For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love

These women inspire, entertain, challenge, comfort, provoke, or were “there” in my formative years as an inspiration.

The list is huge. Below the jump.


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Gloria Swanson

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Renee Falconetti

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Tilda Swinton

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Gena Rowlands

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Pam Grier


Jean Seberg


Bibi Andersson


Thelma Todd


Marlene Dietrich

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Lorrie Moore


Roberta Flack


Ellen Willis


Suzi Quatro


Eva Le Gallienne


Edith Wharton


Phyllis Hyman


Ida Tarbell

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Darlene Love


Susan Coyne


Jennifer Warnes


Maria Ouspenskaya


Aretha Franklin


Carolyn Jones


Marianne Jean-Baptiste


Medbh McGuckian


Margaret Booth


Molly Ivins


Emmylou Harris


Dionne Warwick

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Sarah Siddons


Miep Gies


Edna St. Vincent Millay

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Patti LaBelle


Anjelica Huston

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Tuesday Weld


Betty Aberlin


Björk

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Katherine Dunn


Machiko Kyō

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Rossy de Palma


Celeste Holm


Dolores Hart

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Zoë Tamerlis Lund

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Kate Winslet


Lily Rabe

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Edith Head

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Edna O’Brien

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Shayesteh Irani

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Josephine Baker


Barbara Harris

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Brenda Lee


Marian Anderson


Louise Glück

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Parker Posey


Hayley Mills


Lisa Campbell and Ally Jacobs

Martha Stewart in In a Lonely Place (1950)
Martha Stewart

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Cheryl Crawford


Katharine Hepburn

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Dorothy Parker


Yoshiko Kuga

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Dede Allen

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Missy Elliott


Barbara Sukowa

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Susan Batson

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Rachel Kushner


Angelina Jolie


Rebecca Hall


Montserrat Caballé

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Rosie the Riveters

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Shabnam Tolouei


Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady

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Toni Morrison

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Patti Hansen

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Joy Barlow


Patty Duke


Lily Gladstone

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Helen Thomas


Mimi Rogers

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Nora Joyce

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Hattie McDaniel

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Sarah Vowell


Regina Hall


Sheryl WuDunn


Garry Hynes


Alice Belaïdi


Lili Horvát


Megan Thee Stallion


Diablo Cody


Sarah Megan Thomas


Jean Smart


Alexandra Billings. Nobody said I couldn’t put friends on here.


Mindy Kaling


Nicki Minaj


Kathleen Belew


Julie K. Brown


Ms. Pat


Tôko Miura


Olivia Laing


Amy Lee


Jenifer Lewis


Marcia Gay Harden


Hong Chau


Regina King


Jennifer Saunders


Azura Skye

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Tallulah Bankhead

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Faye Adams

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Sissy Spacek

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Shirli McAllen

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Golshifteh Farahani


Felicia Day


Greta Gerwig


Olivia Colman


Emily Wilson

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Patty Griffin


Collette Wolfe


Awkwafina


Jennifer Coolidge

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Debbie Harry


Ellen Greene


Kathy Griffin


’90s supermodels


George Eliot


Sara Allgood


Ruth Nelson


Charlotte Rampling


Paulette Goddard


Maggie Cheung


Angela Bassett


Amanda Jenssen


Diane Sawyer


Tess Harper


Etta Moten


Marina Tsvetaeva

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Joan Crawford


Sonia Braga


Georgia O’Keeffe


Tiffany Chu


Abbey Lincoln


Alfre Woodard


Lynn Fontanne


Rachel Griffiths


Odetta


Adela Rogers St. Johns


Shirley Chisholm


Judy Davis


Anouk Aimee


Maria Veniaminovna Yudina


Bonnie Raitt


Anne-France Dautheville


Madeleine Olnek


Annie Mumolo

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Elinor Lipman


Michelle Meyrink


Jennifer Holliday


Lorine Niedecker

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WWII code-breakers


Sheilah Graham


Fedelma Cullen

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Gillian Welch

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Angelica Schuyler Church


Abbie Schaub and Gemma Hoskins


Rosa Luxemburg

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Ruby Dee

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Dolly Parton


Amanda Peet

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Vivien Leigh


Leila Hatami


Joanna Lumley

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Leopoldine Konstantin


Juliette Lewis


Harriet Andersson


Marianne Faithfull


Nia Long


Ava Gardner


Elizabeth Moss


Christina Hendricks


January Jones


Miyuki Kuwano

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Anne Bancroft


Eva Dahlbeck


Olivia Newton-John


Hedy Lamarr


Jane Adams


Alicia Silverstone


Anna Magnani

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Eva Green


Stéphane Audran


Kay Francis


Ingrid Thulin


Joan Bennett


Uma Thurman


Sophia Loren


Zendaya


Cate Blanchett

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Gugu Mbatha-Raw


Marion Cotillard


Ruan Lingyu


Josette Day


Julianne Moore


Leslie Jones


Gillian Jacobs


Maggie Gyllenhaal

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Kathy Bates

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Martha Vickers


Lupita Nyong’o


Ally Sheedy

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Gene Tierney

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Charlize Theron


Ann Sheridan


Joan Chen


Jackie Hoffman


Kathryn Hahn

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Anna Karina


Ione Skye


Gunnel Lindblom


Merritt Wever


Nina Hoss


Stefania Sandrelli


Gabrielle Union

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Cloris Leachman

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Anna Faris

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Lucille Ball


Elle Fanning


Maya Rudolph


Melissa McCarthy


Sandra Bullock


Gong Li


Dakota Johnson


Riley Keough


Selena Gomez


Reese Witherspoon


Zoe Kazan


Taraneh Alidoosti


Natasha Lyonne

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P.J. Johnson


Amy Winehouse

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Joan Schenkar

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Lara Phillips


Tanya Tucker

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Jodie Foster


Oleta Adams

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Gail Patrick


Nina Lopez-Corrado


Rosemary Wells

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Beth Hart

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Cecilia Roth


Mary Murphy


Erin Tyler


Molly Shannon


Edward Hopper’s usherette


Lesley Manville


Táta Vega


Dawn French

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Sareh Bayat

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E.G. Daily and Lili Taylor


Laurie Beechman


Nancy Allen


Ana Reeder

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Christine Lavin

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Karen Allen

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Debbie Reynolds

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Dava Sobel


Pussy Riot


Claudette Colbert


Lillian Ross


Lauryn Hill


Claudia Cardinale

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Karen Black

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Gwendolyn Brooks

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Andrea McArdle


Gladys Knight

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Catherine Deneuve

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The Gibson Girl


Eleanor Powell


Priscilla Presley


Mercedes Ruehl


Heidi Klum


Patricia Neal

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Eartha Kitt

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Edie Sedgwick

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Bette Davis


Judy Holliday


Dorothy Dandridge

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Elaine Dundy


Anna Akhmatova

Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret

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Anh Duong


Sanaa Lathan


Jen Kirkman


Sylvia Plath


Hannah Arendt


Barbara Bel Geddes


Laura Hillenbrand


The Radio City Rockettes


All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players


Melanie Lynskey


Kate Lyn Sheil

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Laura Harring and Naomi Watts

