The Top Ten Funny Ladies of the Movies

The recent box office success of THE BOSS firmly establishes Melissa McCarthy as the current queen of movie comedies (Amy Schumer could be a new contender after an impressive debut last Summer with TRAINWRECK), but let us think back about those other funny ladies of filmdom. So while we’re enjoying the female reboot/re-imagining of GHOSTBUSTERS and those BAD MOMS, here’s a top ten list that will hopefully inspire lots of laughter and cause you to search out some classic comedies. It’s tough to narrow them down to ten, but we’ll do our best, beginning with…

10. EVE ARDEN

The droll Ms. Arden represents the comic sidekicks who will attempt to puncture the pomposity of the leading ladies with a well-placed wisecrack (see also the great Thelma Ritter in REAR WINDOW). Her career began in the early 1930’s with great bit roles in STAGE DOOR and DANCING LADY. She even got to vamp Groucho Marx as high wire star Peerless Pauline in 1939’s AT THE CIRCUS. Soon she was under contract to Warner Brothers which lead to her showcase role as Joan Crawford’s best pal Ida in the Oscar-winning MILDRED PIERCE. Arden knew that those studio days were numbered, and made the jump to TV (after a start with radio) with her signature character, schoolteacher Connie Brooks in “Our Miss Brooks” (there was a feature film adaptation in 1956). She continued to work mainly on series television (“The Mothers-in-Law), until she introduced herself to a new generation as Principal McGee in the two GREASE movies.

9. LUCILLE BALL

Hey, I can hear what you’re saying, “She’s a TV star!”. Ahh, but before America loved Lucy, she was a very busy movie actress for many studios. Like Ms. Arden, she made a splash in the original STAGE DOOR, after playing a gangster’s moll in the very early Three Stooges short THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS. They weren’t the last comedy team that she worked with. After dealing with the Marx brothers in ROOM SERVICE, she appeared as herself in BUD ABBOTT AND LOU COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD. A year before that she honed her comedic skills with Red Skelton in DUBARRY WAS A LADY, just as she met her future hubby Desi Arnaz in BEST FOOT FORWARD. While Columbia Studios headlined Lucy in two slapstick comedies, MISS GRANT TAKES RICHMOND (with William Holden) and THE FULLER BRUSH GIRL (with Eddie Albert), Lucy began the first of four films pairing her with Bob Hope, SORROWFUL JONES. The next year saw the two in FANCY PANTS (1950), but their final flicks were more than a decade away with THE FACTS OF LIFE and CRITIC’S CHOICE in 1960 and 1961. Her incredibly popular TV show “I Love Lucy” had MGM signing her and Desi for two features FOREVER DARLING and the cult fave THE LONG, LONG TRAILER. Television occupied her (starring and producing), save for the 1968 smash YOURS, MINE AND OURS, until Lucy was lured back to the big screen in 1974 for the title role in the musical comedy MAME.

8. DORIS DAY

And now you’re thinking, “The ‘Que Sara Sara’ singer? Huh?”. Yes she is a very popular singer, but Ms. Day is a very prolific film actress. She’s done many dramas and thrillers (she worked with Hitchcock!), but the films that made her the number one female box office draw from 1960 to 64 were comedies. Sure she was ably assisted by the aforementioned Ms. Ritter and the great Tony Randall, but “America’s sweetheart” generated lots of laughs (many at the expense of her film persona). When Warner Brothers signed the freckled-faced blonde to a contract in the late 40’s she was the love interest to Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan in crowd-pleasers like ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS, MY DREAM IS YOURS, and IT’S A GREAT FEELING. Several frothy music flicks followed until Day finally got to show her comic gifts as CALAMITY JANE. After her WB contract ended, she had her biggest success opposite “Mr. Beefcake” Rock Hudson in PILLOW TALK (she got an Oscar nom, too). They reteamed twice more for LOVER COME BACK and SEND ME NO FLOWERS. But Day also had wonderful comic chemistry with an amazing variety of the era’s charismatic leading men. There were stars of the golden age like Clark Gable (TEACHER’S PET) and Cary Grant (THAT TOUCH OF MINK) along with rising stars like Jack Lemmon (IT HAPPENED TO JANE), Rod Taylor (THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT and DO NOT DISTURB), Richard Harris (CAPRICE), and the superb James Garner (MOVE OVER DARLING and the Carl Reiner scripted THE THRILL OF IT ALL). While starring on TV in the sitcom “The Doris Day Show”, Ms. Day wrapped up her feature film career opposite George Carlin and Brian Keith in WITH SIX YOU GET EGGROLL in 1968.

