Anita Page, 1910 - 2008.

"Anita Page, an MGM actress who appeared in films with Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford and Buster Keaton during the transition from silent movies to talkies, has died. She was 98." The AP reports.

"Page had successfully made the transition from silent films to talkies with The Broadway Melody [1929], the first '100% all-talking, all-singing, all-dancing' movie," notes Ronald Bergan in the Guardian. By that time, "Page was receiving more than 10,000 fan letters a week, including reportedly more than 100 from Benito Mussolini, who asked her to marry him."

See also: the site and the Wikipedia entry.

Updated.

Update: "Hollywood history records a lot of ways women have dealt with possessing world-class looks," writes the Self-Styled Siren. "There are those who find it a cross from the beginning, test people constantly to make sure it isn't affecting every interaction, and wilt when they find it usually is. Others profess great disregard for their beauty but use the hell out of it all the same. Then there are the women who never bother to conceal how much they love being stunning, and flaunt it like a gambler's winnings. So firmly did the ravishing Anita Page belong to that last group that even after time had done its damage, she scarcely seemed to notice, retaining the ways and prerogatives of a beauty even as she approached the century mark."

Posted by dwhudson at September 8, 2008 8:19 AM