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Ellen Burstyn


Journalists


Julia Louis-Drefus

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Tana French


Rhiannon Giddens


Zohra Lampert


Charlotte Salomon


Kathy Coleman


Julie Bovasso


Robin Wright


Eileen Walsh


Rosa Parks


Marisa Tomei


Iris Origo

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Dorothy Malone


Sleater-Kinney


Rasputina


The AccoLade


The Mediaeval Baebes


Bikini Kill

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The Pistol Annies

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Babes in Toyland


The Go Go’s

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Kate and Anna McGarrigle

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The Andrews Sisters

The Puppini Sisters performed live on World Cafe.
The Puppini Sisters

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The Pointer Sisters


The Quebe Sisters


The Grehan Sisters


The Wilson sisters


The Miller Sisters


Haim


The Corrs


Naomi and Wynona Judd


Jan Hooks and Nora Dunn


Pearl Bailey


Annabella Sciorra


Jess Wolfe, Holly Laessig

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Thelma Ritter

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Fran Lebowitz


Frances Farmer


Mary Tyler Moore


Phoebe Waller-Bridge


Jane Greer


Grace Jones

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Gillian Anderson

USA. New York City. 1940s. Shirley JACKSON, author of "The Lottery". Contact email: New York : photography@magnumphotos.com Paris : magnum@magnumphotos.fr London : magnum@magnumphotos.co.uk Tokyo : tokyo@magnumphotos.co.jp Contact phones: New York : +1 212 929 6000 Paris: + 33 1 53 42 50 00 London: + 44 20 7490 1771 Tokyo: + 81 3 3219 0771 Image URL: http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&IID=2K7O3RB9TZD5&CT=Image&IT=ZoomImage01_VForm
Shirley Jackson

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Lorraine Hansberry

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Joan Blondell

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Patricia Highsmith

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Cicely Tyson

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Barbara Stanwyck


Enid Blyton

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Tiny

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Nancy Lemann


Patricia Hearst

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Etta James

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Maud Gonne

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Merry Clayton

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Beulah Bondi

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Virginia Woolf

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Joan Didion


Madeline Kahn

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Carrie Fisher

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The now-defunct girls’ skateboarding club in Afghanistan

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Joan Armatrading

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Mélanie Laurent

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Patricia Arquette


Diana Rigg


Miriam Hopkins


Janet Leigh


Norma Shearer

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Diana Ross

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Jincy Willett


Dorian Brown

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Sharon Olds


Dorothy Stratten


Sally Kellerman

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Sarah Bernhardt


Ella Fitzgerald

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Emily Dickinson

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Bettie Page


Svetlana Alexievich

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Maggie Smith

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Beyonce

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Laurette Taylor


Masha Gessen


Cathy Moriarty

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Susan B. Anthony

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Both

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Jeanne Goupil


Rose Byrne

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Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

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Chita Rivera

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Joan Acocella

Kim Stanley Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Kim Stanley

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Emily Bronte


The Shirelles


Delphine Seyrig

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Iman

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Stella Adler

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The Vargas girl

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Alice McDermott

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Nico

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Millie Kirkham

09aman
Christiane Amanpour


Kim Novak

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Anne Fadiman


Juanita Moore


Sarah Kendzior


Aphra Behn

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Both


Sally Ride


Anita Hill


Christine Blasey Ford


S. Epatha Merkerson


E.L. Konigsburg


Amelia Earhart

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Maureen Stapleton


Bessie Smith


Shirley Knight


Carrie Manolakos


Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington

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Louisa May Alcott


Agnes Moorehead

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Tennessee Williams’ sister, Rose


Debi Mazar


Michelle Pfeiffer


Narges Rashidi


Kathleen Turner

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Rebekah Del Rio

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Lynn Carlin


Kristen Stewart


Catherine O’Hara


Laura Dern


Ellen Barkin

SHOOTING--2-
Millie Perkins

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Britney Spears

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Diane Keaton


Regina Taylor

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Lady Gregory

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Monica Vitti

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Eleonora Duse


Camille Claudel


Kim Gordon


Harriet Beecher Stowe


All of them


All of them

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Wanda Jackson

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Katherine Mansfield


Adele Astaire

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Meri Nana-Ama Danquah


Anne Bradstreet

WW7lq
Judge Judy


Jessica Lange


Betty Buckley

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Pauline Kael


Chloe Sevigny


Anne Bethel Spencer

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Maryam Shahriar

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Florence Bates

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Flannery O’Connor

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Lisa Marie Presley

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Béatrice Dalle

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Angela Lansbury


Zhao Tao

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Geraldine Page

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Julie Delpy

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The staff of WHER, the first female-run/female-staffed radio station. Out of Memphis. Started by Sam Phillips.


Nancy Dowd

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S.E. Hinton

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Margo Martindale


Lena Olin

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Eve Arden

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Louise Brooks

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Jennifer Lawrence


Ethel Waters

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Polly Platt


Sally Rooney

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Mary Magdalene


Janet Malcolm


Frances Conroy

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Judy Garland


Bette Midler

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Liza Minnelli


Patti Lupone

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Setsuko Hara


Suzanne Wise


Sara Colangelo

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Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill


Harriet Tubman

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Tory Christman

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Degas’ ballerinas


Tori Amos

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The Mitford sisters. “Love” isn’t quite the right word for my feelings about them. How about endlessly fascinated and/or repelled? Close enough.


Ellen Raskin

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Barbara Tuchman


Fionnula Flanagan


Sera Gamble and Raelle Tucker


Patti Cathcart


Jessica Hecht


Oprah Winfrey


Samantha Morton

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Jean Stapleton


Edith Craig

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Drew Barrymore

joan-fontaine
Joan Fontaine

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Sister Rosetta Tharpe

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Rita Hayworth


Essie Davis

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Annie Lennox


Brooke Smith

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Sylvia Sidney

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Aimee Mann


Phyllis Wheatley

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Maria McKee


Clea Duvall

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Maureen O’Hara

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Virtually all women who have fun while wearing old-timey bathing suits

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Olivia de Havilland

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Kelley and Kim Deal


Chaka Khan

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Diana Vreeland


Joan Tewkesbury


Tamara Jenkins

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Sylvia Beach

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Mildred Dunnock

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Big Mama Thornton


Lara Flynn Boyle, Sherilyn Fenn, Mädchen Amick

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Sheryl Lee


Peggy Lipton


Catherine Coulson


Grace Zabriskie


Eavan Boland


Megan Leavey


Tina Fey


Sheila E.

