Since the invention of America’s film industry, we have always talked about its leading ladies. From their dresses to hairstyles, they are icons for their generations but what happens to these lovely ladies when the clock turns and they aren’t young or fresh-faced anymore?
Well, what follows is that most get sidelined by the same industry that lifted them up and their work opportunities get dwindled with each passing year. But, many actresses are fighting against this blatant agism in Hollywood and shedding the light on this issue.
Here are all the powerful actresses,
01. Raquel Welch
After staring in many local productions the American actress and singer made her big breakthrough in her role in Fantastic Voyage, in 1966. Before she entered Hollywood, she studied comedy at the University of San Diego.
This 79-year-old, yes, 79, still shows a class and elegance that baffles us all. During her far and few public appearances, Welch always makes sure to discuss female-led issues in Hollywood.
02. Kelly Le Brock
Kelly Le Brock is an actress who spent her entire childhood in London, Great Britain. However, she made her debut in an American-style romantic comedy entitled” The Girl in Red” in 1984.
She is the late 80s IT girl then and even to this day, has maintained her spunky personality and on-trend style. While still an active actor Le Brock is known to put her family first, saying “Success for me its to raise happy, healthy human beings”
03. Morgan Fairchild
Morgan Fairchild, now over 70 years old, is still as attractive as she was in her early years. She has shot in many series like” Dallas”, ”Falcon Crest” and also in the famous series” Friends”, where she plays the role of Chandler’s mother.
We won’t even get into the bizarre and weird storyline of when Chandler’s friends try to “seduce” the “sexy mother”. She still graces us every now and then with Red Carpet appearances, her most recent being in 2018.
04. Sofia Vergara
The Colombian actress was made famous by her role in the hit series “Modern Family”, a role she still plays after several years. Her stunning accent, charming personality and #goals body has smitten men and women alike.
Not only has the star won four Golden Globe and Emmy Awards for her performance but she is also a proud feminist and urges the younger generation to “do better”. As of 2019, she is one of the top-paid actresses on American Television.
05. Farrah Fawcett
She was the idol of women all over the world in the 1970s, with her beautiful blonde curls, her lovely smile and her stunning blue eyes. Once seen in numerous commercials and nominated six times for the Golden Globe, overnight though Hollywood has forgotten about this leading lady.
As soon as Farah started ageing away and her ‘looks” starting changing due to age, Hollywood completely forgot about her. Unfortunately, the actress was diagnosed with cancer and died of the disease in 2009 at the age of 62.
06. Katey Sagal
This actress, who is also a singer, is known to have played in the famous series” Married, Two Children” for many years. She has since toured in other series such as “Don’t touch my Daughter” and “Sons of Anarchy” from 2008 to 2014. She also lent her voice to the animated series” Futurama”.
Kate has no plans of stopping anytime soon and is working on several projects. She is happily married to writer-producer Kurt Sutter. She is one of the few on our list, who is hopeful about the future of Hollywood. Stating “people are watching women in their mid-fifties is because a lot of those women feel great and have different, interesting stories to tell”
07. Molly Ringwald
She was successful through roles in movies such as “Sixteen Candles for Sam” and the very famous” Breakfast Club” which made her shoot to fame. She even refused leading roles like” Pretty Woman” and” Ghost”!
She also played a small part in” She’s Too Good” and had a supporting role in a series for a few years. Ringwald mostly focuses on playing jazz and writes a column in the newspaper” The Guardian”.
08. Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda became famous in the 1960s following the success of the film “Barbarella”. She then put on a sports outfit and made a series of fitness videos in the 1980s motivating thousands of women to get into exercise.
She received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 and has won 2 Oscars. Most thought that Fonda, should “retire” but she has no plans of stopping with her currently starring in the Netflix series” Grace and Frankie”.
09. Barbara Bach
Barbara Bach was a much sought-after model in her early years and through being seen in advertising campaigns, she managed to get small roles in Italy. She speaks Italian, French and Spanish.
She was also a James Bond Girl in the movie” The Spy Who Loved Me”. The actress married Ringo Starr in 1981 and both founded a charity in which they have been involved for years.
10. Lisa Whelchel
Lisa was successful because of her role in the sitcom” Funny Life” in the 1980s. She then went into music and proved to be very talented being nominated for the Grammy Awards for the album she had released at the time.
