Julie Andrews
(1935- )

She sang like an angel in Mary Poppins and made fun of her sweetness-and-light image in S.O.B.

Best Films: Mary Poppins (1964), The Americanization of Emily (1964), The Sound of Music (1965), Torn Curtain (1966), Hawaii (1966), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Star! (1968), 10 (1979), S.O.B. (1981), Victor/Victoria (1982), The Man Who Loved Women (1983), That's Life! (1986), Duet for One (1986), The Princess Diaries (2001) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), Shrek 2 (2004) and Shrek the Third (2007)

Jean Arthur
(1905-1991)

Arthur excelled at playing brisk, witty, no-nonsense career girls who could go toe-to-toe with any man.

Best Films: The Whole Town's Talking (1935), The Plainsman (1936), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), History is Made at Night (1937), Easy Living (1937), You Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), The Talk of the Town (1942), The More the Merrier (1943), A Foreign Affair (1948), Shane (1953)

Lauren Bacall
(1924-2014)

In The Big Sleep, the young Bacall's sultry voice and tough-girl swagger captivated men and women alike.

Best Films: To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), Key Largo (1948), Young Man With a Horn (1950), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), Written on the Wind (1956), Designing Woman (1957), Harper (1966), The Shootist (1976), Misery (1990), The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), Le Jour et La Nuit (1997), The Venice Project (1999), Presence of Mind (1999), The Limit (2003), Dogville (2003), Birth (2004)

Ingrid Bergman
(1915-1982)

Soulful star Bergman made doomed romance look good in Casablanca and self-loathing even better in Notorious.

Best Films: Intermezzo: A Love Story (1936) and (1939), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), Casablanca (1942), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Gaslight (1944), The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), Saratoga Trunk (1945), Spellbound (1945), Notorious (1946), Joan of Arc (1948), Stromboli (1949), Under Capricorn (1949), Voyage in Italy (1953), Anastasia (1956), Indiscreet (1958), The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), The Yellow Rolls Royce (1964), Cactus Flower (1969), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Autumn Sonata (1978)

Halle Berry
(1966- )

A teenage beauty-pageant winner, Berry dressed down to star in Monster's Ball, proving she's more than a (very) pretty face.

Best Films: Jungle Fever (1991), The Last Boy Scout (1991), Strictly Business (1991), Boomerang (1992), The Program (1993), The Flintstones (1994), Losing Isaiah (1995), Executive Decision (1996), Race the Sun (1996), The Rich Man's Wife (1996), B*A*P*S (1997), Bulworth (1998), Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998), X-Men (2000), Monster's Ball (2001), Swordfish (2001), Die Another Day (2002), X2: X-Men United (2003), Gothika (2003), Catwoman (2004), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Perfect Stranger (2007), New Year's Eve (2011), Cloud Atlas (2012)

Cate Blanchett
(1969- )

Blanchett sexed up the queen in Elizabeth and turned men's blood to ice as a Nazi in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Best Films: Oscar and Lucinda (1997), Thank God He Met Lizzie (1997), Elizabeth (1998), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Gift (2000), The Shipping News (2001), Charlotte Gray (2001), The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003), Veronica Guerin (2003), The Aviator (2004), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Babel (2006), The Good German (2006), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), I'm Not There (2007), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), Blue Jasmine (2013), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

Sandra Bullock
(1966- )

Bullock is the girl next door -- smart, nice, pretty, loyal, and fun. Who cares if her movies are forgettable?

Best Films: Love Potion No. 9 (1991), Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993), Demolition Man (1993), Speed (1994), The Net (1995), While You Were Sleeping (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), In Love and War (1996), Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), Hope Floats (1998), Practical Magic (1998), Forces of Nature (1999), 28 Days (2000), Miss Congeniality (2000), Gun Shy (2000), Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), Murder By Numbers (2002), Two Weeks Notice (2002), Crash (2005), Infamous (2006), The Lake House (2006), Premonition (2007), The Blind Side (2009), The Proposal (2009), Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), Gravity (2013)

Claudette Colbert
(1905-1996)

Colbert could do just about anything -- historical dramas, women's weepies, musicals -- but she was the quintessential runaway heiress.

Best Films: The Sign of the Cross (1932), Cleopatra (1934), Imitation of Life (1934), It Happened One Night (1934), Private Worlds (1935), Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), Midnight (1939), Arise, My Love (1940), Boom Town (1940), The Palm Beach Story (1942), So Proudly We Hail! (1943), Since You Went Away (1944), Without Reservations (1946), The Egg and I (1947), Three Came Home (1950)

Joan Crawford
(1904-1977)

No one worked harder. From Our Dancing Daughters to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, she remained in the limelight.

Best Films: Our Dancing Daughters (1928), Untamed (1929), Dance, Fools, Dance (1931), Grand Hotel (1932), Rain (1932), Dancing Lady (1933), Chained (1934), Sadie McKee (1934), The Gorgeous Hussy (1936), The Bride Wore Red (1937), The Women (1939), Strange Cargo (1940), Mildred Pierce (1945), Humoresque (1946), Possessed (1947), Flamingo Road (1949), Sudden Fear (1952), Torch Song (1953), Johnny Guitar (1954), Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Bette Davis
(1908-1989)

She had offbeat looks and a quirky voice, but when Davis was onscreen everyone else disappeared.

Best Films: Of Human Bondage (1934), Dangerous (1935), The Petrified Forest (1936), Jezebel (1938), Dark Victory (1939), The Old Maid (1939), All This and Heaven Too (1940), The Letter (1940), The Little Foxes (1941), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), Now, Voyager (1942), Watch on the Rhine (1943), Mr. Skeffington (1944), Beyond the Forest (1949), All About Eve (1950), Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Whales of August (1987)