Hollywood’s 7 Deadliest Femme Fatales Include Lana Turner, Ava Gardner & Sharon Stone
Call them femmes fatales or deadly dames or sinister sisters. Whatever name is given to them, they have been cultural icons for centuries.
In more recent times, there have been dozens and dozens of actresses whose characters have brought a memorable touch of femme fatale evil to the silver screen. Here’s a quick glimpse at seven “deadly femmes” whose onscreen personalities and sometimes diabolical tactics have caused moviegoers to gasp …
Pola Negri
Everett Collection
Credited as being Hollywood’s first femme fatale, Polish actress Pola Negri had a dark allure that stemmed back to the early days of silent movies. She garnered worldwide publicity and fame for being the first European film star recruited by a Hollywood studio. Before long, Negri became known as the “Queen of Tragedy” in America, thanks to evil roles in a string of vintage films.
Gene Tierney
Everette Collection
The most famous turn as a femme fatale for Gene Tierney was probably in the title role of 1944’s Laura, thanks to the unusual way in which Laura Hunt caused police detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) to become obsessed with her while investigating her apparent death. But Tierney also proved herself to be a dangerously manipulative and pathological force when she donned the role of Ellen Berent Harland, a jealous woman who entraps her husband (Cornel Wilde) in another film noir gem: 1945’s Leave Her to Heaven.
Lana Turner
Everett Collection
The role of Cora Smith in the 1946 version of The Postman Always Rings Twice did a lot to give the beautiful Lana Turner a deadly aura on the screen. But then, that was to be expected after Cora and her lover (John Garfield) murder her boring, older husband (Cecil Kellaway) in order for the two of them to work their way up in the world.
Ava Gardner
Everett Collection
Ava Gardner honed her skills in bit parts until she landed the role of Kitty Collins, a glam gun moll who betrays her lover in the 1946 film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway‘s The Killers. Other vampy roles soon followed, earning her a seductress reputation that she augmented offscreen with three Hollywood marriages (Mickey Rooney, bandleader Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra) and an international cadre of lovers that included bullfighters, playboys and other bons vivants.
Peggy Cummins
Everett Collection
As a trigger-happy sharpshooter named Annie Laurie Starr, Peggy Cummins displayed a memorable penchant for crime in a 1950 movie called Gun Crazy. The story takes a big turn after she convinces her boyfriend/husband (John Dall) to become part of her crime spree. As you might expect, things don’t end well.
Glenn Close
Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
Pet rabbits, beware. Her wild and crazy stint as Alex Forrest in 1987’s Fatal Attraction became a notorious screen triumph for Glenn Close. Alex’s fling with a married lawyer (Michael Douglas) soon turns into a petrifying obsession that leads to a string of bizarre onscreen jolts. When it comes to deadly female characters in the movies, there have been very few that have lived up to the clingy nature of this psychopathic nut job.
Sharon Stone
TriStar/courtesy Everett Collection
She executed a memorable leg-crossing move that caused jaws to drop around the world. And that memorable scene in 1992’s Basic Instinct instantly sealed Sharon Stone’s reputation as one of the hottest evil women ever to appear on the big screen. Her character, Catherine Tramell, was a nymphomaniac with a passionate penchant for sex — and murder — all of which cranked up the onscreen temperature a few extra degrees. It also put the investigating homicide detective (Michael Douglas … again) into quite a precarious position.
Who is your favorite Femme Fatale? Let us know in the comments!
This article originally appeared in the September 2017 Femmes Fatales & Tough Guys issue of ReMIND Magazine. You can purchase the full issue at the link below.
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Tough Guys, Bad Girls
September 2017
Hard-boiled detectives, gangsters and their gals — a gritty look at the art of noir and the craft of going wrong.
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