TCM's Leading Couples
by elephant999 | created - 24 Sep 2014 | updated - 28 Oct 2014 | PublicBased on the book "Leading Couples: The Most Unforgettable Screen Romances of the Studio Era".
Included is a quote from the book and the films that each duo is in.
1. Fred Astaire
Actor | The Towering Inferno
Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. Fred entered show business at age 5. He was successful both in vaudeville and on Broadway in partnership with his sister, Adele Astaire. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. ...
With Ginger Rogers
With a spin, a lift, and a burst of taps, they became the greatest dancing team in film, making ballroom dancing sexy, sophisticated, silly, and just downright fun.
Flying Down to Rio (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Top Hat (1935), Follow the Fleet (1936), Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), Carefree (1938), The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
2. Ginger Rogers
Actress | Kitty Foyle
Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911, the daughter of Lela E. Rogers (née Lela Emogene Owens) and William Eddins McMath. Her mother went to Independence to have Ginger away from her husband. She had a baby earlier in their marriage and he ...
With Fred Astaire
With a spin, a lift, and a burst of taps, they became the greatest dancing team in film, making ballroom dancing sexy, sophisticated, silly, and just downright fun.
Flying Down to Rio (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Top Hat (1935), Follow the Fleet (1936), Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), Carefree (1938), The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
3. Humphrey Bogart
Actor | Casablanca
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium). Bogart was educated at Trinity School, NYC, and was sent to Phillips Academy ...
With Lauren Bacall
The gruff cynic and the tough glamour girl were united by their freewheeling battle against anything that smacked of phoniness.
To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), Key Largo (1948)
4. Lauren Bacall
Actress | To Have and Have Not
Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a ...
With Humphrey Bogart
The gruff cynic and the tough glamour girl were united by their freewheeling battle against anything that smacked of phoniness.
To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), Key Largo (1948)
5. Humphrey Bogart
Actor | Casablanca
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium). Bogart was educated at Trinity School, NYC, and was sent to Phillips Academy ...
With Ingrid Bergman
The cynic and his long-lost flame became a pair of lovers that would always have Paris in the screen's greatest romantic thriller.
Casablanca (1942)
6. Ingrid Bergman
Actress | Casablanca
Ingrid Bergman was one of the greatest actresses from Hollywood's lamented Golden Era. Her natural and unpretentious beauty and her immense acting talent made her one of the most celebrated figures in the history of American cinema. Bergman is also one of the most Oscar-awarded actresses, tied with ...
With Humphrey Bogart
The cynic and his long-lost flame became a pair of lovers that would always have Paris in the screen's greatest romantic thriller.
Casablanca (1942)
7. Charles Boyer
Actor | Gaslight
Charles Boyer studied philosophy before he went to the theater where he gave his debut in 1920. Although he had at first no intentions to pursue a career at the movies (his first movie was Man of the Sea (1920) by Marcel L'Herbier) he used his chance in Hollywood after several filming stations all ...
With Hedy Lamarr
They were the vision of doomed, exotic romance so vivid that their one film together would haunt these two onscreen lovers for the rest of their lives.
Algiers (1938)
8. Hedy Lamarr
Actress | Samson and Delilah
Hedy Lamarr, the woman many critics and fans alike regard as the most beautiful ever to appear in films, was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria. She was the daughter of Gertrud (Lichtwitz), from Budapest, and Emil Kiesler, a banker from Lemberg (now known as Lviv). Her parents were ...
With Charles Boyer
They were the vision of doomed, exotic romance so vivid that their one film together would haunt these two onscreen lovers for the rest of their lives.
Algiers (1938)
9. Marie Dressler
Actress | Dinner at Eight
Once you saw her, you would not forget her. Despite her age and weight, she became one of the top box office draws of the sound era. She was 14 when she joined a theater group and she went on to work on stage and in light opera. By 1892, she was on Broadway and she later became a star comedienne on...
With Wallace Beery
They were the anti-stars, a pair of authentic mugs who brought to life a gallery of outrageously funny, irresistibly touching characters with so much heart that glamour was unnecessary.
Min and Bill (1930), Dinner at Eight (1933), Tugboat Annie (1933)
10. Wallace Beery
Actor | A Date with Judy
In 1902, 16-year-old Wallace Beery joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant to the elephant trainer. He left two years later after a leopard clawed his arm. Beery next went to New York, where he found work in musical variety shows. He became a leading man in musicals and appeared on ...
With Marie Dressler
They were the anti-stars, a pair of authentic mugs who brought to life a gallery of outrageously funny, irresistibly touching characters with so much heart that glamour was unnecessary.