She is a woman of many talents who has also tried her hand at writing, publishing many books. When making public appearances, Lisa discusses how Hollywood pressurized her to “take it easy” as she aged.
11. Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster made her name as a teenager and is one of the great actresses of our time. The film” Taxi Driver” by Martin Scorsese propelled her to the top of the bill alongside Robert De Niro.
She then went on to make a series of films and even won an Oscar in 1988 for the films” The Accused” and a second Oscar for her role in” The Silence of the Lambs”. She has now moved to the other side of the camera as a director
12. Maggie Smith
She is the most recognizable actress in British cinema with over 50 films to her name and a career spanning over 60 years. Starring in everything from British series “Downtown to being known as Harry Potter’s teacher.
Throughout career, Smith has commented over and over again about the lack of respect and appreciation for mature actors “I don’t think films about elderly people have been made very much. I think of Cocoon and Driving Miss Daisy. But they always seem to be fairly successful, so it’s a bit baffling as to why everybody has to be treated as if they were five-years-old”
13. Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an international star and began her acting career in the 1970s. She has made many films that have left a lasting impression and has even won an Oscar and a BAFTA award.
She even played a role as Guest Star in the very famous series” Friends”. Sarandon does feel that she has been typecasted by Hollywood to always play the “mother” now and finds that you aren’t “allowed” to get old as an actress.
14. Diane Keaton
This woman has many talents and explores them all one by one. Indeed, she is not only an actress, director but also has worked as a producer, author and talented photographer! Apart from her work, her romantic relationship with Woody Allen early in her career in the 1970s caused quite the fuss.
With three Oscar nominations under her belt, you would think Keaton has endless work opportunities, but like many others on her list, she feels that all the roles offered to her are limiting and stereotypical.
15. Victoria Principal
The actress was born on January 3, 1950, in Japan but is American. Her father worked in the army, which explains her birth in Asia. She first appeared in commercials at the age of 5, then became Miss Miami when she was 19.
As she ages, many criticising her looks but she said “I believe that how you feel is very important to how you look – that healthy equals beautiful” Currently she plays small guest-starring roles for various t.v shows.
16. Meryl Streep
She is one of Hollywood’s greatest actresses who has always had a natural elegance and who is witty. Her career is impressive because she first finished her studies at Yale Fine Arts and then stared in huge big screen films such as: “Out of Africa”, “Mamma Mia” or “The Devil wears Prada”.
She has received numerous awards that testify to her great acting skills and has said: “It’s amazing what you can get if you quietly, clearly and authoritatively demand it.” We love that Streep isn’t afraid to flaunt her power and knows her worth!
17. Betty White
This woman is incredible. She is known to have the longest acting career of all time. She is now 96 years old and has been acting for over 75 years! She was the first woman to have produced her own television series.
When discussing age and Hollywood, she once remarked “I’m a teenager trapped in an old body” and we have to say, we agree. Especially, seeing Betty’s lively performances which are anything but boring.
18. Angela Bassett
Angela Bassett was the incarnation of Tina Turner for the film” Tina”. She was so incredible in that role that she won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. She chooses her roles carefully and does not play just any character.
She played Rosa Parks in the film” The Rosa Parks Story” and Coretta in” Betty and Coretta”. Always defying ageist stereotypes, she currently has a leading role in “American Horror Story”
19. Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn is a film legend. She represented beauty, elegance and style. She has appeared in many films including the most famous” Diamonds on the Sofa” and” Roman Holidays”.
She received many honours during her career. Many of her quotes still inspire young girls today, our favourite being “Beauty is being the best possible version of yourself, inside and out. Unfortunately died in Switzerland at the age of 63.
20. Halle Berry
Halle Berry was the first African-American actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her role in “Monster’s Ball”. She started her career as a model and even finished second at Miss USA 1986.
Every time we get a glimpse of Berry, we can’t believe that she is 50 years old. “There have been so many people who have said to me, ‘You can’t do that,’ but I’ve had an innate belief that they were wrong. Be unwavering and relentless in your approach”
21. Dawn French
Dawn French is a talented actress that is loved by many. She was nominated seven times at the British Academy Television Awards and has written and performed in numerous sketches for the series” French and Saunders”.
