Bad Girl Crush – Lizabeth Scott
This month's vintage #badgirlcrush is the beautiful blue eyed Lizabeth Scott!
Born Emma Matzo
in Pennsylvania in 1922, she had dreams of becoming a journalist, opera singer
or an actress, and with that iconic sultry voice, described as a “baritone purr
with a creamy huskiness”, it’s no wonder she became iconic as the actress of the film noir era.
With the help of
her father, she moved to New York aged 17 to study at the Alvienne School Of
Theatre where she resisted teachers attempts for her to pitch her voice higher,
and it’s a good job she did, those femme fatales don’t have the same affect
without the husky voice!
During the 18
months at the Alvienne she founded her stage name ‘Elizabeth Scott’ after
reading ‘Mary Of Scotland’, she later dropped the E to be known as Lizabeth
Scott, she recalls “ I needed to make the name more of an attention-grabber,
and that’s when I decided to drop the E”.
Scott’s first big
break came in 1940 when she landed a role in the ‘Hellzapoppin’ revue, she
toured sixty three cities across the United States, and the revue was the
longest running Broadway musical of its time.
After disappointing understudy roles, Scott went back to her studies and modelling for the Walter Thornton Agency and appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, she was allegedly admired by film agent Charles Feldman who invited her to a take a screen test, and put her up at the Beverly Hills Hotel, all expenses paid, yes please!
Changing from
stage to screen was trial and error, and after a number of failed screen tests,
she eventually landed a contract and debuted in ‘You Came Along’ in 1945. As
her film career took off, it had only been a year since Lauren Bacall had been
catapulted into Hollywood, and with their striking similarity, Scott was often
overlooked in casting in favour of Bacall.
Lizabeth measured 34-24-34
Paramount
Pictures famously described Scott as The Threat, “She’s The Threat to the Body,
the Voice and the Look’, and she landed her most iconic femme fatale role in
‘The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers’ which saw her become the first Hollywood
star to visit Britain since the end of World War Two when the promotional tour
took her over the pond!
Scott stared
alongside Bogart in ‘Dead Reckoning’ in 1947, and the image of her above in a
Jean Louis gown and glove combo became her most iconic publicity still. Her
role in the film also put her in Bogart’s personal list of most potent kissers
in movie love scenes, what a Bad Girl!
“Have you ever noticed it for some reason you want to feel completely
out of step with the rest of the world, the only thing to do is sit around a
cocktail lounge for the afternoon?”
"My greatest ambition is to be the whoppingest best actress in
Hollywood. You can’t blame a girl for trying!”
Although she starred in over 22 films, Scott’s career
took a halt when a New York scandal magazine , ‘Confidential’ came into view.They worked on the basis of collecting personal information
or stories, and offering the subject of the scandal the chance to buy the story
before it was printed. When they approached Scott with a story about how she
spent her free time with ‘baritone babes’ – a euphemism for lesbians, she set a
law suit in motion and in response, Confidential printed the story ‘ Lizabeth
Scott in the Call Girls Call Book’. The $2.5 million dollar lawsuit was
eventually thrown out and marked the decline of her film career.
In 1957 scott retired from the big screen, staring with Elvis Presley in his second film, Loving you, Scott then appeared in several TV shows in the 60s and became an succesful business woman in real-estate. Scott sadly passed away in Los Angeles in December 2015, with a deep side parting, and shoulder length tawny blonde locks, Lizabeth’s classic 40’s brushed out curls highlighted those cheekbones and jawline that the camera adored and made her the face of the film noir era! Scott will forever be an
iconic Bad Girl!
Here are some of our most favourite outfits of Lizabeth's!
Here are some of our most favourite outfits of Lizabeth's!
Patsy - Jungle Pat X
(Columnist for The Original Bad Girl Blog)
