In Hitchcock, which sees a limited release this Friday, Anthony Hopkins plays the legendary director during the filming of one of his best-known films, Psycho (1960). The film is about Hitchcock's unusual relationship with his wife Alma, who comes off, in this telling, as the secret genius behind her famous husband.
Hitchcock happens to feature two of Hollywood's top babes playing top babes of yesteryear: Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh and Jessica Biel as Vera Miles. This is no coincidence.
Hitchcock tended to put beautiful actresses into his movies, often multiple movies in succession. They tended to be blonde (if they weren't, he had wigs) and specialized in conveying a repressed sexuality. To put it mildly, these were the portly director's crushes. In some cases, to put it less mildly, they were his prey. He was a weird dude, and not a quirky weird, or a lovable weird. A walking-sexual-harassment suit weird. (For more on that story, see the HBO TV movie The Girl, starring Sienna Miller as Tippi Hedren.)
To put it poetically, they were his muses.
Leigh, Miles, Ingrid Bergman and more—in their day, these were among the most beautiful stars in Hollywood. We're counting down the top ten.
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