Min and Bill (1930), Dinner at Eight (1933), Tugboat Annie (1933)
11. W.C. Fields
Actor | It's a Gift
William Claude Dukenfield was the eldest of five children born to Cockney immigrant James Dukenfield and Philadelphia native Kate Felton. He went to school for four years, then quit to work with his father selling vegetables from a horse cart. At eleven, after many fights with his alcoholic father ...
With Mae West
There never was a high concept more stratospheric than the teaming of the screen's most bombastic con artist with the woman who cornered the market on sex appeal.
My Little Chickadee (1940)
12. Mae West
Actress | She Done Him Wrong
Mae West was born August 17, 1893 in Brooklyn, New York, to "Battling Jack" West and Matilda Doelger. She began her career as a child star in vaudeville, and later went on to write her own plays, including "SEX", for which she was arrested. Though her first movie role, at age 40, was a small part ...
With W.C. Fields
There never was a high concept more stratospheric than the teaming of the screen's most bombastic con artist with the woman who cornered the market on sex appeal.
My Little Chickadee (1940)
13. Errol Flynn
Actor | The Adventures of Robin Hood
Errol Flynn was born to parents Theodore Flynn, a respected biologist, and Marrelle Young, an adventurous young woman. Young Flynn was a rambunctious child who could be counted on to find trouble. Errol managed to have himself thrown out of every school in which he was enrolled. In his late teens ...
With Olivia de Havilland
They were the definitive swashbuckling couple, a striking combination of masculine swagger and feminist pluck.
Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Four's a Crowd (1938), Dodge City (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), They Died with Their Boots On (1941)
14. Olivia de Havilland
Actress | Gone with the Wind
Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916 in Tokyo, Japan to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year. Her ...
With Errol Flynn
They were the definitive swashbuckling couple, a striking combination of masculine swagger and feminist pluck.
Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Four's a Crowd (1938), Dodge City (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), They Died with Their Boots On (1941)
15. Clark Gable
Actor | It Happened One Night
William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. He was of German, Irish, and Swiss-German descent. When he was seven months old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle ...
With Jean Harlow
They were the hottest screen team of the 1930s, exhibiting a raw, unembarrassed sexuality that belied their inherent vulnerabilities.
The Secret Six (1931), Red Dust (1932), Hold Your Man (1933), China Seas (1935), Wife Vs. Secretary (1936), Saratoga (1937)
16. Jean Harlow
Actress | China Seas
Harlean Carpenter, who later became Jean Harlow, was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 3, 1911. She was the daughter of a successful dentist and his wife. In 1927, at the age of 16, she ran away from home to marry a young businessman named Charles McGrew, who was 23. The couple pulled up ...
With Clark Gable
They were the hottest screen team of the 1930s, exhibiting a raw, unembarrassed sexuality that belied their inherent vulnerabilities.
The Secret Six (1931), Red Dust (1932), Hold Your Man (1933), China Seas (1935), Wife Vs. Secretary (1936), Saratoga (1937)
17. Clark Gable
Actor | It Happened One Night
William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. He was of German, Irish, and Swiss-German descent. When he was seven months old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle ...
With Vivien Leigh
Theirs was the ultimate battle of masculine vs. feminine in an epic tale of love, war, and home that captivated fans from the moment the film was announced.
Gone with the Wind (1939)
18. Vivien Leigh
Actress | A Streetcar Named Desire
If a film were made of the life of Vivien Leigh, it would open in India just before World War I, where a successful British businessman could live like a prince. In the mountains above Calcutta, a little princess is born. Because of the outbreak of World War I, she is six years old the first time ...
With Clark Gable
Theirs was the ultimate battle of masculine vs. feminine in an epic tale of love, war, and home that captivated fans from the moment the film was announced.
Gone with the Wind (1939)
19. Greta Garbo
Actress | Ninotchka
Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905, in Stockholm, Sweden, to Anna Lovisa (Johansdotter), who worked at a jam factory, and Karl Alfred Gustafsson, a laborer. She was fourteen when her father died, which left the family destitute. Greta was forced to leave school and ...
With John Gilbert
They were the silent cinema's sexiest couple, drawing on their mutual offscreen passion to create some of the movies' greatest love scenes.
Flesh and the Devil (1926), Love (1927), A Woman of Affairs (1928), Queen Christina (1933)
20. John Gilbert
Actor | The Big Parade
John Gilbert was born into a show-business family - his father was a comic with the Pringle Stock Company. By 1915 John was an extra with Thomas H. Ince's company and a lead player by 1917. In those days he was assistant director, actor or screenwriter. He also tried his hand at directing. By 1919 ...
With Greta Garbo
They were the silent cinema's sexiest couple, drawing on their mutual offscreen passion to create some of the movies' greatest love scenes.
