Blind Item #3- Old Hollywood Blind
During her brief time in the US, this foreign born entertainer was probably B-list with A-list name recognition. In her native country, she was probably A+ list. She was also the inspiration for one of the most iconic advertising characters ever. When she first came over to the US to start a new phase of her career, she brought something else with her: a cocaine habit. After she came to Hollywood for the first time, her drug dealer came with her. Between takes, she would go to her dealer who was waiting nearby her dressing room and she had her daily snorts. The cocaine was definitely a factor in her unexpectedly premature death, because she had an underlying heart condition that even her doctor didn't know about.
Carmen Miranda (Chiquita Banana)
ReplyDeleteCarmen Miranda.
ReplyDeleteWow! A tie! You guys are good!
ReplyDeleteAll I could come up with was Audrey Hepburn ( Brit born) but she wasn't bigger in the Brit film industry...
Not did Hepburn die "prematurely" but rather, well into old age.
DeleteAudrey Hepburn was a Belgian who lived there and in the Netherlands till she was 20. She spent three years starting out in the British entertainment industry, but after that she was employed by the Hollywood. She retired to Switzerland in middle age so I don't think of her as in any way British.
DeleteI'm impressed, Chloe & Cleo. Chiquita Banana never entered my mind, for some reason. "Iconic advertising" should have penetrated the fog.
ReplyDeleteKnow Won...their using Audry to sell candy bars and in the 80's her face was everywhere. I had to go there..
DeleteIsn't it strange there is no outcry over her " resurrection " as there was for the use of Fred Astaire selling floor sweepers?
" Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"...serving us into perpetuity. Grim :-[
Good job guys!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of bananas, where is Banana Wintour?
ReplyDelete@Lotta- looking for wigs?
Delete@FSP- popping cherries I bet.
DeleteEdith Piaf ?
ReplyDeleteShe always had drug/ pills problem and she died enough young
Carmen Miranda used to keep her coke in her platform shoes.
ReplyDeletePoor Carmen. Her career was destroyed when she didn't put on underwear for her shoot, and when the guy swung her around, her coochie mama showed from under her long skirt, and she was blacklisted from Hollywood. What made Sharon Stones career, destroyed Carmen's.
ReplyDeleteFamily history is, my Grandfather slept with her after one of the cabaret shows where he had been in the audience. He had his own drug habit so I'd say they had a good time... ;-)
DeleteThat's total bullshit!
DeleteThat would have gotten her an immediate promotion to service the executive suite at the studio!
Plus they would have reshot the scene with her wearing underwear!
Steampunk Jazz: I don't claim to speak for anyone else, but I HATE when they use CGI and other trickery to make dead luminaries "endorse" products they've never heard of. There's some perfume ad ("J'Adore" by Dior?) where Charlize Theron is walking in a fashion show with Princess Grace and Marilyn Monroe, and that one offends me immensely, as well.
ReplyDelete@JAS, I haven't seen that one but...Bloorg!
Delete( I'm waiting for the clones. Hopefully, I'll be dead before That whorehouse opens...:-\ )
I'm not a fan of that either. The Audrey Hepburn one for Dove chocolate irks me as well.
DeleteIt's creepy is what it is.
I cringe every time I hear the music for the Dior commercial start. The Dove assault on Audrey is terrible also.
Delete@Chloe
ReplyDeletewow you're good….
Wow! Carmen Miranda. Had no idea but kudos and applause to all people who got that. You are all so impressive.
ReplyDeleteCrila16..I just read Carmen's wiki page and like all beautiful women she aged and lost favor. That's an old urban legend.
ReplyDeleteSo what kind of work visa does one get for their drug dealer anyway?
ReplyDelete@Sherry...really? My old roommate had a book with all the Hollywood stories, and I actually saw the photo that ruined her. Maybe they had photo shopped it. Who knows for sure.
ReplyDeleteimpressive guessing here...
ReplyDeleteAudrey Hepburn, probably the most classy natural beauty ever to grace Hollywood (or the United States in general) died well into her sixties from cancer.
ReplyDeleteSteampunk...your grandfather slept w Chiquita or Audrey?
ReplyDelete@ Coumtess Edem,Chiquita.
DeleteAt the height of her career I would grade Miranda a B+.
ReplyDeleteCrila16: I had always heard it was an urban legend so I AM the wrong who is wrong. My apologies!
ReplyDeleteWell at least with this 'old hollywood' blind we didn't get any 70s or 80s guesses.
ReplyDelete@JAS I totally agree regarding using dead celebrities. I suppose their estates must have agreed to it ... or does their likeness pass into the public domain after a while? If so, the timing on Marilyn would be about right, she died in 1962 which if there's a 50 year expiration would put her image in the public domain in 2012.
ReplyDeleteBut that doesn't explain Princess Grace. She died in 1982 I think.
Maybe those images aren't owned by the stars' estates but by movie companies?
I wish I knew.
But all that advertising does is remind me that Charlize Theron is no Grace Kelly.
On the blind, I would guess Hedy Lamarr but she's not associated with any product particularly.
ReplyDeleteSteampunk Jazz...I'm sorry to be pedantic, but Hepburn was born in Belgium, not Britain.
ReplyDeleteInexplicably, these things matter to me.
Wow, I had just read this and after 4-5 min thought Miranda, and I scrolled down and you guys must have been on your Jeopardy buttons, lol. Good job! I wish I thought that fast.
ReplyDelete