7. MARILYN MONROE

The ultimate silver screen blonde bombshell, MM continues to fascinate film fans as a true movie icon, often referred to as an immortal goddess. While her personal tragedies often overshadow her work, many of those who constantly attribute quotes to her on social media (perhaps I should put quotes around “quotes”) forget that she was a very gifted comedic actress on-screen, giving rise to a popular adage that you’ve gotta’ be smart to play “dumb”. With her razor-sharp comic timing, Monroe’s “dumb blondes” were comic treasures. Her all too brief film career (just 15 years?) got off to a great start as she told Groucho Marx (as a leering PI named Grunion), “Men are following me” in  LOVE HAPPY. Speaking of the Marxes, she was in the other flick titled MONKEY BUSINESS where she flirted with Cary Grant. Later, the film’s director Howard Hawks paired her with Jane Russell, forming a fabulous comedy team in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES. Next Ms. M was stealing scenes as part of a trio with Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall in HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE. She had a great comic energy as a sultry, but vulnerable characters in BUS STOP and THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL. It was the talented Billy Wilder that directed her in her greatest comedy triumphs. First she tempted married man Tom Ewell as his dream girl neighbor in THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, the film that provided us with one of cinema’s most vivid  iconic images, that of Marilyn standing atop a subway grate. A few years later, she worked with Wilder again on the classic named the greatest comedy of all time by AFI, SOME LIKE IT HOT. Yes there was a trace of sadness in “Sugar Kane” Kowalcznk, but her “free spirit” nature really came through, especially when she hilariously vamps Tony Curtis (posing as a frigid millionaire). At the time of her death, Monroe was making a comedy with Dean Martin. Who knows how many comic gems were denied us by her untimely demise.

6. THELMA TODD

As long as we’re talking about blonde bombshells, let’s go back a couple of decades to a beauty whose mysterious death (untimely like MM) often overshadows her brief but prolific screen comedy career. She was the object of desire in not one but two of the early Marx Brothers classics. In 1931’s MONKEY BUSINESS she was a gangster’s moll (quite an energetic foil) who grabbed the attention of Groucho, while in the next year’s HORSE FEATHERS she was the  Huxley U “college widow” who fended off the advances of all four Marx men. She also co-starred with a more obscure comedy duo, Wheeler and Woolsey in HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY and COCKEYED CAVALIERS. But she also worked with the number one comic duo of the 1930’s, Laurel and Hardy in several shorts and features, including her last film THE BOHEMIAN GIRL. The lovely Ms. Todd also has the rare honor of being a part of two comedy teams herself. Stan and Ollie’s boss, Hal Roach (also the “Our gang’ kiddies), decided that there should be a female comedy duo (very forward-thinking for the era), so he paired Todd in a series of short films with Zazu Pitts (the silent epic GREED), and later with Patsy Kelly. If not for her notorious exit, who knows what comic gems she would have crafted.

Though many film buffs may think of “the great Kate” as a dramatic actress (her record-breaking four Oscar wins were for fairly serious roles), Miss Hepburn headlined several comedies generally regarded as classics. In her third year on-screen she elicited laughs by trying to pose as a young lad opposite Cary Grant in SYLVIA SCARLETT. Just three years after that she would re-team for what many consider the greatest “screwball comedy” of all time, BRINGING UP BABY from director Howard Hawks (who can forget Grant walking in tandem right behind after Hepburn loses the back of her skirt). The duo immediately returned in HOLIDAY, and finally, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY for director George Cukor. Hepburn originated the role of Tracy Lord on Broadway and helped James Stewart win his only Best Actor Oscar. The following year she was matched with her most famous leading man, Spencer Tracy, and for the next quarter of a century they co-starred in a string of box office hits, including many hilarious screen treasures. There’s the sports farce, PAT AND MIKE, with the coarse Tracy hoping to manage (and romance) golf phenom Hepburn. Another high point was the courtroom chaos in ADAM’S RIB with the pair playing married lawyers on opposing sides of a celebrated case. They dealt with high-tech troubles in DESK SET and the changing social scene in their final film GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER. Hepburn also traded barbs with Bob Hope in the cold-war romp THE IRON PETTICOAT. For being such a lauded dramatic actress, Miss Hepburn delighted as a sophisticated screen comedienne.

