol that didn’t speak English too well, but starred in a few films in the U.S. Anita Ekberg was amazingly made-up to look like a Chinese woman in the film Blood Alley, for which she won a Golden Globe. (Perhaps she should have been given two of them for being one of the most voluptious golden blonde bombshells to ever grace us with her good looks.)
VeronicaLake
Veronica Lake is most well-known for wearing her hair over one eye, a look that made her stand out from other blonde bombshells of the time and that was the inspiration for the cartoon character Jessica Rabbit, another popular sex symbol. She often played a femme fatale in film noir movies, but one of her best roles was in the film Sullivan’s Travels. Like many of the blonde bombshells here, she met a tragic end, as alcoholism and mental illness affected her career, leaving her dying almost destitute.
Brigitte Bardot breaks the mold when it comes to blonde bombshells. Her blonde hair was often more of a golden color than platinum, and she wore it long and wild. This more modern sex symbol loved to show skin, and in her most critically-acclaimed film, Contempt, director Jean Luc Godard pokes fun at this inclination, having a character state, “Usually, when you see women, they’re dressed, but put them in a movie, and you see their backsides.” And so one of the best modern blonde bombshells moons her way into legendary silver screen status.
Grace Kelly
She’s the only of the blonde bombshells here to became a real princess, as much as we view the other blonde bombshells on this list as such. Grace Kelly is probably the most well- respected actress on this list, but her film career was cut short when she married the Prince of Monaco, after which she was known as “Princess Grace”. She starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, in which she wears some of the most beautiful dresses ever designed for an actress in a film. She turned down Eva Marie Saint’s Oscar-winning role in On the Waterfront to do so, however. She was never allowed to return to acting by her new husband, unfortunately, but she remains one of the most respected and beautiful actresses (and blonde bombshells!) of all time.
Diana Dors was born “Diana Mary Fluck”, and joked that her name had to be changed because if it was ever put up in lights and one of the letters went out, well, you can see what she means. She was an English actress who didn’t have the same following in the U.S. as she did overseas, but she could definitely compete with the American blonde bombshells looks-wise. She didn’t mind starring in less-than-glamorous roles, and an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Show she starred in was so grisly that it was banned from being shown for years. When she died, she left her son a letter in code that would reveal where his inheritance was. He eventually cracked the code using a forensics expert, but, to this day, the money has still never been found (but she remains one of the most interesting blonde bombshells of all time).
These women may all have their looks and sex symbol status in common, but they’ve all lived very different lives. We may not know them for who they were or everything they accomplished, but they still live on as the original blonde bombshells.
