Gene Tierney : Why is Gene Tierney so obscure today compared to other Golden Age A Listers?

Even lesser known Classic Hollywood Stars who are not so famous among younger generations today in the way of John Wayne like Rita Hayworth have significant hardcore followings and plenty of blogs and communities esp on Tumblr and reddit are dedicated to lesser known names like Jane Russell.

Forget those that still are famous enough to penetrate mainstream consciousness like Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Natalie Wood, and of course the one and only Goddess Audrey Hepburn!

Despite being considered the MOST GORGEOUS woman who ever lived by so many during her time and still being ranked as one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL GODDESSES EVER by movie buffs who actually do know her esp people big into Classic Hollywood, Gene Tierney barely has any spotlight today. Major film publications and TV Channels like AMC, TCM, Roger Ebert, and so on barely have stuff dedicated to her yet people who were below her popularity at her peak like Tippi Hedron or even people who never solidly made it to the A List Christy Hartburg and Ann Rutherford are more known among even film buffs today than Gene Tierney is.

It seems to discover Gene Tierney you specifically have to go a tad bit deeper into 1940s cinema or happen to catch her by luck on a documentary or watching her late films with other actresses overtaking her as the lead. I mean despite the fact I watch much more media in general than 99% of people and this includes watching random stuff across the board of various old Hollywood cinema as well as following some old Goddesses like Sophia Loren, Lilian Gish, Maria Felix, and esp my fav celeb of all time and ever will Audrey Hepburn…………… I never came across Gene Tierney until I saw this quote…………….

With her high cheekbones and gorgeous green eyes, early on, bore a striking resemblance to Gene Tierney.

Which is from here.



Any one who's chatted with me frequently on DIscords or seen much of my posts on other sites knows I've been a huge Charmed fan ever seen I rewatched it back in August. So despite watching far more Classic Hollywood than most people (hell even many people born in the 60s and 70s!!!!) I have never stumbled upon Gene Tierney and only discovered her because I grew re-ignite my adoration for Shannen Doherty in my Charmed rewatch who I grew up watching her not only in Charmed but also reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 in the early 2000s (and been following since 1998 after seeing an episode near the end of Season 1 on the WB).

I would not have discovered Gene Tierney if IMDB didn't say Shannen Doherty bore a resemblance to her…….. Which is very telling since I consume lots and lots of media all across the board from old anime in the 1980s like Saint Seiya and Ranma 1/2 (hell I'm watching the original Captain Tsubasa TV series right now!!!) to James Bond and Audrey Hepburn movies (so much I am a frequent poster in subs dedicated to both) and various Television like Charlie's Angels to of course video games including Diablo, GTA, and Resident Evil.

Hell a recently released documentary about Gene Tierney is titled "The Forgotten Star" and Martin Scorsese called her .

The most underrated star in Hollywood

Mentions of her film are often found in books and journalistic articles titled "forgotten movies" or "overlooked classics", etc and even her biographies if Googlebook Snippets are to go by, mention how its
for people younger than 60, its often serious film buffs who remember know her today for the younger generatins.

Why is she so overlooked today to the point the word forgotten is often associated with her? I mean she was easily in the top A Listers of her time and in fact her film Leave Her to Heaven was Fox's highest grossing movie of the 40s and her film Laura was not only a defining classic in Film Noir its no under-exaggeration she became the face of the Film Noir genre for the rest of the late 40s and a bit for the early 50s (as she would act alongside the top actors in the genre shortly afterwards).

So why is she so forgotten that it took comparisons to a modern actress's in physical appearance for me to discover her and most people who are into her are big old film buffs? Other people who dominated their decades or had films that became the top box office earners like Lilian Gish, Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, and esp Audrey Hepburn still remain famous with a huge following even among younger people including Millennial. Why is Gene not given much attention to anymore outside of hardcore Classic Hollywood film buffs and people into the 40s decade?

The woman's such a Goddess of Gorgeousness. For a long time Audrey Hepburn was who I crowned Beauty Goddess for all the ages and I never thought anyone can dethrone her. When I started googling Gene's pics after reading IMDB claim Shannen Doherty bears a resemblance to her, I was struck by a bolt of lightning. So now I saw a woman who is practically tied with Audrey as most beautiful who ever lived and I actually score Audrey has being slightly more beautiful in some face elements even now but Gene slightly outmatched Audrey at being more dead drop Gorgeous at certain parts of their faces that I deem more important that I now give first place to Gene overall even though she's only slightly above Audrey and they are in practical terms tied.

So I don't understand why as easily a contender for most Beautiful woman ever she's so forgotten!

Tierney was pretty, but not in a traditional sense. If she wasn’t shot perfectly, she could look bad. She isn’t forgotten, but there are more women that are far better looking who were also better actors. I am a Tierney fan myself, and can see her shortcomings when compared to others.

LOL your point about shot perfectly aptly describes Shannen Doherty. I can see why someone at IMDB states Doherty is a modern resemblance of Tierney.


That said a bunch of the other A listers weren't exactly stellar actresses either that are still far better remembered today (I'm looking at you Rita Hayworth). So your sentence doesn't explain it all esp since even far inferior looking stars who never got nominated (and thus are also arguably worse actresses) such as Hedron are better remembered today. Its one thing if Tierney wasn't capable of say Timothy Dalton level acting. But she was nominated once for best actress and got just as much critical phrase for Laura and other roles so at worst she's on equal footing to Eva Green and Raquel Welch.

The fact Ingrid Pitt has a thriving fandom despite not being able to act for shit is simply bizarre.

Doherty is a dog.

Sometimes if you had enough clout behind you and we’re gorgeous, you didn’t have to be a top-notch actor. Some of them just had that “it” factor. Lana Turner couldn’t act for dear life, but was so dammed pretty and had a lot of clout behind her.

And possibly Tierney’s mental illness unfairly tarnished her. Hayworth wasn’t affected badly because of her royal marriage.

Some stars just fade quicker than others. That's show biz. BTW, she was nominated for an Oscar for her roll in Leave Her To Heaven. It's an interesting, but somewhat odd film.



PS Perhaps if she had won, things might be different.

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