Flesh and the Devil (1926), Love (1927), A Woman of Affairs (1928), Queen Christina (1933)
21. Greta Garbo
Actress | Ninotchka
Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905, in Stockholm, Sweden, to Anna Lovisa (Johansdotter), who worked at a jam factory, and Karl Alfred Gustafsson, a laborer. She was fourteen when her father died, which left the family destitute. Greta was forced to leave school and ...
With Robert Taylor
Through sheer physical presence, they turned a tale of doomed love into one of the screen's greatest romances.
Camille (1936)
22. Robert Taylor
Actor | The Bribe
Born Spangler Arlington Brugh, Robert Taylor began displaying a diversity of talents in his youth on the plains of Nebraska. At Beatrice High School, he was a standout track athlete, but also showed a talent for using his voice, winning several oratory awards. He was a musician and played the cello...
With Greta Garbo
Through sheer physical presence, they turned a tale of doomed love into one of the screen's greatest romances.
Camille (1936)
23. Greer Garson
Actress | Pride and Prejudice
Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson was born on September 29, 1904 in London, England, to Nancy Sophia (Greer) and George Garson, a commercial clerk. Of Scottish and Ulster-Scots descent, Garson displayed no early interest in becoming an actress. Educated at the University of London intending to become a ...
With Walter Pidgeon
They created an indelible image of self-sacrifice that struck a powerful chord with audiences eager for hope in the midst of war.
Blossoms in the Dust (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Madame Curie (1943), Mrs. Parkington (1944), Julia Misbehaves (1948), That Forsyte Woman (1949), The Miniver Story (1950), Scandal at Scourie (1953)
24. Walter Pidgeon
Actor | Forbidden Planet
Walter Pidgeon, a handsome, tall and dark-haired man, began his career studying voice at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He then did theater, mainly stage musicals. He went to Hollywood in the early 1920s, where he made silent films, including Mannequin (1926) and Sumuru (1927). ...
With Greer Garson
They created an indelible image of self-sacrifice that struck a powerful chord with audiences eager for hope in the midst of war.
Blossoms in the Dust (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Madame Curie (1943), Mrs. Parkington (1944), Julia Misbehaves (1948), That Forsyte Woman (1949), The Miniver Story (1950), Scandal at Scourie (1953)
25. Janet Gaynor
Actress | A Star Is Born
Janet Gaynor was born Laura Gainor on October 6, 1906, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a child, she & her parents moved to San Francisco, California, where she graduated from high school in 1923. She then moved to Los Angeles where she enrolled in a secretarial school. She got a job at a shoe ...
With Charles Farrell
They represented the triumph of purity and innocence, becoming, in the words of the studio publicists, "America's Favorite Lovebirds."
Seventh Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), Lucky Star (1929), Sunny Side Up (1929), High Society Blues (1930), Merely Mary Ann (1931), Delicious (1931), The First Year (1932), Tess of the Storm Country (1932), Change of Heart (1934)
26. Charles Farrell
Actor | 7th Heaven
Popular Hollywood leading man of late silents and early talkies. He is best remembered for his teaming with Janet Gaynor in 12 screen romances between 1927 and 1934. He retired from films in the early 1940s, but TV audiences of the 1950s would see him as Gale Storm's widower dad in the popular ...
With Janet Gaynor
They represented the triumph of purity and innocence, becoming, in the words of the studio publicists, "America's Favorite Lovebirds."
Seventh Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), Lucky Star (1929), Sunny Side Up (1929), High Society Blues (1930), Merely Mary Ann (1931), Delicious (1931), The First Year (1932), Tess of the Storm Country (1932), Change of Heart (1934)
27. Betty Grable
Actress | How to Marry a Millionaire
Elizabeth Ruth Grable was born on December 18, 1916 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Lillian Rose (Hofmann) and John Conn Grable, a stockbroker. She had German, English, Irish, and Dutch ancestry. Her mother was a stubborn and materialistic woman determined to make her daughter a star. Elizabeth, who ...
With Dan Dailey
They amiably hoofed their way through a quartet of popular, escapist musicals as Hollywood's Golden Age was drawing to a close.
Mother Wore Tights (1947), When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948), My Blue Heaven (1950), Call Me Mister (1951)
28. Dan Dailey
Actor | The Governor & J.J.
Born in New York City, Dan Dailey started his career in vaudeville, later making his Broadway debut in the stage version of "Babes in Arms".
When signed to MGM, the studio initially casted him as a Nazi in The Mortal Storm (1940). The studio realized their mistake and cast him in musical films, ...
With Betty Grable
They amiably hoofed their way through a quartet of popular, escapist musicals as Hollywood's Golden Age was drawing to a close.
Mother Wore Tights (1947), When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948), My Blue Heaven (1950), Call Me Mister (1951)
29. Cary Grant
Actor | North by Northwest
Once told by an interviewer, "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant", Grant is said to have replied, "So would I."
Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18, 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, England, to Elsie Maria (Kingdon) and Elias James Leach, who worked in a factory. His early years in ...
With Grace Kelly
The Riviera has never been as glamorous or as sexy as it was when these two went searching for a jewel thief and found romance along the way.
To Catch a Thief (1955)
30. Grace Kelly
Actress | Dial M for Murder
On November 12, 1929, Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to wealthy parents. Her girlhood was uneventful for the most part, but one of the things she desired was to become an actress which she had decided on at an early age. After her high school graduation in 1947, Grace ...
With Cray Grant
The Riviera has never been as glamorous or as sexy as it was when these two went searching for a jewel thief and found romance along the way.
To Catch a Thief (1955)
31. Rita Hayworth
Actress | Gilda
Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino Reina, was a dancer as was his father before him. He emigrated from Spain in 1913. Rita's American mother, Volga Margaret (Hayworth), who was of mostly ...
With Glenn Ford
Most notably in the classic film noir Gilda, They created a surprisingly perverse sizzle, combining glamour with a touch of sadomasochism.
The Lady in Question (1940), Gilda (1946), The Loves of Carmen (1948), Affair in Trinidad (1952), The Money Trap (1965)
32. Glenn Ford
Actor | Gilda
Legendary actor Glenn Ford was born Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford in Sainte-Christine-d'Auvergne, Quebec, Canada, to Hannah Wood (Mitchell) and Newton Ford, a railroad executive. His family moved to Santa Monica, California when he was eight years old. His acting career began with plays at high school...
With Rita Hayworth
Most notably in the classic film noir Gilda, They created a surprisingly perverse sizzle, combining glamour with a touch of sadomasochism.
The Lady in Question (1940), Gilda (1946), The Loves of Carmen (1948), Affair in Trinidad (1952), The Money Trap (1965)
33. Rita Hayworth
Actress | Gilda
Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino Reina, was a dancer as was his father before him. He emigrated from Spain in 1913. Rita's American mother, Volga Margaret (Hayworth), who was of mostly ...
With Orson Welles
A unique marriage of beauty and brains reached the screen when Hollywood's greatest maverick placed one of the screen's most iconic screen sirens at the center of this cinematic hall of mirrors.
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
34. Orson Welles
Actor | Citizen Kane
His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...
With Rita Hayworth
A unique marriage of beauty and brains reached the screen when Hollywood's greatest maverick placed one of the screen's most iconic screen sirens at the center of this cinematic hall of mirrors.
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
35. Rock Hudson
Actor | Giant
Rock Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois, to Katherine (Wood), a telephone operator, and Roy Harold Scherer, an auto mechanic. He was of German, Swiss-German, English, and Irish descent. His parents divorced when he was eight years old. He failed to obtain parts in school ...
With Doris Day
They turned the battle of the sexes into good, clean, "come hither" fun in a pair of sparkling romantic comedies.
Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), Send Me No Flowers (1964)
36. Doris Day
Soundtrack | Love Me or Leave Me
One of America's most loved actresses was born Doris Mary Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz), a housewife, and William Joseph Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choir master. Her grandparents were all German immigrants. She had two brothers, Richard, who died ...
With Rock Hudson
They turned the battle of the sexes into good, clean, "come hither" fun in a pair of sparkling romantic comedies.
Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), Send Me No Flowers (1964)
37. Alan Ladd
Actor | Shane
Alan Walbridge Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the only child of Ina Raleigh (aka Selina Rowley) and Alan Harwood Ladd, a freelance accountant. His mother was English, from County Durham. His father died when he was four. At age five, he burned his apartment playing with matches, and his ...
With Veronica Lake
When these two blonde, baby-faced stars came together onscreen, their scenes were like hot ice, a paradox as baffling and yet thrilling as the plots of their memorable film noirs.
This Gun for Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942), The Blue Dahlia (1946), Saigon (1948)
38. Veronica Lake
Actress | Sullivan's Travels
Veronica Lake was born as Constance Frances Marie Ockleman on November 14, 1922, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the daughter of Constance Charlotta (Trimble) and Harry Eugene Ockelman, who worked for an oil company as a ship employee. Her father was of half German and half Irish descent, and her ...
With Alan Ladd
When these two blonde, baby-faced stars came together onscreen, their scenes were like hot ice, a paradox as baffling and yet thrilling as the plots of their memorable film noirs.
This Gun for Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942), The Blue Dahlia (1946), Saigon (1948)
39. Jeanette MacDonald
Soundtrack | Cairo
She was the third daughter of Daniel and Anne MacDonald, younger sister to Blossom (MGM's character actress Marie Blake), whom she followed to New York and a chorus job in 1920. She was busy in a string of musical productions. In 1928 Paramount tested and rejected her, but a year later Ernst ...
