Virginia painted such a vivid portrayal of her characters it’s easy to imagine them as she wanted you to.
With Billie Lowe in My Sweet Audrina she showed us fans how she loved the 1950s Hollywood Glamour and injected it into her female characters by mentioning that Billie was just like Elizabeth Taylor, “only more beautiful “.
This got me thinking about the images I get in my own head when reading her iconic characters. … and I was surprised to find a search of 1950s Hollywood actresses brought up a vast array of images that could have been pulled straight out of my head ….
Of course , I’m going to start with my personal favourite. ..Corrine Foxworth and I think this blog will actually turn into a series because once I started well I found more ones that screamed the characters to me …
Corrine Foxworth
Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake instantly struck me as Corrine , she oozes poise, class and beauty in a sexually appealing way.
Her sexuality is not in your face, like the Marilyn s of her time, it is subtle, alluring, hypnotic which I believe held the key to Corrine s appeal to the men she surrounded in society (with the exception of her son and father and to an extent her husband s – more about this later)
Veronica Lake was often cast as a femme fatal in her roles which member Keshena Booker pointed out to me is very apt for Corrine.
Lana Turner
Another actress that struck me was Lana Turner, she has the sexual vibe going on which is a core trait of Corrine. She has style too like Veronica , and her hair is very much in the style described that Corrine would wear.
Grace Kelly
Cathy notes often Corrine s grace, poise and coolness and there is only one woman who possesses this in the icons of Hollywood – Grace Kelly.
Whenever, I read of Corrine cooly running a finger down Cathy s nose whilst exclaiming ” oh Cathy, what a doubting Thomas you are !” or any of her reactions in general when confronted with certain unpleasant situation s , Corrine epitomises the essence of this actress who later became a princess.
Marilyn Monroe
Not necessarily looks wise , but aspects of character wise I believe Corrine had certain traits in common with Marilyn.
Both women were seen as “nothing more than objects, beautiful ornaments” not encouraged to use their brains , always believing they couldn’t cope with out a man to protect and support them.
Both I believe used their perceived lack of intelligence as a mask and a way to manipulate men.
They knew men especially men in the 40’s and ’50s liked to perceive their women as weak and I believe they used this to their advantage whilst being being caught in a particular trap of believing it to be true.
Corrine I believe had aspects of Marilyn s overt sexuality which she would use in order to manipulate the men in her life. Her son , by smothering him with the flesh of her breasts and constant touching I believe she used these tactics on her father and two husband’s weaving a spell upon them in order to get her hearts desires.
In all Corrine is a complex character, much more so than at first glance , a mass of poise, grace, elegance, beauty , childishness, with the ability to manipulate whilst appearing to not have the intelligence to do so ….
That’s why it’s so hard to narrow down just one icon I believe that Virginia used as inspiration when painting the portrait of Corrine , visually (and characteristically ) she was a mixture of these women in Virginias mind and the result is probably one of the most complex yet fascinating VCA villians of all time.
AtticSecrets1979 