A gallery of Hitchcock's cool blondes from Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue

That photo of Marion Cotillard that I used below remind me of that Hitchcock photoshoot that Vanity Fair used in their Hollywood Issue this March. Here's a selection of today's leading ladies doing their best to emulate the greats of Hitch's era; Renee Zellweger as Kim Novak in Vertigo; Cate Blanchett as Grace Kelly in Rear Window (with hot Javier Bardem); Naomi Watts with 'Tippi' Hedren super-crazy upswept hair in Marnie; Keira Knightly as Joan Fontaine in Rebecca with Jennifer Jason Leigh as dykey Judith Anderson; Jodie Foster as 'Tippi' Hedren stuck in the telephone box in The Birds; Charlize Theron about to get strangled as Grace Kelly in Dial M for Murder; Gwyneth Paltrow as Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief with Robert Downey Jr as Cary Grant.

I saw a piece about this on the E Channel over the weekend and the woman from Vanity Fair came across as if she'd been on some herbal cigarettes. She was talking about working with Renee Zellweger and going (and I paraphrase here..): "Renee, like, was, really acting. She, like, saw the movie a hundred times and was watching it on the set so, like, when we went to shoot she was, like, really feeling it."

I don't care if Renee is feeling it or not, I just want her to open her damn eyes! If you look carefully, she actually does that in this photo. See, she doesn't have little slits, her eyes can actually open. Now all we have to do is get her to do that when she's making a film.

Gloriously campy Tallulah Bankhead in Hitchcock's "Lifeboat"!

I was having a duvet day yesterday as I was feeling a little 'delicate' from the New Year's Eve celebrations from the night before. I had a recording of Alfred Hitchcock's splendid war film Lifeboat on my PVR so I treated myself to an afternoon of some Tallulah and chocolate.

Tallulah Bankhead was a wonderfully flamboyant American actress who found fame on the English stage back in the 1920s before attempting Hollywood and returning the the Broadway stage in the 1930s and 40s. She made few films so it's a treat to see her in rare leading role with her trademark throaty laugh and campy delivery. I've told this story about the making of the film before but it's worth repeating:

Tallulah wore no underpants during shooting. As she had to mount a little ladder each day to board the boat, she ensured that her sans culottes state was public knowledge. Not everyone was charmed. The unit manager reported some churlish complaints on the set. Hitchcock told him to ask Darryl Zanuck, the production chief, what to do. The man returned to report that Zanuck had told him to tell Tallulah to wear undies.

“Oh, I wouldn’t if I were you,” said Hitchcock gravely, “It’s not your department.”

“Whose department is it?”

“Wardrobe,” said Hitchcock thoughtfully. “Or perhaps hairdressing.”

The film is full of snappy dialogue and wit. My favourite campy line from Tallulah come towards the end when Tallulah donates her diamond bracelet to be taken apart and used as fish bait: "I can recommend the bait. I ought to know, I've bitten on it myself!"

Priceless.