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June Juanico


Anne Wiazemsky

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Edith ‘Little Edie’ Bouvier Beale


Anna Burns

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Margaret Atwood

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Lillian Gish

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These two. Photo by Walker Evans


Alice Winocour


Theresa Russell


Tina Howe

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Jill Clayburgh

doublelife
Irène Jacob

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Lena Horne

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Tracy Bonham

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Katie Sarife and Joy Regullano

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Teri Garr

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Diahann Carroll

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Annie Proulx


Octavia Spencer

LA CEREMONIE, Sandrine Bonnaire, 1995, © New Yorker
Sandrine Bonnaire

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Farrah Fawcett


Margot Kidder


Sheryl Lee Ralph

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Rosie Perez

by Jane Bown, bromide print on card mount, 1977
Vanessa Redgrave

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The Ronettes


Judy Blume

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Anne Morrow Lindbergh

mary astor#the maltese falcon
Mary Astor

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Evelyn Nesbit

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Sonia Monzano


Julia Garner


Clementine Creevy

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Dee Wallace


Kitty Green

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Joan Jett


Sharon Stone

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Salma Hayek

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Janet Jackson


Edie Falco

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Tura Satana


Anna Nicole Smith

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Maria Schneider

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Elizabeth Banks


Jane Langton


Jean Stein


Joan Rivers


Toni Collette


Miley Cyrus

SI-ThisOne
The Sweet Inspirations

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Lady Jane Wilde, aka “Speranza,” aka “Oscar’s mum”

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Diahnne Abbott

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Ellen Terry


Joan Littlewood


June Carter Cash


Jayne Mansfield


Helen Mirren


Kelly McGillis

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Hye-ja Kim


The Syncopated Ladies

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Lucy Ellmann

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Blythe Danner

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Cyd Charisse

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Taraji P. Henson


Computers at NASA

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Patricia Clarkson


Lyra McKee

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Both


Alona Tal and Samantha Ferris

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Lisa Kudrow


Diane Ladd

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All of them. Sorority Sisters (Tri-Deltas), University of Texas, 1944.

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Joanne Woodward

dianne-wiest
Dianne Wiest


Judy Kuhn


Renata Adler


Mary Alice


Jennifer Lopez


Loretta Long


Heda Margolius Kovály


Olympia Dukakis


Erzebet Foldi and Ann Reinking

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Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner

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Mahalia Jackson


Anne Scurria

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Lauren Hutton


Lzzy Hale

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Peggy Cummins

n5
Kirsten Dunst

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Clara Bow

01 May 1994 --- Courtney Love --- Image by © Jeffrey Thurnher/CORBIS OUTLINE
Courtney Love


Daryl Hannah


Elizabeth Cotten

psychiatrists at johns hopkins
Kay Redfield Jamison

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Elvis fans


Of all the Elvis fans, she is my favorite.

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Michelle Rodriguez

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Allison Krauss


Harriet Evatt


Norma Johnston


Ellen Conford


Natalie Savage Carlson


Betty K. Erwin


Elinor Lander Horwitz


Julie Campbell Tatham

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Elizabeth Enright


Beverly Cleary


Ellen Emerson White

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Hilary Mantel


Chelsea Handler

reign-of-assassins-1
Michelle Yeoh

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Julia Roberts

Scanned by Frederic. Reworked by Nick & jane for Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans website: http://www.doctormacro.com. Enjoy!
Jean Harlow

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Eileen Brennan

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Ginger Rogers


Madonna

The Philadelphia Story ARGUS C3 - 3
Ruth Hussey


Heather Graham

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Liv Ullmann

A NEW LEAF, Elaine May, directing a scene, on location in NYC, 1971.
Elaine May

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Gina Prince-Bythewood

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Dorothy Arzner

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Bunny Yeager

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Allison Anders


Mary Ellen Bute


Shira Piven

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Amma Asante

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Ida Lupino

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Haifaa al-Mansour


Juliette Binoche


Roya Sadat


Romy Schneider


Gabriela Cowperthwaite

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Ava DuVernay


Amy Seimetz

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Julie Dash


Nan Goldin

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Ellen von Unwerth

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Lina Wertmüller


Barbara Kopple


Deniz Gamze Ergüven

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Reed Morano


Penny Marshall


Desiree Akhavan

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Mary Ellen Mark


Jennifer Kent


Leslye Headland

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Samira Makhmalbaf


Hana Makhmalbaf

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Ana Lily Amirpour


Larisa Shelpitko


Joanna Hogg


Inge Morath


Alice Rohrwacher


Karen Maine


Dee Rees

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Nancy Savoca


Barbara Loden


Julia Ducournau


Iris Ng


Natalie Erica James


Mira Nair


Hélène Louvart


Marielle Heller


Catherine Breillat


Sarah Polley


Shirin Neshat


Chantal Akerman


Diane Arbus


Annie Leibovitz


Camera operator at Zan TV, the all-female media network in Kabul, Afghanistan. I wonder what has happened to her.


Kirsten Johnson


Josephine Decker


Ann Hui


Claire Denis

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Amy Heckerling


Narges Abyar


Rakhshan Bani-E’temad


Angela Schanelec


Gurinder Chadha


Radha Blank


Jamie Babbit


Lynne Ramsay


Céline Sciamma


Joyce Chopra

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Sofia Coppola


Barbra Streisand


Kinuyo Tanaka


Bette Gordon


Lisa Cholodenko


Anna Rose Holmer


Lee Miller


Liliana Cavani


Euzhan Palcy


Eliza Hittman


Jane Campion


Patty Jenkins


Sanaa Hamri


Tanya Wexler


Nisha Ganatra


Shirley Clarke


Nancy Meyers


Mabel Normand


Gillian Armstrong


Martha Coolidge


Katell Quillévéré


Chloé Zhao


Kelly Reichardt

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Dorothea Lange


Lois Weber


Kathryn Bigelow


Lucrecia Martel


Kasi Lemmons


Sandi Tan


Nora Ephron


Mary Harron


Rachel Morrison


Eve Arnold


Agnès Varda


Mia Hansen-Løve

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A.S. Byatt


Stacy Brooks


Ziegfeld Girls


Busby Berkeley dancers

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Shelley Winters

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Chrissy Hynde

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Carole Lombard


Jamie Lee Curtis

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All who serve in the armed forces

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Catherine Drinker Bowen

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Leah Remini

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Gloria Grahame

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Hedieh Tehrani

Audra McDonald performs as Billie Holiday in the production of "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill" at the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York, March 24, 2014.  REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Audra McDonald


Deborah Lipstadt


Ann Richards


Lucy Dawidowicz

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Faye Dunaway

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Harper Lee


Lucy Kaplansky

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Jeanette Winterson

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Elaine Stritch


Julie Christie

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Mary Wollstonecraft

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Mary Shelley

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Liz Phair

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L.M. Montgomery

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Hideko Takamine


Molly Haskell


Mackenzie Davis

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Corinne Marchand

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Lizabeth Scott


Danielle Darrieux


Scarlett Johansson


Anita Pallenberg

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Veronica Lake


Patty McCormack

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Joan Cusack


Jean Arthur


Brigitte Bardot


Christine Lahti


Anne Applebaum


Kelly Clarkson


Julie Newmar

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Doris Day


Elizabeth Taylor

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Tyra Banks


Gráinne Ní Mháille, aka Grace O’Malley, Ireland’s “Pirate Queen.” She’s an ancestor.