“Turning 50 can be difficult, sometimes dangerous, for women. The danger is in that blip that can come from the fact that you become invisible, and if you’re not careful and don’t embrace that, it can trip you up and you lose confidence”
22. Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines is her real name but we all know her as Donna Summer, the great singer, composer and actress. Born and raised in the United States, Summer came from a big musical family.
“Nobody wants you to stop, obviously because you’re a moneymaking machine. But you have to make the decision and you have to move forward. So I took time off to have babies and do all that.” We are glad that Donna, took time off Hollywood before her untimely passing in 2012 due to lung cancer.
23. Janet Jackson
Jackson forever lived as “Micheal Jackson’s sister” but throughout the years, has finally clawed her way from the pop legends shadow to become a talented singer, actress, dancer and composer, in her own right.
Janet, not only talks about feminist but fights for people of colour as well.”I’m convinced that we Black people possess a special indestructible strength that allows us to not only get down, but to get up, to get through, and to get over”
24. Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman is probably the most famous Australian actress in Hollywood. She has appeared in many successful films such as ”Days of Thunder”, ”Batman Forever” and ”Moulin Rouge” for which she received a Golden Globe for best actress and was also nominated for Oscars for the first time in her career thanks to this role.
While still actively working, Kidman does believe that above her, all spiritual well-being must always come first. “I believe the experiences of life are more important than any film you make”
25. Oprah Winfrey
She is the world’s best-known and best-paid African-American woman thanks to her TV show” The Oprah Winfrey Show”, which ran daily from 1986 to 2011. She made the best audiences in history thanks to her show where she received international stars.
She is one of the most influential women in the world and has received many awards and honours. On top of that, she single-handedly started her own the magazine and believes that “ageing is a blessing in Hollywood”
26. Brooke Shields
This pretty woman was 12 years old when she played in the film “Pretty Baby” which was very controversial at its release but which opened the doors of the world of cinema to her. However, she continued her studies at Princeton to obtain a degree in Romance Languages.
Having worked most of her life, Sheilds commented ” I think I’m going to have to live vicariously through my daughter’s rebellion because I certainly never did go through adolescence”
27. Salma Hayek
The Mexican actress was already popular in Mexico because she played in a telenovela and in some Mexican films. She then became a great actress in Hollywood and made a name for herself playing roles in movies like ”A Night in Hell”, ”Desperado” and “Wild Wild West”.
“People often say that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves”
28. Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field was the 60’s starlet in the” Gidget” series. She has appeared in numerous films and series such as ”Brothers and Sisters” and has also moved across the camera to produce a mini-series entitled ”From Earth to the Moon”.
She was rewarded for her talent by being awarded her star on Walk of Fame Boulevard in Hollywood in 2014. “I find that I’m not as worried anymore about what other people think. That’s a comfortable place to be. And I’m starting to let go of the feeling that I need to push myself to do things I don’t want to do – an impulse that has always been linked to the feeling that I’m not enough”
29. Stacey Dash
Who would believe Stacey Dash is in her 50s? She is still as beautiful as she was in her early years when she played Dionne in the film and the series” Clueless”. She has also appeared in several films in the 1990s and recently began a political career.
“What I find astounding is that we’ve had a president who is black in office for the past eight years, who gets most of his funding from the liberal elite in Hollywood. Yet, there are not very many roles for people of colour. How can that be? And why is it just now being addressed?”
30. Vanessa Williams
She was the first African-American woman to win the Miss America title in 1984. But a photographer published nude pictures of her without her permission and she subsequently lost her Miss title.
She tried singing but preferred to become an actress and appeared in the series” Ugly Betty” as well as in “Desperate Housewives” in which she stared for many years. “You’re always going to have people that are naysayers, that don’t believe in your talent, that don’t believe that you have any kind of longevity.”
31. Julianne Moore
She became a great actress in the 1990s and became known for her role in” Short Cuts”. She then appeared in” Jurassic Park 2″ and went on to play a series of roles. More recently, she shot “Still Alice”, a film in which she plays a woman who loses her memory.
