We watch ourselves grow old in mirrors. They bring us closer to death. Orpheus, 1950. Princess Death – Spanish-French actress Maria Casares (21 November 1922 – 22 November 1996)

Spanish-French actress Maria Casares
In the film of Jean Cocteau “Orpheus” Casares played Death, initially appearing in the guise of a mysterious, businesslike stranger in a black radio-fuzzy limousine (fiction for those days!). She is able to enter the depth of the mirror, leading the dead, and is able to return life, and gently, sacrificially love. Maria Casares plays Death, sent to Orpheus in the guise of a mysterious Princess.
According to the symbolist-poetic concept of Cocteau, Death was at the same time the embodiment of higher Love, and Maria Casares finally got the role she deserved. The searing blackness of her hair and clothes, the tragic Spanish temperament, the hypnotic gaze of the light eyes, suddenly replaced by black ones (painted by Cocteau on the eyelids of the actress) – this image is unforgettable.
Casares not only became a visual symbol of the style of this film, but also gave it her divine voice.
“… Maria Casares speaks, screams, her voice trembles, she trembles, falling into a state of trance, which already made the audience tremble … . Tears flow down her cheeks, she is sobbing. Jean Cocteau goes off shaken … “What an actress!” – he whispers.”
The episode refers to 1949 – the poet films the final scene of his “Orpheus” in the ruins of an old officer’s school, destroyed by German bombers.
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Popular in 1950-1960s, Beautiful Italian actress Antonella Lualdi

1950-1960s Beautiful Italian actress Antonella Lualdi
Antonietta De Pasquale, better known as Antonella Lualdi – Italian actress, whose fame in 1950s was no less than Lucia Bose’s or Gina Lollobrigida’s.
Born 6 July 1931 in Beirut, her father was an Italian engineer, and her mother a Greek. She spoke fluently three languages ​​- Arabic, French and Italian. At the beginning of the war, her parents moved to Milan, but before the age of 16 the girl studied in Florence. There, in addition to study at the theater school, the beautiful girl began working as a model, posing for various fashion magazines.
Once, young Antonietta got into the footage of the documentary chronicle (1947). Here, the film director Mario Mattoli saw her and invited to the main role in his musical film “The Young Girl” (1949).
A romantic naive look will be the visiting card of the young actress at the beginning of her rapid career. Particularly, in the films of Luigi Zampa, Mario Landi, Augusto Genina, and Mario Bonnard. And one of the best works of this period will be the role of Vittoria, the daughter of the mayor in Alberto Lattuada’s 1952 film “Overcoat”.
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Famous English actress Dame Judith Olivia Dench

English actress Dame Judith Olivia Dench
Perhaps the earliest work of Dench is the role of Juliet in the production of the Shakespeare Royal Company. In 1960, Miss Dench only began her theatrical career, which earned her a reputation of the best and beloved by the audience actress of her generation. But even then, at the beginning of her theatrical path, her Juliet turned out to be a bright personality, possessing features that distinguished the artistic skill of the actress.
However, Judy Dench’s career began in 1957, when fate presented her with the gift that all the actresses dream of. She was 22 years old, had just graduated from the London School of Theatrical Art and came to audition for the famous Old Vic Theater, which was truly a Shakespearean shrine. Judy was stunned when she was immediately offered the role of Ophelia in Hamlet … For the next 4 years she played 10 different roles in Shakespeare’s plays.
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Queen of melodrama, beautiful actress Sara Montiel

Melodrama Queen, beautiful actress Sara Montiel
Who is she, this favorite of the public, who has won fame on two continents, the notorious “Chauntecleer Queen”? One of the stars of not the first magnitude on the horizon of the commercial screen? A beautiful woman who demonstrates her exotic charm in bright outfits against the backdrop of gilded interiors and oleographic landscapes? An actress, whose talent may seem problematic if you confine yourself to the criteria worked out in contacts with high-quality cinematography.
Biographical information about Sara Montiel is contradictory and confusing: serious movies almost never mentioned her, and mass magazines took little care about reliability. The date of birth was 10 March 1929. Place of birth – Spain, Campo de Criptana.
Severe poverty of the Spanish village. Gloomy atmosphere of the Catholic family, where the daughter since childhood was prepared for the monastery. Early musicality (aged three she sang folk songs, at seven – learned all parts of three operas by heart). The flight of an eleven-year-old schoolgirl to Madrid for a children’s song contest and a victory in this contest. For the first time she became known as a singer. She studied at the music academy, played in the theater, and sang on the radio.
When film director Vicente Kasanova began to look for young talents, she was among the few lucky ones. No wonder, she played in fims since the age of fifteen. “I never had to study my profession anywhere,” – we read in one of Sarita’s interviews.
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Born 28 January 1931, Beauty Icon Italian actress Lucia Bose