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Susan Sontag


Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan


Sandy Dennis


Anne Meara


Manohla Dargis


Mia Wasikowska


Kate McKinnon


Michelle Obama


Eleanor Roosevelt

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Abigail Adams

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Dolley Madison


Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton

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Marilyn Monroe


Amy Poehler

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Madeleine L’Engle


Dorothy Thompson

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Anne Frank

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Elsa Lanchester

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Elizabeth Gaskell

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Lesley Gore


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Iris Chang

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Carroll Baker

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Nina Simone


Anne V. Coates


India Oxenberg


Masih Alinejad

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Lois Lowry


Lindsay Duncan

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Jane Austen


Lian Lunson

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Elizabeth Bishop

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Aline MacMahon

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Camille Paglia

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Julie Harris


Anita Loos


Dusty Springfield


Sigourney Weaver

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Gaby Deslys


Billie Holiday

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Clara Barton


Hanna Schygulla


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Isabelle Adjani

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Tina Turner

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Kristen Wiig

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Cher


Mariko Okada


Mary Elizabeth Winstead


Lady Gaga


Carol Kane


Pat Benatar

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Charli XCX


Jessie Reyez


Sarah Silverman


Kim Min-hee


Tracey Ullman


Alanis Morissette


Bobbie Gentry


Kate Bush


Demi Moore


Des’ree


Fairuza Balk

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Mary Oliver

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Tamara de Lempicka


Emma Thompson


Dinah Washington


Elinor Wylie


Nichelle Nichols


Gladys Cooper


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Loretta Lynn

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Naomi Campbell


Susan Lynch


Irene Selznick


Tina Weymouth


Esther Williams


Jane Russell

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Jane Fonda


Maya Angelou


Carson McCullers


Shelley Duvall


Adele

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Maud Hart Lovelace

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Rosalind Russell

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Margaret Wise Brown

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Lauren Bacall

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Rita Moreno


Elle King


Dominique Sanda

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Uta Hagen


Kate Moss


Linda Kasabian


Jacqueline Rose

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Ruth Gordon


Sarah Lucas

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Anna Deavere Smith


Christine Ebersole


Jane Lynch

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Lauren Ambrose


Maxine Waters


Carole King

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Golnaz Farmani

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Jane Addams


Thelma Schoonmaker

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Ann Savage

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Nancy Milford


Marianne Moore


Samantha Power


Lindsay Crouse


Annie Baker

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Isabelle Huppert


Mary Gaitskill


Mary Kay Place

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Lucy Davis


Loretta Devine


Kristen Bell


Carol Ryrie Brink

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Charlotte Bronte


Zora Neale Hurston


Lee Grant

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Janelle Monáe

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Anna May Wong

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Ann Dvorak


Theresa Harris


Lonette McKee


Stockard Channing


Traci Dinwiddie


Jess Hilarious


Samantha Bee


Zelda Fitzgerald


Tamara Karsavina


Gwen Verdon


Melissa Haizlip


Cyndi Lauper


Hannah Gross


Jennifer Jones


Countess Constance Markievicz


Catherine Keener


Diane di Prima


Linda Ronstadt

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Sharon Tate

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Goldie Hawn


Paulette Cooper

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Niki Karimi


Jane Kenyon

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Colleen Camp

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Myrna Loy

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Rebecca West


Linda Manz

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Ingrid Bergman


Marion Keisker

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Lois Smith


Georgia Douglas Johnson


Beatrix Potter


Donna Summer


Dubravka Ugrešić


Karen Carpenter

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Marjane Satrapi


Diane Lane


Dr. Mae Jemison


Helen Reddy


Angelina Weld Grimké


Dea Kulumbegashvili


Judith Glory Hill

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Lily Tomlin


Sarah Vaughan


Ineko Arima


Mary Pickford, Frances Marion


Young M.A.


Katherine Waterston


Meghan Daum


Greta Garbo


Theoni V. Aldredge


Caroline Champetier


Thérèse Oulton

by Howard Coster, half-plate film negative, 6 October 1945
Noel Streatfield


Sally Field


Maria Farmer

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Nicole Holofcener


Agnieszka Holland

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Phyllis Brooks


Whitney Houston

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Patti Smith


Sinéad O’Connor


Lisa Fischer


Juliet Stevenson


Emma Stone


Sakura Andô


Eve Babitz


Jessie Redmon Fauset


Teresa Wright

ca. 1884 --- Writer Laura Ingalls Wilder at seventeen --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
Laura Ingalls Wilder


Mary J. Blige


Helena Molony

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Frances MacDormand


Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson

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Djuna Barnes


Jeanne Moreau


Donna Reed

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Big Maybelle


Jacqueline McKenzie

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Melanie Mayron


Oriana Fallaci


Luminița Gheorghiu

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Marie Dressler


Natalie Cole


Natasha Richardson

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Joy Williams


Zhao Shuzhen


Neasa Ní Chianáin


Shonda Rhimes

American actress and commedienne Carol Burnett holds a clipboard as she sits on the set of an episode of the television show 'The Twilight Zone' entitled 'Cavender is Coming' (directed by Christian Nyby), Culver City, California, January 23, 1962. The episode was originally broadcast on May 25, 1962. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)
Carol Burnett


Lady Mary Wroth


Leigh Ann Hester


Marin Mazzie


Karen Sillas


Alison Moyet

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Penelope Cruz


Patricia Bosworth


Ellen Stewart

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Harriet Monroe


Ruth Bader Ginsburg


Hattie Wilson Tabourne


Maryam Keshavarz


Kerry Ellis


Lulu Wang


Deborah Kerr


Mavis Staples


Joni Mitchell


Mary McCarthy


Katherine Johnson


Jane Alexander


Sophia Takal


Nóirín Ní Riain


Holly Hunter


Skylar Grey


Pink


Barbara Cooney


Zelda Perkins


Linda Fiorentino


Margaret Walker


Molly Kazan

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Lana Turner


Gladys Presley

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Sister Wynona Carr


Louise Fitzhugh


Martha Carson


Chantal Goya


May Robson


Mira Sorvino, Ashley Judd


Harriet Samson Harris

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Keri Hulme


Haley Reinhart


Mania Akbari


Ronee Blakley


Martha Graham

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Misty Copeland


Brittany Cavaco


Mariah Carey


Tiffany Haddish


Amy Acker


Aubrey Plaza


Irene Dunne


Dixie Carter


Evgenia Ginzburg


Sophie Scholl


January 21, 2017

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Her


Her


Her


Them


Her

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96 Responses to For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love

  1. Natalie says:

    My God. This list is amazing.

    Off the top of my head:
    Elizabeth Warren
    Malala Yousafzai
    Rosalind Franklin
    Eleanor Roosevelt
    Marie Curie
    Lucille Ball
    Pink
    Elizabeth Smart
    Ruth Bader Ginsburg
    Sonia Sotomayor (as much for this clip from Sesame Street as for her work: https://youtu.be/EHICz5MYxNQ)
    Golda Meir
    Queen Latifah
    Maya Angelou

    And if we’re including fictional characters:
    Anne Shirley
    Meg Murry
    Buffy Summers
    Matilda Wormwood
    Ramona Quimby
    Donna Noble

    I’m sure I’ll keep thinking of more. Thank you for this!