 

4. ROSALIND RUSSELL

Broad, bold, and brassy describe the performing powerhouse that charmed movie audiences from the 30’s to the 70’s. Miss Russell was a delightful “force of nature” in all of her screen roles, but she truly commanded the screen in many classic comedies. Like Ms. Hepburn, she found herself in several acclaimed dramas at the beginning of her movie career (NIGHT MUST FALL can still deliver the chills). It wasn’t until five years into her film work that she truly made audiences take notice with the iconic ensemble comedy, THE WOMEN. It sported an incredible cast, but Russell stood out with her manic line delivery as heroine Mary’s on again-off again (I guess she would be considered a “frenemy”), Sylvia. She’s a non-stop hoot, not above some “old-timey” slapstick as she chomps on another lady’s leg. A year later, the great Howard Hawks had the inspired idea of doing a “rom-com’ make-over of the play “The Front Page” with Russell as reporter Hildy Johnson trying to get away from the news biz and her editor/ex-husband Walter, played with charm by Cary Grant, resulting in the definitive newspaper comedy HIS GIRL FRIDAY. Many more leading men and laughs followed (including the older, more grounded sib in MY SISTER EILEEN), but it wasn’t until 1958 that she essayed the role that gave her film immortality (after originating it on Broadway), the one and only AUNTIE MAME. Mame was often a “stream roller”, but Russell also gave her a vulnerability and warmth. The response to that role revitalized her career into the 60’s with Mama Rose in GYPSY and as Mother Superior in two hit comedies. THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS and WHERE ANGELS GO, TROUBLE FOLLOWS! For four decades Russell was a compelling, enigmatic, and quite lovable screen presence.

 

3. MADELINE KAHN

Say, did you hear the one about the classically trained opera singer who became one of the stars of some of the most popular comedies of the 70’s and 80’s? Yes, I’m speaking of the most talented Ms. K. While many actresses gained fame from working with one primary film maker, she’s linked to two. There’s Peter Bogdanovich, who gave Kahn her very first feature film role in his ode to 1930’s screwball comedies (particularly one starring the aforementioned Hepburn), WHAT”S UP DOC? in 1972. She stole scenes as the tyrannical, screeching fiancée of hero Ryan O’Neal (who can forget her scratching a trail in the marble floor with her high heels as she’s dragged away by hotel security). She would pair with O’Neal again the following year as his floozy date in PAPER MOON (Kahn would receive a supporting actor nom). The final film in her Bogdanovich trilogy would be the musical farce AT LONG LAST LOVE. But Kahn’s most memorable collaboration might be with that madman Mel Brooks. She was the ultimate send-up of Marlene Dietrich’s saloon singer as Lili von Schtupp in the classic 1974 BLAZING SADDLES (“It’s twue…It’s twuee!!”, oh and another nom!). Just months later Kahn was back as the fussy, frigid fiancée of Gene Wilder’s Frederick “Fronkenstein” in the king of monster movie parodies YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (“…ya’ lil’ zipper-neck!”). In 1977 she donned a golden wig as the archetypical “icy blonde” in Mel’s love letter to Alfred Hitchcock in HIGH ANXIETY, Fittingly Kahn was a queen in her final Brooks romp, HISTORY OF THE WORLD, PART 1. Over the next two decades she would team with Wilder once more in THE ADVENTURE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ SMARTER BROTHER (1975),play a moll in THE CHEAP DECTECTIVE, be part of a set of twins with Jerry Lewis in SLAPSTICK OF ANOTHER KIND, and  play a clueless president’s wife in FIRST FAMILY. Kahn also stood out in ensemble comedies like CLUE, WHOLLY MOSES, and MIXED NUTS. With wild-eyes and a very distinctive voice, no lady garnered bigger laughs in the last forty years than the zany Madeline Kahn.

2. CAROLE LOMBARD

While Todd and Hepburn certainly made major contributions to the genre, the true queen of screwball comedies is the glorious Ms. Lombard. She actually began her film career in the waning days of the silents, but with her deep, husky voice Lombard seemed specially made for the “talkies’. This proved to be the case with the first real screwball smash, 1934’s TWENTIETH CENTURY, as she more than held her own opposite the formidable “great profile”, John Barrymore. Just two years later, Lombard would exercise her box office clout by insisting that her then ex-husband, William Powell,  be given the title role in another iconic comedy, MY MAN GODFREY (a scene was recreated in animation in last year’s Oscar-nominated ANOMLISA). Months later Lombard dazzled in radiant Technicolor as Hazel Flagg in the classic newspaper farce NOTHING SACRED. In 1941  she worked for Alfred Hitchcock in his only stab (pardon!) at a domestic comedy with MR. AND MRS. SMITH co-starring Robert Montgomery. But Lombard’s greatest role was, sadly, her last. TO BE OR NOT TO BE paired her with popular comedian Jack Benny in director Ernst Lubitch’s quite, at the time, controversial satire set during the German occupation of Poland (perhaps they thought that laughter was the ultimate insult to the Nazi menace). Before that much-beloved film was released, Lombard lost her life in a plane crash, embarking on a war bond tour. In her final role, she truly  looks as though she just floated down from heaven (when I saw it at a revival cinema in the late 70’s , the first glimmering shot of her produced an audible gasp from the audience). Yes, angelic, and very, very funny.

