"I am just too much."

Bette Davis made got her start in acting on Broadway at the age of 21. After a second Broadway role that same year, she decided to pursue her career in Hollywood with a screen test. Universal picked her up, but only for six films. She then moved on to Warner Bros. in 1932 and a seven year contract with them. In 1935 Bette won her first Oscar for the movie Dangerous. In 1939 Bette she won her second Oscar for the film Jezebel.

Pin Up Girl

Betty Grable was the youngest of three children. Unlike other profiled here, she entered into show business at her mother's prodding and not out of necessity of the income. She began working in a chorus line at age 13. Her age was not easily discerned because the chorus line performed in black face. (Yikes!) Grable eventually became a contract player at 20th Century Fox and went on to be one of their top stars in the 1940s.

Meet Me in St. Louis

Like other Beautiful Women I've shared, Myrna Loy entered acting at the age of 15 to help her family after the passing of her father. Supposedly, Rudolph Valentino's wife happened to be in the audience of one of Myrna's plays and facilitated her entry into films. Myrna's film career would include around 129 films, both silent and sound. Loy is probably best known for her role in The Thin Man with William Powell and the many sequels of that series.
(I apologize for the shortness of the post, but Blogger is being a douche.)

Gypsy

Natalie Wood began her acting career in Miracle on 34th Street at the age of nine. Beautiful, dark-haired, girl next door Natalie Wood went on to star in twenty films before being cast in Rebel Without a Cause at the age of 16. Wood earned her first Academy Award Nomination for her role as Judy opposite James Dean's Jim in Rebel.

"Off the job I'm a real pussycat."

Tamara Dobson is best known for her role in the 70s Blaxploitaion films Cleopatra Jones and Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold. The 6'2" stunner started out as a fashion model before making films. Sadly, I was unable to find the wealth of information that many of my other Beautiful Women have on the web.

"This is beautiful and very outspoken."

Perhaps you don't know this lovely lady. You should. She has an accomplishment that no one else in the world can claim. She is the only person of East Asian descent to win an Academy Award for acting. Miyoshi Umeki was born in Japan in 1929 where her father owned an iron factory. She was the youngest of nine children. She started her entertainment career as a nightclub singer in Japan after World War 2. Umeki also had a record deal with RCA Victor Japan in the early 1950s. In 1955 she came to the United States.

"I have worked like a dog all my life, honey."

Ann Miller was signed to a contract with RKO at the age of 13. She claimed to be 18 at the time and as there was no internet to check things like this in the 1930s and Miller was considered to be a dance prodigy, I think we can forgive them for not being more thorough. At 14 Ann appeared with Ginger Rogers and began working her way through more than 40 films in 20 years. The studios she worked for often boasted than Ann could tap 500 times a minute, though this was an exaggeration. She worked with James Stewart, the Marx Brothers, Gene Autry, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Mickey Rooney, Ethel Merman, Cab Calloway, Carol Channing, Della Reese, Van Miller, and more. Ann's last film role was in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. She also appeared on television and stage during her career.