  2. mutecypher says:

    Hedy and her invention, hell yeah!

    Sheila, what a wonderful list with a great mix of iconic and seldom seen images!

    And being a nerdboy I’ll throw in:
    Ada Lovelace
    Barbara McClintock
    Sally Ride
    Hildegard of Bingen
    (Natalie got Marie Curie and Rosalind Franklin)
    Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
    Sofia Kovalevskaya
    Emmy Noether
    Williamina Fleming
    Rebecca Sugar
    Ursula K. Le Guin
    Connie Willis
    Anne McCaffrey
    Marguerite Duras

    Again, this is a wonderful list you’ve made. Overwhelming!

    • mutecypher says:

      I haven’t seen “Hidden Figures” yet, but Williamina Fleming (if you aren’t familiar with her) had something of a similar arc. She was the maid of E. C. Pickering, the head of the Harvard College Observatory. He was often unhappy with the work of his “computers” – guys (this was in the late 1800’s). He remarked that his Scottish maid could do better work than they did. And he put that to the test. He ended up hiring a full group of female computers – with her as the lead. Williamina went on to be the first person to observe the Horsehead Nebula, among other things, and began a system of categorizing stars by the amount of hydrogen in their spectra (cool stuff, if you’re into that sort of thing).

      • sheila says:

        Mutecypher – what an amazing story, I did not know about this!

      • Lizzie says:

        I just read a play called “Silent Sky” about the Harvard Computers! The main character was Henrietta Leavitt, but Williamina Fleming was also a character.
        According to the play, Henrietta figured out how to calculate the distances between different stars (I think based on their brightness and how frequently they blinked?) The playwright, Lauren Gunderson, often writes plays about forgotten women of history–it was really cool to learn about this group of women that I had no idea existed!

    • Jessie says:

      Did You Know that Janelle Monae has a song about Sally Ride that includes the incredible line “I’m packing my spacesuit and I’m taking my shit and moving to the moon.”? Lady synergy!

      • sheila says:

        !!!! I did not know this!

        Oh, Janelle, I love you so! It’s even more perfect that there’s a scene in Hidden Figures where she and another engineer walk around a lunar space module together trying to figure out why the panels keep blowing off during tests.

        Talk about synergy! I have goosebumps!!

        • Jessie says:

          Monae is perfection!I can’t wait to see Hidden Figures.

        • sheila says:

          I cannot tell you how thrilled I am that the film got an Oscar nom for its screenplay. I don’t invest in the Oscars the way other critics do – nobody’s “snubbed” or “robbed” or any of the rest. But sometimes something comes along where you think, “I just hope that people GET how good this is.” Watching Hidden Figures was one of those times I thought that, and it was about the screenplay in particular. Because without that – the movie could have suuuuucked. They did it right. They made no mistakes.

          So I am very happy it got acknowledged for that.

      • mutecypher says:

        Jessie – That is an awesome song.

  3. Audrey says:

    I love this post. There are entirely too many women listed with whom I’m unfamiliar, which means research and educating myself, which is always fun. Love it, love it, love it.

    Side note: I’m very glad Kristen Stewart was included. Her work in “Camp X-Ray” and “Clouds of Sils Maria” alone sets her apart and I’m super glad you’ve taken notice. ALSO praise hands for the inclusion of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Margaret Atwood, and Mary Oliver!

    … Second side note: Seeing Katie Sarife and Joy Regullano here made me smile so big. What a great post.

    • sheila says:

      Audrey – I love coming across things/people I’ve never heard of too and researching them. It’s such an enriching experience.

      and in my humble opinion, Kristen Stewart is the best thing going right now. Practically hands down. She is MAJOR. Her next movie hasn’t opened yet but it’s amazing – I would have put it on my Best of 2016 list if it had opened in time – it’s Olivier Assayas’ next movie – and second collaboration with Stewart after Clouds of Sils Maria (which I so agree with you – amazing work from her) – anyway, the new movie is called Personal Shopper. She’s incredible.

      Glad to see another Mary Oliver fan! Boy have her poems helped get me through some rough times.

      // Seeing Katie Sarife and Joy Regullano here made me smile so big.//

      I just love them both so much!! They are so in sync, such a partnership – just FABULOUS!!

      • Audrey says:

        I read somewhere that “Personal Shopper” got booed at Cannes, which means I must watch it, on top of your praise and Kristen Stewart’s involvement. Very excited!

        Mary Oliver’s “Blue Horses” is my favorite book of poems. Absolutely amazing. I also own her guide to writing poetry, along with y’know some wishful thinking.

        Agreed!!

        • sheila says:

          I don’t have Oliver’s guide to writing poetry – I should check that out!

          I can’t believe Personal Shopper was booed at Cannes. Cannes is so weird that way! It’s fantastic – and extremely spooky. Stewart is 100% believable.

          It’s funny – I just interviewed someone from the Actors Studio for a piece I’m working on – this is a man I’ve known for 20 years. I studied with him for many years. and he raved about Kristen Stewart. This is a man who worked with Maureen Stapleton and Geraldine Page, who knew Brando and Dean (he’s 81 years old) – and he said he’s more excited about Kristen Stewart than he’s been about anyone else in a long long time.

          I was like, “RIGHT??”

          • Audrey says:

            “Rules for the Dance”, it’s all about writing meter and verse. I actually had to buy it for a class and am glad I did!

            That’s awesome! That guy sounds like he’s an amazing interview. The fact that people are celebrating her and embracing her work just makes me happy. I’m still not over “Clouds of Sils Maria”, it’s one of my favorite movies of all time. If her performance is anything like that in “Personal Shopper”, then heeeeeeeell yes!

          • sheila says:

            // I’m still not over “Clouds of Sils Maria”, //

            I know. That movie haunts me.

          • sheila says:

            Personal Shopper has some similarities – which are fascinating, considering it’s the same director. He seems to be working something out, in his love for Stewart – he seems to like seeing her in a more submissive role, a highly capable woman who is a sidekick to someone much more powerful – an employee, in other words. A woman working for another woman who has enormous power and charisma.

            I was truly freaked out by Personal Shopper – and the whole thing is grounded by Stewart’s performance. She’s so damn good.

  4. Jessie says:

    Thank you. Sorely needed.

  5. shahn says:

    …and the most influential woman in my life, Judy Blume.
    Thank you for this.

  6. Bethany says:

    Thank you, Sheila. This was glorious.

  7. Debra T. says:

    As I was scrolling down I kept thinking will she be on it..and she would be. Over and Over.
    Thanks

  8. Brooke A L says:

    This list is INSANE!! I was just happy to see Dietrich and Paglia but I kept thinking, “I wonder if she added so and so…” and you did! Setsuko Hara (in Late Spring no less) and Jean Stapleton!!! There are so many great photos in here. I love the one of Liz playing pool, Viola Davis, Diane Arbus, Jane Fonda, I LOVE the Lauren Bacall photo on the cover of Harper’s. Stunning. Love the Charlize Mad Max gif and the Gilda gif! I FINALLY saw Gilda this past week… not at a theatre but on a big screen at a bar. I asked my friend if it was the Criterion release (it was), and I looked in the booklet just to say, “Sheila O’Malley wrote this!”. You must be so proud. Gilda is something else. Hayworth is a goddamn force.

