Yvonne De Carlo (1941)
Known affectionately as the “Paramount test queen,” actress extraordinaire Yvonne De Carlo won hearts even before she arrived in Hollywood. After winning multiple beauty pageant honors, Yvonne traveled to Hollywood and was great for every sort of job she pursued, no matter how flexible. This made it difficult to put her in the ideal role for a film until she got the attention of Cecile B. DeMille. He would cast her in the renowned role of Moses’ wife in The Ten Commandments, a blockbuster that was ahead of its time.
Anita Ekberg (1952)
Anita Ekberg, also known as Miss Sweden, wasn’t very well-known for her playing abilities; she wasn’t particularly talented in the theater—but she did manage to achieve a degree of celebrity that she is still remembered for today. Anita quickly rose to prominence as a pinup model, taking the spotlight at the Miss USA Pageant and charming the socks off just about everyone with her broken yet endearingly terrible English speech. And, while she wasn’t very good at acting, she did win a Golden Globe early in her career, as well as dates with some of Hollywood’s top stars, like Errol Flynn.
Anita Ekberg (1950)
Anita Ekberg had no desire to be a celebrity before she was found for the acting industry. Still, her mother persuaded her to enter the Miss Malmo competition, which Anita went on to win, opening the door to the larger Miss Sweden pageant. After winning that, Anita competed in the worldwide Miss Universe pageant, where she did not win but finished in the top 5, putting her in front of a slew of talent scouts eager to make her famous.
Marlene Dietrich (1942)
With her appearance in the film Morocco, Marlene Dietrich would make tremendous waves in the Hollywood censorship world. Before this film, there was no censorship, and Marlene brilliantly presented a few onscreen firsts: cross-dressing, androgynous sexuality, and a genuine onstage kiss between two women. The Motion Picture Association promptly responded to the outrage by developing guidelines and ratings to classify lesbians on film as “evil” for decades.