With Nelson Eddy
Their exuberance and gentle humor, not to mention thrilling vocalizing, brought new life to the operetta and made them America's timeless singing sweethearts.
Naughty Marietta (1935), Rose-Marie (1936), Maytime (1937), Sweethearts (1938), The Girl of the Golden West (1940), Bitter Sweet (1940), New Moon (1940), I Married an Angel (1942)
40. Nelson Eddy
Soundtrack | Let Freedom Ring
The only career Nelson Eddy ever considered was singing. His parents, Isabel (Kendrick) and William Darius Eddy, were singers, his grandparents were musicians. Unable to afford a teacher, he learned by imitating opera recordings. At age 14 he worked as a telephone operator in a Philadelphia iron ...
With Jeanette MacDonald
Their exuberance and gentle humor, not to mention thrilling vocalizing, brought new life to the operetta and made them America's timeless singing sweethearts.
Naughty Marietta (1935), Rose-Marie (1936), Maytime (1937), Sweethearts (1938), The Girl of the Golden West (1940), Bitter Sweet (1940), New Moon (1940), I Married an Angel (1942)
41. Groucho Marx
Actor | A Night at the Opera
The bushy-browed, cigar-smoking wise-cracker with the painted-on moustache and stooped walk was the leader of The Marx Brothers. With one-liners that were often double entendres, Groucho never cursed in any of his performances and said he never wanted to be known as a dirty comic. With a great love...
With Margaret Dumont
No audience laughed harder than when the perpetual trickster set his sights on the statuesque, unflappable woman who came to be called "The Fifth Marx Brother."
The Cocoanuts (1929), Animal Crackers (1930), Duck Soup (1933), A Night at the Opera (1935), A Day at the Races (1937), At the Circus (1939), The Big Store (1941)
42. Margaret Dumont
Actress | A Night at the Opera
Margaret Dumont would not consider it a tragedy that she is best-known for her performances as the ultimate straight woman in seven of the Marx Brothers' films (including most of their best). It is a popular myth that she never understood their jokes (offscreen and on); restored footage of ...
With Groucho Marx
No audience laughed harder than when the perpetual trickster set his sights on the statuesque, unflappable woman who came to be called "The Fifth Marx Brother."
The Cocoanuts (1929), Animal Crackers (1930), Duck Soup (1933), A Night at the Opera (1935), A Day at the Races (1937), At the Circus (1939), The Big Store (1941)
43. Robert Mitchum
Actor | Out of the Past
Robert Mitchum was an underrated American leading man of enormous ability, who sublimated his talents beneath an air of disinterest. He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ann Harriet (Gunderson), a Norwegian immigrant, and James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard/railroad worker. His father died in a ...
With Jane Russell
They became the cult film couple of the ages when they teamed for a pair of devil-may-care film noir as offbeat as their own offscreen personalities.
His Kind of Woman (1951), Macao (1952)
44. Jane Russell
Actress | Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell was born on June 21, 1921, in Bemidji, Minnesota. Her father was a United States Army lieutenant and her mother had been a student of drama and an actress with a traveling troupe. Once Mr. Russell was mustered out of the service, the family took up residence in ...
With Robert Mitchum
They became the cult film couple of the ages when they teamed for a pair of devil-may-care film noir as offbeat as their own offscreen personalities.
His Kind of Woman (1951), Macao (1952)
45. Laurence Olivier
Actor | Sleuth
Laurence Olivier could speak William Shakespeare's lines as naturally as if he were "actually thinking them", said English playwright Charles Bennett, who met Olivier in 1927. Laurence Kerr Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England, to Agnes Louise (Crookenden) and Gerard Kerr Olivier, a High ...
With Vivien Leigh
Their unrepentant passion, even while still married to others, pervaded the three films made at the height of their romance.
Fire Over England (1937), 21 Days Together (1940), That Hamilton Woman (1941)
46. Vivien Leigh
Actress | A Streetcar Named Desire
If a film were made of the life of Vivien Leigh, it would open in India just before World War I, where a successful British businessman could live like a prince. In the mountains above Calcutta, a little princess is born. Because of the outbreak of World War I, she is six years old the first time ...
With Laurence Olivier
Their unrepentant passion, even while still married to others, pervaded the three films made at the height of their romance.
Fire Over England (1937), 21 Days Together (1940), That Hamilton Woman (1941)
47. Gregory Peck
Actor | To Kill a Mockingbird
Eldred Gregory Peck was born on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California, to Bernice Mae (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist and druggist in San Diego. He had Irish (from his paternal grandmother), English, and some German, ancestry. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child...
With Audrey Hepburn
The ethereal waif and the all-American Joe, they played out the perfect opposites-attract courtship in a tragicomic whirlwind romance against the backdrop of the Eternal City.
