![]() It was a corrupt system fraught with dangers, which were becoming visible to the public. She described seeing a dancer enter a hotel room with Lord Beaverbrook and “a few days later she told me that she had a contract at MGM”. Actor Louise Brooks wrote that screen tests and movie contracts were handed out not to wide-eyed hopefuls at the studio gates, but, via the casting couch, to women at intimate parties who gave sexual favours to influential men. Once inside the film colony, they were more likely to end up as waitresses or sex workers than get a screen test – the numbers weren’t on their side. As the film business settled in a Californian orange grove, thousands of young American women made their way to Hollywood hoping to become stars. Where Lawrence led, many others followed. It heralded the start of a new power relationship between producers and their female stars. Lawrence’s very existence had been stage managed and manipulated by the studio boss. After the public expressed their dismay at never seeing their beloved “Biograph Girl” again, Laemmle put adverts in the papers declaiming, “We nail a lie”, dismissing Lawrence’s death as what we would now call fake news, and announcing her appearance, under her own name, in forthcoming IMP movies. ![]() Having hired Florence Lawrence from Biograph, he spread a false story to the papers that she had died in a streetcar collision. But in 1909, Carl Laemmle, head of the Independent Moving Pictures (IMP) studio, who later founded Universal Pictures, wanted a real star, and decided he had to kill one first. The familiar faces that appeared on nickelodeon screens were known only by their studio’s brand: The Vitagraph Girl, The Biograph Girl. Once upon a time, before the US film industry moved to California, there were no stars, and studios could be democratic startup outfits where cast and crew mucked in together. Joan Collins, who was warned about “wolves” by Monroe, says she missed out on the lead in Cleopatra because she refused to be “nice” to the head of 20th Century Fox, Buddy Adler, who also reportedly harassed a 19-year-old Rita Moreno. Marilyn Monroe compared Hollywood to an “overcrowded brothel”. Ginger Rogers said that Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia, chased her around a desk making passes. Louis B Mayer insisted that his protege Judy Garland sit on his lap – she was one of a number of “juvenile stars” at the MGM studio, whose punishing schedule, she said, required amphetamines to get through the day, and sleeping pills to rest at night. Shirley Temple recalled that Arthur Freed, a producer at MGM, exposed himself to her when she was 12 years old. In this weighted system, historic horror stories abound of executives taking advantage of starlets. Another famous and globally adored redhead is Ed Sheeran.Why are those of us who don’t attend breakfast meetings in Beverly Hills familiar with the phrase “the casting couch”? Why is there even a euphemism for this extreme form of sexual harassment? The power imbalance between female stars and older male executives is so well broadcast that it features in Hollywood films and awards ceremonies, as a plot device or as a joke, and nobody takes the trouble to hide it. Prince Harry is the most famous redhead in the world. Followed by Ireland contributing about 10% of its population Scotland has the largest population of redheads in the world with about 13% of the global red hair population native to the country with the largest concentration in Edinburgh, which makes it the red head capital of the world ( 1). ![]() Which country has the highest percentage of red hair? And if you need some hairstyle inspiration, you can surely take some from them. Either way, these actresses never fail to mesmerize us with their beauty and have always managed to raise the bar high with their looks. While some like to style their naturally red hair in flattering hairdos, others keep it natural. They are not only drop-dead gorgeous, but they are also extremely talented and hard-working. But even if you didn’t, you certainly had a great time learning about the red-haired actresses. We hope you were able to ace the guessing game.
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