Beauty Icon Italian actress Lucia Bose
First, her film career lasted seven years: beginning at nineteen, she left the movie at twenty-six. And when Lucia Bose announced her intention to resume film career, the general reaction of the press was bewilderment.
Thirteen years given to the family, and how she decided to return to the set after such a break? To start all over again – not a young prize-winner of beauty contests, but on the eve of her forties?
Since 1955, Bose has ceased to act. Newspapers that have married “Miss Italy” with the “great torero” Miguel Luis Domingin as a sensation of medium caliber, have since firmly forgotten about the actress. Her name only rarely flashed in the columns of the society chronicle – until, after the divorce, she decided to return to the cinema. The surging wave of a new interest in the former celebrity also brought out some realities, together with the inevitable husk of gossip and speculation in such cases.
On one of her photographs of 1969 – Bose with her three children. They are very similar to the mother, beautiful, dark-haired – sixteen-year-old Miguel, twelve-year-old Lucia, and ten-year-old Paola. It is difficult to recognize in the new Bose, a soft, happy mother, that star of the Italian screen of the fifties, which fascinated us with her refined, slightly chilly beauty, proud manner and enigmatic detachment …
But a year later the Italian magazine Epoca wrote: “Despite the thirteen-year break, Lucia Bose managed to occupy a leading position in the cinema.” The question that varied criticism in connection with Bose’s new appearance was resolved. She is a professional, an actress, and not just an asterisk, a model entirely dependent on appearance, a passive object for a movie camera.
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Called the Ideal of intellectual femininity actress Jeanne Moreau (23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017)

Ideal of intellectual femininity actress Jeanne Moreau

As a star, a woman, and a national figure, Jeanne Moreau exemplified the ideal of the French film actress in the post–New Wave era. According to film critic Ginetta Vincando, “while Brigitte Bardot symbolized sensuality, and Catherine Deneuve – elegance, Jeanne Moreau embodied in the movie the ideal of intellectual femininity.” And Orson Welles called her the best actress of our time.
In fact, Moreau asked the audience and critics a riddle. Awarded, honored, and loved, Uncrowned “Queen Moreau” – la reine Moreau, “great Moro” – la grande Moreau, she rose to the heights of popularity. But the secret mystery of Moreau stubbornly escapes from the daring to comprehend it. The roles she played are full-blooded characters given a wealth of feelings, a sharp thought, and whimsical surprises of female psychology. Like all living things, they are obstinate to rational analysis. These roles outlined by a sharp, sometimes paradoxical drawing. In them there is no vagueness and uncertainty. At the name of Moreau, often appears an image of the most mysterious heroine of the screen – Greta Garbo.
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Magazine ‘England’, 1978, number 66. Charming English fashion models of the 1960s-1970s

Charming English fashion models
Perhaps, it will be interesting to look at the magazine “England”, devoted to modern life in the UK, and published by the British government quarterly from 1962 to 1993. Distributed in the Soviet Union in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the governments of Great Britain and the USSR, the magazine was published in Russian. Well illustrated and informative, it was highly popular in the Soviet Union.
Traditionally, the magazine published articles on various topics, including politics, economics, science, education, music, art, learning English, cookery, etc. Besides, some pages of the magazine were given to short stories and poetry. In addition, the magazine gave short glimpses on the history of England, traditions and Royal family. Noteworthy, “England” covered the events in the fashion world, the emergence of new synthetic fabrics, trends in the design of clothing and hairstyle. Of course, it’s this section, which attracted me with the opportunity to make a journey into the past, and specifically 50 years back. Let’s look at the beautiful models, design solutions, and views on fashion in the late 1960’s – early 1970’s.
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