Roman Holiday (1953)
48. Audrey Hepburn
Actress | Breakfast at Tiffany's
Audrey Hepburn was born as Audrey Kathleen Ruston on May 4, 1929 in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium. Her mother, Baroness Ella Van Heemstra, was a Dutch noblewoman, while her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, was born in Úzice, Bohemia, to English and Austrian parents.
After her parents' divorce, ...
With Gregory Peck
The ethereal waif and the all-American Joe, they played out the perfect opposites-attract courtship in a tragicomic whirlwind romance against the backdrop of the Eternal City.
Roman Holiday (1953)
49. Dick Powell
Actor | Murder, My Sweet
Few actors ever managed a complete image transition as thoroughly as did Dick Powell: in his case, from the boyish, wavy-haired crooner in musicals to rugged crime fighters in film noirs. Powell grew up in the town of Little Rock, Arkansas, one of three brothers (one of them, Howard, ended up as ...
With Ruby Keeler
They were the king and queen of the all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza, providing the perfect anchors for some of the screen's most elaborate musical displays.
42nd Street (1933), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Footlight Parade (1933), Dames (1934), Flirtation Walk (1934), Shipmates Forever (1935), Colleen (1936)
50. Ruby Keeler
Actress | 42nd Street
Ruby Keeler started as a dancer on Broadway. After her marriage to Al Jolson she moved to Hollywood and become a star in Warners musicals opposite Dick Powell. After her divorce from Jolson she retired for almost 30 years, until she appeared in "No No Nanette" on Broadway in 1971 under the ...
With Dick Powell
They were the king and queen of the all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza, providing the perfect anchors for some of the screen's most elaborate musical displays.
42nd Street (1933), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Footlight Parade (1933), Dames (1934), Flirtation Walk (1934), Shipmates Forever (1935), Colleen (1936)
51. William Powell
Actor | The Thin Man
William Powell was on the New York stage by 1912, but it would be ten years before his film career would begin. In 1924 he went to Paramount Pictures, where he was employed for the next seven years. During that time, he played in a number of interesting films, but stardom was elusive. He did ...
With Myrna Loy
They made love between quips, insults, and martinis, proving that marriage could be sophisticated, passionate, and fun.
Manhattan Melodrama (1934), The Thin Man (1934), Evelyn Prentiss (1934), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Libeled Lady (1936), After the Thin Man (1936), Double Wedding (1937), Another Thin Man (1939), I Love You Again (1940), Love Crazy (1941), Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), The Thin Man Goes Home (1945), Song of the Thin Man (1947), The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947)
52. Myrna Loy
Actress | The Thin Man
Myrna Williams, later to become Myrna Loy, was born on August 2, 1905 in Helena, Montana. Her father was the youngest person ever elected to the Montana State legislature. Later on her family moved to Radersburg where she spent her youth on a cattle ranch. At the age of 13, Myrna's father died of ...
With William Powell
They made love between quips, insults, and martinis, proving that marriage could be sophisticated, passionate, and fun.
Manhattan Melodrama (1934), The Thin Man (1934), Evelyn Prentiss (1934), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Libeled Lady (1936), After the Thin Man (1936), Double Wedding (1937), Another Thin Man (1939), I Love You Again (1940), Love Crazy (1941), Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), The Thin Man Goes Home (1945), Song of the Thin Man (1947), The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947)
53. Tyrone Power
Actor | Witness for the Prosecution
Tyrone Power was one of the great romantic swashbuckling stars of the mid-twentieth century, and the third Tyrone Power of four in a famed acting dynasty reaching back to the eighteenth century. His great-grandfather was the first Tyrone Power (1795-1841), a famed Irish comedian. His father, known ...
With Gene Tierney
They were the prettiest screen tam in history, a distinction that sometimes was more a curse than a blessing.
Son of Fury (1942), The Razor's Edge (1946), That Wonderful Urge (1948)
54. Gene Tierney
Actress | Laura
With prominent cheekbones, luminous skin and the most crystalline green eyes of her day, Gene Tierney's striking good looks helped propel her to stardom. Her best known role is the enigmatic murder victim in Laura (1944). She was also Oscar-nominated for Leave Her to Heaven (1945). Her acting ...
With Tyrone Power
They were the prettiest screen tam in history, a distinction that sometimes was more a curse than a blessing.
Son of Fury (1942), The Razor's Edge (1946), That Wonderful Urge (1948)
55. Elvis Presley
Soundtrack | Girls! Girls! Girls!
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in East Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Presley (née Gladys Love Smith) and Vernon Presley (Vernon Elvis Presley). He had a twin brother who was stillborn. In 1948, Elvis and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he attended Humes High School. ...