1. MAE WEST

While the previous entry star was considered an escapee from the “pearly gates”, the number one spot goes to a woman who defiantly proclaimed in the title of her third feature film, I”M NO ANGEL.Yes, the scourge of censors Mae West is the most influential funny lady in cinema history, breaking down barriers with a couple of still very radical notions: S-e-x (also the name of one of her notorious plays) is fun and (“gasp”) women actually enjoy participating. This is one of the qualities of her celebrated screen persona (oh, participating AND instigating). Her movie roles centered around Ms. West’s devastating effect on any man she encountered, and inciting ire in any number of straight-laced jealous prudes. This adoration is part of her charm since she’s a parody of the “vamp”, the destroyer of males. With her purring, husky delivery and her heavily lashed eyes always at half mast, West is in on the joke, squeezing her buxom five feet in all manner of gaudy, form-fitting fashions. Not only is she in on the joke, she wrote most of them as well, since she performed double duty on most of her films, acting and contributing to the scripts (sometimes only her dialogue, or often the story and screenplay). But she also sang delightfully lewd tunes, with many becoming chart-toppers like “They Call Me Sister Honky-Tonk” and “I Wonder Where my Easy Rider’s Gone”. West broke into the movies at just the perfect time, a couple of years before the suffocating Hays Code of censorship brought the hammer down. She was a supporting player in 1932’s NIGHT AFTER NIGHT with George Raft. But the next year, West was the above-the-title star, giving Cary Grant his first big film break (for that alone she deserves mush praise) in SHE DONE HIM WRONG and, later that year the aforementioned ANGEL. The huge success of these flicks truly saved a major movie studio, since Paramount was sliding into bankruptcy (that’s why there’s still a soundstage there named after her). Those party-pooping “agents of morality” soon tried to “tone down” West in her remaining flicks at the studio: BELLE OF THE NINETIES, GOIN’ TO TOWN, KLONDIKE ANNIE,  GO WEST YOUNG MAN, and EVERY DAY’S A HOLIDAY. Despite great leading men like Randolph Scott and Victor McLaglen, her films fell out of favor with the public. West got a career boost when Universal paired her with another comedy icon, W.C. Fields in 1940’s MY LITTLE CHICKADEE, but three years later when her Columbia feature THE HEAT’S ON tanked, West retreated to the stage for the next quarter century. She returned to the big screen in the famous flop, 1970’s MYRA BRECKINRIDGE where she seduced a very young clean-shaven Tom Selleck. Then eight years passed before she starred in the camp classic SEXETTE with future Bond Timothy Dalton as her leading man (pretty good for an 86 year-old) and an all-star cast that included Dom DeLuise and Ringo Star. Two years later West made her finally exit. But, in a way, she’s never really left us. Her line delivery was imitated by male and female comedians and impressionists. Actually, the line used by most of them, “Come up and see me sometime” is something West never actually said in her films, just like the “misquotes” of Bogie (“Play it again, Sam”) and  James Cagney (“Ya’ dirty rat!”). In her second film, she says to Grant, “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me?”. West became an enduring part of popular culture beyond her witty dialogue (“Goodness! What lovely diamonds!” “Goodness had nothin’ to do with it, dearie”) and bits of wisdom ( “It’s not the men in your life that matters, it’s the life in your men”). She was spoofed in Disney cartoons (and Popeye, too), name-checked in a Cole Porter tune, featured on the cover of the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album and the subject of a surrealist painting by Salvador Dali. Her greatest tribute may be as the nickname for inflatable life preservers during WW II (“Men, strap on your ‘Mae Wests’, okay?”).  Mae West is an enduring silver screen legend and the forever reigning queen of  movie comedy.

I hope this list will help as you’re looking for something to stream on those “bad weather” days. Of course there are many, many ladies that are also deserving a mention. In somewhat chronological order there’s silent star Mabel Normand, leading to those “talkies” ideals Claudette Colbert. Barbara Stanwick, Myrna Loy, Joan Davis, Zasu Pitts, Binnie Barnes, Marie Dressler, Irene Dunne, Jean Arthur, Martha Raye, Gracie Allen, Marion Davies,Thelma Ritter, then to the modern era with Shirley MacLaine Diane Keaton, Bette Midler, Audrey Hepburn, Gilda Radner, Whoopi Goldberg Julia Roberts, Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne, and Melissa McCarthy. And those other blonde bombshells Jean Harlow, Veronica Lake, Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall, Judy Holiday, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, Terri Garr, Goldie Hawn, Meg Ryan, Helen Hunt, and Meryl Streep. Here’s wishing you happy viewing and lots and lotsa’ laughs!