    • sheila says:

      Setsuko Hara! I just love her so much. and Jean Stapleton!!! Yes! I just did another Criterion booklet for the movie Something Wild – and Jean Stapleton has a small role as the boozy prostitute who lives next door. Pre-All in the Family. She’s fantastic! SUCH a good actress!!

      I am so excited you just saw Gilda!!

      I was super proud to write thatGilda essay. It’s a pretty crowded field of writers in film noir. and I was happy that they “let me” focus a lot on Hayworth’s star power – and what she brought to it (which was mainly everything. Imagine that movie without her. ??? Not possible!)

      Thank you for your enthusiasm. This really was fun to put together. and finding the pics even funner. I had never seen the Tilda gif before – or the one of Liz playing pool!

      • Brooke A L says:

        She looks so scary!! That’s what I meant when I told you on another post that she looked so intimidating to me… until I saw her in interviews where she seems totally different.

        Yes, Gilda. My god. Hayworth. She is stellar from beginning to end, but she goes sooo far across the line in that film. The “Who put the blame on mame” bit at the end is unlike anything I’ve seen, at least at that time. She just lets it rip and doesn’t give a shit. Her performance is dangerous because of that, and like some weird, sad celebration? I don’t even know how to describe it. Like a descent or a free fall into something very dark and magical. It’s such a bizarre film, a really odd noir.

        Setsuko Hara in Late Spring. Her performance haunts me. It’s one that has marked me (Lynn Carlin is another one. But FACES is a whole other story, another one that haunts me). I’m almost traumatized by it. And Jean Stapleton. I honestly haven’t seen her in anything besides AITF, which is a shame, and I need to rectify that. But I LOVE AITF, I have since I was a teenager, and through my twenties, but in the last year or so it has really dawned on me how exceptional it was – the writing, the acting, the relationships and how they dealt with race, class, and all the isms with humour, complexity, and depth. Every episode she just goes beyond, but there’s one where, when I even just think about it for a second, I start to cry. In the span of a minute or so where she starts and ends in the performance blows my mind every time. She was extraordinary as Edith. When Norman Lear was struggling with the idea of killing off the character, Jean said to him that she was “just a character”, and he said, “not to me she isn’t”. There you go. I know how he felt.

        • sheila says:

          Brooke:

          // Her performance is dangerous because of that, and like some weird, sad celebration? //

          God, I know. Just an unforgettable scene. I think I wrote in my piece that that scene is super sexy – but also tragic – especially when she invites all the men up onstage to unzip her dress. This is 1946. It’s a commentary on what’s REALLY going on – kind of the ugly underbelly of what she represented. I don’t know how the hell she pulled that off.

          So fascinating that you put Setsuko Hara and Lynn Carlin together – I am also haunted by both of them and those two performances in particular. The fact that Carlin was a secretary? a PREGNANT secretary? and Cassavetes liked her so gave her that part and then she’s THAT good? and painful? Amazing.

          I so agree with you about All in the Family. I watch episodes now and it feels so DANGEROUS. Like, it just could not be done now. I mean, South Park gets away with that kind of vicious satirical commentary – but it’s not the same thing at all. I mean, people are fired or suspended for making a bad joke on Twitter. and something about All in the Family – just puts it all OUT there, to discuss, make fun of, criticize – It was just such an extraordinary show.

          and she is so brilliant. She could make you howl with laughter and also break your heart. The scene where she has to tell Archie that she was almost raped – I mean, I have goosebumps just thinking about it. His work, too. I mean, who was more brilliant than him?

          It’s an acting FEAST, that show.

  9. Pat says:

    I was so happy to see Edie Sedgwick on this list – I read her biography (by Jean Stein) in my early 20’s and became obsessed with her and the time period when she was happening.

    • sheila says:

      Pat – I had a similar experience with Edie Sedgwick! I love that you did too!

      I read that Jean Stein book in my senior year in high school and became completely obsessed. She just had that “It” factor. You can tell.

  10. Barb says:

    Overwhelming list, it’s just amazing! I love the way you’ve put the images together, so that some of them comment on each other across time. Goldie Hawn to Cyndi Lauper, for example.

    To add? Melinda Dillon? Jennifer Jason Leigh and Phoebe Cates? Patsy Cline? June Carter Cash? Esther Rolle? Alison Blechdel? Joelle Carter? Nichelle Nichols?

    Concidentally, I stayed up way too late last night watching Jackie Brown, maybe my favorite Tarantino flick, so I was drawn to Pam Grier’s gif in your list! All those tight close ups of Jackie’s face, the way she smokes, the way she seems to let her guard down listening to the Delphonics – man alive! I could watch that movie with the sound off and just stare at her.

    • sheila says:

      Barb – thank you for noticing my truly obsessive photo-placement. There was a method to my madness. (“Okay, so I need to put the three similar poses together where the girls are wearing saddle/tennis shoes …” I mean, it got to that level). But it was fun!

      Phoebe Cates!!! Patsy Cline! Esther Rolle! Yes!!

      I definitely should have done the Carter family girls! – and I just heard the sad news that Maggie Roche died – and I haven’t thought of the Roches in years but we were really into them in college. Do you remember them? If I ever add to this list, they will be on it.

      and oh man, Jackie Brown. You can just tell how in awe Tarantino is of her in the way he films her. Which is just as it should be.

      There’s a great anecdote in a book about Cary Grant. He had seen Pam Grier in one of her big blaxploitation movies and became totally obsessed with her. He saw Foxy Brown multiple times, and he would say to his assistant, or his chauffeur, whoever it was who was coming with him to the theatre – “Come along now, we can’t keep Miss Grier waiting.”

      I just find that so charming and beautiful.

      As my friend Felicia says, “Game recognizes game.”

  11. Old Timey says:

    Wonderful list. I have much historical reading ahead of me! Please keep updating the list as this could be a very valuable website for starting educational discussions!

    May I be so bold as to ask you to post the following?
    Joan of Arc
    Mother Theresa
    Mary Stuart aka Mary Queen of Scots
    Linda Hamilton
    Oprah Winfrey
    Madonna
    Lady Gaga

    • sheila says:

      “Old Timey” –

      // May I be so bold as to ask you to post the following?// It’s not that kind of list. It’s not put together by a group. It is a list put together by me. There are a couple of people on your list that I would never ever include on my own. So no, those names don’t belong on mine. But thank you for sharing yours!

  12. Nicola says:

    I’ve gone over this list a few times now. Hot damn, I’m fired up. This weekend has been amazing even from my outside the US point of view.

    And as always, super stoked to see Kristen Stewart. She’s pretty much my favourite anything right now. She was just at Sundance promoting a short she wrote and directed. So excited for any new work she’s putting out. (Also spoke about Trump’s bizarre obsession with her a few years back. *shudders*)

    I think I’ll do a list of my own tomorrow.

    • Nicola says:

      Kristen Stewart
      Elizabeth Warren
      Elizabeth Gaskell
      Michelle Obama
      Meryl Streep
      Etta James
      Patti Smith
      Tina Fey
      Charlotte Brontë
      Tilda Swinton
      FKA twigs
      Viola Davis
      Dakota Johnson
      Marion Cotillard
      Sofia Coppola
      Emma Stone
      Joan Jett
      Lorde
      Nina Simone
      Sarah Paulson
      St. Vincent
      Tavi Gevinson
      Miley Cyrus
      Brie Larson
      Missy Elliott
      Mindy Kaling
      Katy Perry
      Louisa May Alcott
      Katharine Hepburn
      Kate McKinnon
      Maya Rudolph
      Julie Andrews
      Deborah Kerr
      Scarlett Johansson
      Carrie Fisher
      Jennifer Lawrence
      Aretha Franklin
      Emma Thompson
      Everybody who participated in the Women’s march
      You

      I had to stop myself.

      • sheila says:

        Aw, your last entry really touched me – thank you!

        Brie Larson! St. Vincent! I love them!

        It’s interesting you mention Dakota Johnson – I’m reviewing Fifty Shades Darker – which comes out next month. I never saw Fifty Shades of Grey so I just watched it a couple of days ago.

        Jamie Dornan, first of all, was so good in The Fall – which I just binge-watched last month – so I enjoyed watching him work, although the character he played in The Fall was far more interesting. But what was so interesting to me about Dakota Johnson is that despite the material – I mean, honestly, the movie is pretty bad – her sense of humor canNOT be repressed. I was very impressed by that. I have no idea who she is as a person – I loved her in Bigger Splash – but there, she had a good script to deal with. It’s very telling when an actress can survive a BAD script. Anyone can be good with a good script. She has one moment in 50 Shades where she’s drunk and she calls up Mr. Grey from a nightclub. He says something to her, and she says, “You hit the hail on the ned!” One of those moments in life that we all have where you say the wrong words or mix something up – and she did it so naturally that it looked real. It didn’t seem like a forced joke. It just seemed like she was drunk and trying to say something and couldn’t get it out.

        Also: to maintain your natural sense of humor in a dreary film like that – where your character is not written to be funny at ALL – is no small thing!! She’s kind of riveting.

  13. Amy says:

    Tina Fey
    Tracee Ellis-Ross
    Georgia O’Keefe
    Carole King
    Stockard Channing
    Julia Child

  14. Clary says:

    Hi Sheila
    What a post!! Love it! I must begin reading about many of them! So many different women, so many options!
    I would add Wisława Szymborska, her poem The End and the Beginning makes me think after Syria’s war, there will be women cleaning right now:
    After every war
    someone has to clean up.
    Things won’t
    straighten themselves up, after all.

  15. sheila says:

    Peter – Oops, thank you for catching that. Will fix!

    I love that movie so much too. I felt the same way – it was like a dream. I reviewed for Ebert.

    I am so looking forward to her next film.

  16. Peter says:

    Great list. I feel to google all women in this list who I don’t know.
    My two favorites are Britney Spears and Edith Head! I miss Janis Joplin though.

    • sheila says:

      Have fun Googling!

      I have always been a fan of Brit-Brit from Day One! I really like her latest album too!

      And – sadly – I’m not a fan of Janis. I appreciate her contributions to music and her stature, but she’s just not my thing. I’m glad she’s yours, though!

  17. Mancuso says:

    By the time I got to Nina Simone I was bawling. Bawling. And I’m a 50-year old straight white guy. This list is just magic.

  18. HelenaG says:

    I love that every year that you post this list, you add new names (and striking images). Quite a few new ones this year, I thought, if memory serves me…

  19. Barb says:

    Hello, June Carter! Hello, all you gorgeous and amazing women of Supernatural! And, Amy Acker, too! Great to see this list, Sheila– May it grow every day.

    • sheila says:

      Barb – Thanks!

      It occurs to me I should put Ellen and Jo on too!! I don’t know why I didn’t. The original Supernatural women!

      I love Amy Acker so much!

      • HelenaG says:

        Perhaps you may want to check out Angel (the Buffy spinoff) some time. Such a great show, and Amy Acker’s performance there is to die for. I agree that she is wonderful.

        • sheila says:

          I’ve heard a lot about Angel. I need to catch up with Buffy – in general. Like the X-Files, I completely missed the cultural phenomenon as it was happening in real time.

          • Lyrie says:

            I know you are so busy, but yes, you do! How I would have loved to have you and this space to discuss Angel when I first discovered it.

  20. I look forward to this every year! Such a great list.

    Question: No Elizabeth I?

    I love her. Then again, maybe I love Glenda Jackson and Helen Mirren playing her. Anyway, Best Monarch Ever

    • sheila says:

      Jincy –

      I love that someone who is ON the list is commenting ABOUT the list. hahaha It’s so meta.

      You know, I really admire Elizabeth I as a leader … nerves of steel that one!! – and I totally love both of those performances too – but I think the reason she didn’t occur to me for list-inclusion is because of the Irish Question. My father would roll over in his grave if I put a British monarch on here. Just on principle! hahaha I’m sure some other people on this list had negative feelings a/b the Irish – or in general had opinions that don’t match up with mine – so I’m not being very consistent! Maybe I should put her portrait up below Grania the Pirate Queen – since the two of them had a very interesting personal interaction!!

  21. Desirae says:

    I love this list, and I love that it gets impossibly longer each year. What a collection of fabulous faces. Where else can you find Angelica Schuyler Church and Odetta in the same place?

    • sheila says:

      Thanks, Desirae. It is impossibly long! Ha! I was like, “Wait – how could I have forgotten Jane Langton???” (ad nauseum)

      Angelica was such a pistol.

  22. Scott Abraham says:

    Seventy five swipe-ups to get to Irene Dunne. Was seriously gonna bum the day if she didn’t get some love.

  23. sheila says:

    I don’t know her! Thanks for the rec!

  24. Jessie says:

    thank you again, another year! I love seeing the new names. So many inspirations on this list. This morning I am thinking about Natalie Portman — last night we watched Jane Got a Gun and although it’s not perfect I really admire her determination to Get It Done.

    • sheila says:

      Oh my gosh, yes, you have mentioned the Natalie Portman bent of your household and I love it. She definitely should be on here – I’ve been a fan since The Professional. Beautiful Girls may very well be my favorite. I haven’t seen Annihilation yet and I am very curious.

      • Jessie says:

        ahaha oh no this Portman thing will be our legacy, it’s true. I’m not as obsessed as L but I find her a fascinating actor — I think she’s very very good (and getting better) but easily miscast, as she is in Jane Got a Gun. Obviously part of her persona is the austere, reserved thing and she excels in those performances (Black Swan, Jackie) — but people undervalue (and worse, dismiss) her facility with being absolutely present in moments of joy, curiosity, happiness — eg in ‘lesser’ roles like the Thor series. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Annihilation!

        • sheila says:

          //people undervalue (and worse, dismiss) her facility with being absolutely present in moments of joy, curiosity, happiness //

          One of my favorite performances of hers is in Beautiful Girls. I can’t imagine the reaction to that whole part of the film now – !!!! But in my recollection (it’s been a while) – the whole thing doesn’t come off as creepy – he’s drawn to her, because she’s that kind of person already. But I’d have to see it again.

          She was perfect in that movie.

  25. Hillary says:

    Damn! This has to be my new favorite list of anything, EVER. Thank you so much for putting them all together, especially for taking the time to group them the way you did.
    It flowed verrrrrry nicely.
    As I was scrolling I kept thinking— ‘Oh, I better see so-&-so on here’ and they would literally pop up! For awhile there I worried Joan Cusack didn’t make your cut lol. I love you for making this list. Especially for putting Tura on it! I’d like to add all the Russ Meyer Girls, certified American badasses. Now I’ve got lots of other names to research, thanks again!

    • Hillary says:

      And by the way— that Cameron Diaz gif following the Bettie Page gif is perfect placement at its BEST!

      • sheila says:

        Isn’t that hilarious?? I had another image of Cameron up – I love her – and then I was like … waaaaiit a minute … lemme see if there’s a gif of that Charlie’s Angels moment because it can go HERE.

        God bless all the gif-makers out there. I couldn’t do without them!

    • sheila says:

      Hillary – thank you so much!! Thank you for endlessly scrolling!

      Tura is the best. I have a Tura refrigerator magnet, because of course, I want to look at her every morning when I go to get the orange juice. She gives me courage.

      Glad you enjoyed. It was fun to group the images together. It kinda just happened that way – or I’d start to notice themes in the images: white background, black background, people smoking, people crying, asymettrically placed faces, full-body shots legs akimbo, etc.

      I am sure I will keep tinkering. If new women occur to me – I’m putting them on!

      • Hillary says:

        Fantastic. Glad to know this is a living, breathing list of inspiration.
        May it never be completed!

        • sheila says:

          Who’d be on yours – besides the ones we’ve mentioned?

          • Hillary says:

            Man, mannnny of yours. Bea Arthur for the win. Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Eartha Kitt. Kathleen Turner, Betty White, Edy Williams… gosh idk I could type for days. Your name would also make the cut! Really any woman being her authentic self, strong women speak to me.

          • sheila says:

            Hillary – so nice, thank you!

            I really should just get an image of the Golden Girls all together, although Bea Arthur is my favorite. But that ensemble just can’t be beat. It’s some kind of weird magical alchemy that feels completely radical.

  26. Hillary says:

    Forgot to mention— the great and powerful Kathleen Turner belongs on this list :)

    • sheila says:

      Ha! I agree! She’s there!! She’s in the “crying” section.

      • Hillary says:

        HOW DID I MISS HER?!

        • sheila says:

          hahahaha That gif is kind of small compared with the GIANT CRYING LADIES who came before her.

          I love that moment in Romancing the Stone so much!

          • Hillary says:

            Same. The backstory of RtheS was the spark that lit the writing fire for me. I’ve always written & loved film but never put them together until I heard the story of this script… Just a waitress with a screenplay. I don’t mean to romanticize her tragic end, but all of it— just magic.

          • Hillary says:

            Dianne Renee Thomas. Pitched the Romancing script to Michael Douglas and made her career. She later died in the Porche Douglas bought for her as a ‘thank you.’ Damn.

          • sheila says:

            I love that Romancing the Stone was the spark for you!! That’s wonderful.

          • sheila says:

            and wow – I do not know anything about that screenwriter. Thanks for the glimpse – off to Google to learn more.

  27. http://www.sixtiesmusicsecrets.com/2017/08/31/whats-a-matter-baby/

    Hey Shelia, been reading you a long time, I also write a popular blog called sixtiesmusicsecrets
    One of your pieces caught my eye and I thought I’d send a link to a piece I wrote about one of my favorite girl singers…..Timi Yuro ! I thought you’d enjoy it and take a minute to check out my site
    Love the way you write Shelia, keep up the great work!
    Rick

    • sheila says:

      Rick – thank you so much for the link, I will check it out!! and thanks for being a longtime reader – I always appreciate it.

  28. Melanie says:

    So many awesome ladies and I especially enjoyed the groupings and the flow from one group to the next.

  29. maedchenhaft says:

    thank you so much!!!

  30. gina in alabama says:

    Florence “Pancho” Barnes
    Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran
    Beryl Markham
    Lise Meitner
    Frida Kahlo
    Berthe Morisot
    Cecilia Beaux

  31. Donna Thomas says:

    Great list. Just did an evening researching just one of your posts. The two UC Berkeley officers who noticed something off about a man and his two children in their office and end up solving the Jaycee Dugard. case.

    • sheila says:

      Donna – those two women are just HEROES to me. Have you seen the press conference they gave once the news broke? It’s about half an hour long, and they walk us through every choice they made, every observation they had – how they went with their gut that something was very wrong (although they had no idea just HOW wrong).

      They also didn’t know each other particularly well – they weren’t partners. One worked security, one was a cop. But they mind-melded through this experience.

      I just admire them both so much!

  32. regina Bartkoff says:

    Sheila

    I was thinking about posting some of my heroes today but I felt I couldn’t post just one.
    Then I remembered your list and came over here and wondered if you posted it again. Yay! It’s growing! Not even halfway through I started laughing. This is so insane and out of control it’s so great! You would probably break fb if you posted this! Wonderful, inspiring post!

    • sheila says:

      Regina – hahaha It is literally insane – the page loads so slowly because it’s overwhelmed. Maybe I should break it up into Part and Part 2 because it’s A LOT. My site can’t handle it!!

  33. Brooke Thomas says:

    Oh my efing God. I don’t know why I haven’t seen this list before but thank God I’m seeing it now. Wow. Amazing. Frances Farmer, Sarah Megan Thomas, George Elliot! There were so many! I honestly can’t remember them all. All I know is that I LOVE WOMEN! xoxoxo

    • sheila says:

      Swordfish!! So happy to “see you” here!

      Sarah Megan Thomas! Yay! so happy to hear you say her name. I admire her career so much – and her whole attitude towards the profession. like, I’m so HERE for what she’s about!

      // I honestly can’t remember them all. //

      hahahaha neither can I!

      Love you, friend!

  34. Bill Wolfe says:

    This was inspiring and more than a little humbling. Your choice of photos is stupendous – always unexpected and fresh and revealing of some deep aspect of the woman that the more conventional PR shots fail to reveal (or deliberately hide – presumably because of an assumption by the folks in charge that the public wouldn’t be able to handle the stronger images).

    Of all the choices, I somehow was most gratified by the inclusion of Michelle Meyrink. Her performance in Real Genius is one of my all-time favorites. That one and Jill Schoelin’s in The Stepfather are the two lost fantabulous performances from the 1980s by women who never again had a chance to show what they could do.

    • sheila says:

      // Michelle Meyrink //

      Right?? I love that character so much and she meant a LOT to me in the 80s.

      and thanks! Picking photos is the funnest part of this yearly thing. and then there are little accidental photo-theme clusters – women lying on the ground! women smoking! women crying! – lol or they started as accidents and now I just find a photo and think “oh okay she’s crying, let me go find the crying section.

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