It is thanks to her incredible performance as an actress in this film that she won the Oscar for best actress.” If you’re 50, you’re never going to be 50 ever again, so enjoy being 50. If you sit through the year wishing you were younger before you know it, it’s going to be over, and you’re going to be 51″
32. Samantha Fox
This woman is a singer, composer and actress in Britain and has been in the industry since she was 16. She was first a model for The Sun magazine, which earned her the title of becoming one of the most photographed women of her time in the country.
While still active in the media, Fox has had many personal struggles. She made the headlines accusing her father of mismanaging her money and never spoke to him again until his death.
33. Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful women in the world in the 1960s. She has had an outstanding modelling career and has influenced many young women and the fashion world.
She then turned to cinema and shot in many French films until 1973, when she decided to stop her career and devote herself to defending animal rights.”Every age can be enchanting, provided you live within it”
34. Sophia Loren
This woman has long been and still is considered to be, one of the most influential and important women in the United States. She has an incredible acting talent that differentiated her from the other beauties of her time.
She appeared in many films before taking a break from her career to start a family before returning to filming.” There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age”
35. Lucy Lawless
This beautiful young woman was crowned Miss New Zealand at 21. She then appeared in a TV movie in which she was spotted to play Xena the warrior princess, a series in which she played from 1995 to 2001.
“Who I think is actually doing great things for the appearance of women is that Kardashian girl. Kim Kardashian is giving an alternative. I don’t know very much about her and I don’t read articles, but just looking at the pictures you go, “Great! There’s a girl with an ass, and that’s fabulous. On behalf of all girls with asses, thank you.”
36. Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer made a name for herself through her role in” Scarface” alongside Al Pacino. But the film that made her take off is undoubtedly the film” Dangerous liaisons” for which she was nominated for Oscars in 1988.
She took a break to return to the musical” Hairspray” and the film” Stardust”. In a recent magazine shoot, Michelle commented on ageing, “I find the less you focus on your flaws, the better off you are. Be yourself and be glad of who you are”
37. Heather Locklear
Even though she had cosmetic surgery, it’s hard to believe Heather Locklear is 57. She no longer seems to age and is still beautiful. The actress is mainly known for her great role in the series “Melrose Place” but she also starred in series like” Dynasty” and” Spin City”.
Locklear has spent most of the recent years, away from the spotlight and focusing on family and friends. We completely agree with her quote of “The older you get, the farther from the camera you need to be”
38. Jessica Lange
The actress has acted in over thirty films throughout her career and has even won two Oscars. She started as a model and was spotted for the famous movie” King Kong” in 1976. Most recently, she received an Emmy Award for her role in a series entitled” Grey Gardens”.
Being a self-proclaimed lover of the “dark stuff”, Lange said that she has reached the age where “death becomes familiar to you-or a loss becomes familiar-the tragedies that are more commonplace in life”
39. Ursula Andress
When you are cast was the first-ever, Bond girl, it’s unlikely that you will ever age in the audience eyes and that is exactly what happened to Andress. The native Swiss started her career in for Italy but made her jump to Hollywood in early 1950s.
She then signed contracts with the biggest American productions and was even included in the list of the 100 sexiest stars in 1995. “I have no problem with nudity. I can look at myself. I like walking around nude. It doesn’t bother me. I see all the people walking around nude; it doesn’t bother me”
40. Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren was in the theatre in her early years. She then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company troupe. Later, a director created a documentary about Helen Mirren’s time in the company entitled “Doing her Own Thing”.
We personally, love her quote “When you’re 16, 30 seems ancient. When you’re 30, 45 seems ancient. When you’re 45, 60 seems ancient. When you’re 60, nothing seems ancient”
41. Jacqueline Bisset
Jacqueline Bisset spent most of her younger years, in and out of French schools in London. Only opting to model, just to pay for her ballet classes. She was originally interested in becoming a comedian, having studied “comedy” in school.
She made her debut in the 1960s but made a name for herself in the film” Is there a pilot on the plane? She also toured in the series” Ally Mc Beal” and still acts and looks gorgeous as ever, at 72 years old.
42. Elizabeth Taylor
She is undoubtedly one of the greatest legends of cinema. She was famous for her beauty and talent and will forever remain a Hollywood legend. She had started her career when she was still a child and made a series of successful films.
She has also actively participated in campaigns such as the fight against AIDS and has even received a medal for her actions. “It is strange that the years teach us patience; that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting”