Femmes Fatales | Sep 6 2018 |
Ascent of a woman.
French actress Hélène Chanel was born Hélène Stoliaroff, and since the fragrance Chanel No. 5 predates her birth we guessed she deliberately borrowed the name for her pseudonym. How's that for some crack detective work? We're more than just pretty faces around here. But we may have been wrong. The story goes that she actually chose “Chancel” for her last name, but her agent—ahem—misspelled it “Chanel.” In any case, Hélène Chanel is how she went through the rest of her career, as she starred in numerous films, including Killer calibro 32, Cjamango, and Asso di picche: Operazione controspionaggio, aka Operation Counterspy. And she's also this person's sister, which would make her Chanel No. 2 as far as we're concerned, except for the fact that her sis chose a different pseudonym. We'll let them sort out the pecking order at the next family get together.
Femmes Fatales | Oct 6 2015 |
Working in Bardot’s shadow.
Thea Fleming, aka Thea Fammy, née Thea Catharina Wihelmina Gemma Pfennings, is a Dutch actress who was packaged as “The Brigitte Bardot of Holland.” We don’t know if that was because of her talent or looks, but in any case she actually spent most of her career not in Holland but in Italy, working under the stage name Isabella Biancini. She was never a big star, no Bardot by any measure, but she made some memorable movies, including Salome ’73, Asso di picche—Operazione controspionaggio, aka Operation Counterspy, and Il nostro agente a Casablanca, aka The Killer Lacks a Name. This great shot is from around 1970.