With Ann-Margret
The King and the Sex Kitten fired up the screen and struck offscreen sparks in a notorious fling when they joined forces for this classic rock 'n' roll musical.
Viva Las Vegas (1964)
56. Ann-Margret
Actress | Carnal Knowledge
Actress and singer Ann-Margret is one of the most famous sex symbols and actresses of the 1960s and beyond. She continued her career through the following decades and into the 21st century.
Ann-Margret was born Ann-Margret Olsson in Valsjöbyn, Jämtland County, Sweden, to Anna Regina (Aronsson) and ...
With Elvis Presley
The King and the Sex Kitten fired up the screen and struck offscreen sparks in a notorious fling when they joined forces for this classic rock 'n' roll musical.
Viva Las Vegas (1964)
57. Mickey Rooney
Actor | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Mickey Rooney was born Joe Yule Jr. on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. He first took the stage as a toddler in his parents vaudeville act at 17 months old. He made his first film appearance in 1926. The following year, he played the lead character in the first Mickey McGuire short film. ...
With Judy Garland
In four "backyard musicals" and three Andy Hardy films, they became America's favorite teen couple, creating an idealized image of youthful high spirits.
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937), Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), Babes in Arms (1939), Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940), Strike Up the Band (1940), Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941), Babes on Broadway (1941), Girl Crazy (1943), Words and Music (1948)
58. Judy Garland
Actress | The Wizard of Oz
One of the brightest, most tragic movie stars of Hollywood's Golden Era, Judy Garland was a much-loved character whose warmth and spirit, along with her rich and exuberant voice, kept theatre-goers entertained with an array of delightful musicals.
She was born Frances Ethel Gumm on 10 June 1922 in ...
With Mickey Rooney
In four "backyard musicals" and three Andy Hardy films, they became America's favorite teen couple, creating an idealized image of youthful high spirits.
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937), Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), Babes in Arms (1939), Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940), Strike Up the Band (1940), Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941), Babes on Broadway (1941), Girl Crazy (1943), Words and Music (1948)
59. Margaret Sullavan
Actress | The Shop Around the Corner
Born in Norfolk, Virginia to wealthy stockbroker Cornelius Hancock Sullavan and heiress Garland Council Sullavan, Margaret Brooke overcame a muscle weakness in her childhood to go on to become a rebellious teenager at posh private schools. She went on to perform with the University Players at ...
With James Stewart
The delicacy of their onscreen love scenes mirrored one of Hollywood's most famous platonic romances.
Next Time We Love (1936), The Shopworn Angel (1938), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), The Mortal Storm (1940)
60. James Stewart
Actor | Vertigo
James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he ...
With Margaret Sullavan
The delicacy of their onscreen love scenes mirrored one of Hollywood's most famous platonic romances.
Next Time We Love (1936), The Shopworn Angel (1938), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), The Mortal Storm (1940)
61. Elizabeth Taylor
Actress | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early in her youth and kept the world hooked ...
With Richard Burton
They were the screen team for the swinging 1960s, living so large that the headlines about their private lives often eclipsed their eleven films together.
Cleopatra (1963), The V.I.P.s (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The Comedians (1967), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Doctor Faustus (1967), Boom! (1968), Under Milk Wood (1972), Hammersmith Is Out (1972), Divorce His, Divorce Hers (1973)
62. Richard Burton
Actor | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Probably best-remembered for his turbulent personal life with Elizabeth Taylor (whom he married twice), Richard Burton was nonetheless also regarded as an often brilliant British actor of the post-WWII period.
Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins in 1925 into a Welsh (Cymraeg)-speaking family in ...
With Elizabeth Taylor
They were the screen team for the swinging 1960s, living so large that the headlines about their private lives often eclipsed their eleven films together.
Cleopatra (1963), The V.I.P.s (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The Comedians (1967), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Doctor Faustus (1967), Boom! (1968), Under Milk Wood (1972), Hammersmith Is Out (1972), Divorce His, Divorce Hers (1973)
63. Elizabeth Taylor
Actress | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early in her youth and kept the world hooked ...
With Paul Newman
Neither tragedy nor scandal could upstage two of Hollywood's biggest stars in what would be their only onscreen encounter.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
64. Paul Newman
Actor | The Hustler
Screen legend, superstar, and the man with the most famous blue eyes in movie history, Paul Leonard Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the second son of Arthur Sigmund Newman (died 1950) and Theresa Fetsko (died 1982). His elder brother was Arthur S. Newman Jr., named for ...
With Elizabeth Taylor
Neither tragedy nor scandal could upstage two of Hollywood's biggest stars in what would be their only onscreen encounter.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
65. Spencer Tracy
Actor | Judgment at Nuremberg
Spencer Tracy was the second son born on April 5, 1900, to truck salesman John Edward and Caroline Brown Tracy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While attending Marquette Academy, he and classmate Pat O'Brien quit school to enlist in the Navy at the start of World War I. Tracy was still at Norfolk Navy Yard...
With Katharine Hepburn
They turned the battle of the sexes into high comedy, as the immovable male withstood the spirited attacks of the irresistible female.
Woman of the Year (1942), Keeper of the Flame (1942), Without Love (1945), The Sea of Grass (1947), State of the Union (1948), Adam's Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), Desk Set (1957), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
66. Katharine Hepburn
Actress | The Lion in Winter
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, Connecticut to a suffragist, Katharine Martha (Houghton), and a doctor, Thomas Norval Hepburn, who both always encouraged her to speak her mind, develop it fully, and exercise her body to its full potential. An athletic tomboy as a ...
With Spencer Tracy
They turned the battle of the sexes into high comedy, as the immovable male withstood the spirited attacks of the irresistible female.
Woman of the Year (1942), Keeper of the Flame (1942), Without Love (1945), The Sea of Grass (1947), State of the Union (1948), Adam's Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), Desk Set (1957), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
67. Lana Turner
Actress | Madame X
Lana Turner had an acting ability that belied the "Sweater Girl" image MGM thrust upon her, and even many of her directors admitted that they knew she was capable of greatness (check out The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)). Unfortunately, her private life sometimes overshadowed her professional ...
With John Garfield
As proclaimed "Their Love Was a Flame That Destroyed," a clear reflection of the obsessive and dangerous affair shared onscreen by the pair.
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
68. John Garfield
Actor | Four Daughters
John Garfield was born Jacob Julius Garfinkle on the Lower East Side of New York City, to Hannah Basia (Margolis) and David Garfinkle, who were Jewish immigrants from Zhytomyr (now in Ukraine). Jules was raised by his father, a clothes presser and part-time cantor, after his mother's death in 1920,...
With Lana Turner
As proclaimed "Their Love Was a Flame That Destroyed," a clear reflection of the obsessive and dangerous affair shared onscreen by the pair.
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
69. John Wayne
Actor | True Grit
John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Iowa, to Mary Alberta (Brown) and Clyde Leonard Morrison, a pharmacist. He was of English, Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and Irish ancestry.
Clyde developed a lung condition that required him to move his family from Iowa to the warmer climate of southern ...
With Maureen O'Hara
The macho man met his match when he teamed up with this fiery redhead for five films that were as boisterous as they were romantic.
Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles (1957), McLintock! (1963), Big Jake (1971)
70. Maureen O'Hara
Actress | The Quiet Man
In America, the early performing arts accomplishments of young Maureen FitzSimons (who we know as Maureen O'Hara) would definitely have put her in the child prodigy category. However, for a child of Irish heritage surrounded by gifted parents and family, these were very natural traits. Maureen made...
With John Wayne
The macho man met his match when he teamed up with this fiery redhead for five films that were as boisterous as they were romantic.
Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles (1957), McLintock! (1963), Big Jake (1971)
71. Johnny Weissmuller
Actor | Tarzan the Ape Man
Johnny Weissmuller was born as Peter Johann Weißmüller in Freidorf, today a district of the city of Timisoara in Romania, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Weissmuller would later claim to have been born in Windber, Pennsylvania, probably to ensure his eligibility to compete as part of ...
With Maureen O'Sullivan
They were the screen's first great swingers, turning a studio jungle into the Garden of Eden.
Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), Tarzan and His Mate (1934), Tarzan Escapes (1936), Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939), Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941), Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942), The Phynx (1970)
72. Maureen O'Sullivan
Actress | The Thin Man
Of Irish, English, and Scottish descent, Maureen Paula O'Sullivan was born on May 17, 1911 in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland. Her father was Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in the Connaught Rangers, and his wife, the former Mary Fraser (or Frazer). She was educated at Catholic schools in ...
With Johnny Weissmuller
They were the screen's first great swingers, turning a studio jungle into the Garden of Eden.
Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), Tarzan and His Mate (1934), Tarzan Escapes (1936), Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939), Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941), Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942), The Phynx (1970)
73. Fay Wray
Actress | King Kong
Canadian-born Fay Wray was brought up in Los Angeles and entered films at an early age. She was barely in her teens when she started working as an extra. She began her career as a heroine in westerns at Universal during the silent era. In 1926 the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers ...
With King Kong
As her blonde allure enslaved his sheer animal force, theirs was the definitive Hollywood version of Beauty and the Beast.
King Kong (1933)
74. King Kong
King Kong died on March 2, 1933 in New York City, New York, USA.
With Fay Wray
As her blonde allure enslaved his sheer animal force, theirs was the definitive Hollywood version of Beauty and the Beast.
King Kong (1933)
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