PB & Julie + Julie C. Trivia

***** CONTENT WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS REFERENCES TO SEXUAL ASSAULT, DEATH, RACISM, SLAVERY, MISCEGENATION, AND FIREARMS *****

On this day in 1930, the Motion Picture Production Code went into effect. Also known as the Hays Code, for Will H. Hays (the Motion Pictures Association’s first chairman), the Code was a set of self-imposed censorship guidelines for cinema, and was a response to growing demands from religious and civic groups to improve the content of motion pictures.

In the 1920s, Hollywood was rocked by a series of scandals, including the 1921 death of actress Virginia Rappe. Rappe died from a ruptured bladder; pioneering comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was accused of violently sexually assaulting Rappe. Supposedly, the trauma from the rape caused her death (there are various theories on why Rappe’s bladder ruptured; among them, that she’d had an abortion or an untreated sexually transmitted disease). Although Arbuckle was subsequently acquitted, the scandal tainted the movie industry. Many felt Hollywood was a hotbed of immorality, and demanded the motion picture industry clean up its act. Enter Will H. Hays.

Hays, a former Postmaster General under President Harding and Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1918-1921, began his tenure as Chairman of the newly founded Motion Picture Association in 1922. His primary objective was to reduce the costs state censors were imposing on movie studios; most states had their own censorship boards at the time, and could demand the studios make any cuts they deemed necessary for a film to be shown in their state. This form of censorship was perfectly legal; the Supreme Court had ruled unanimously in 1915 (Mutual Film Corp. v. Industrial Commission of Ohio) that free speech protections did not extend to motion pictures. In response to the ruling, state censorship boards popped up in many states, demanding various cuts to films, meaning a studio might have to edit several versions of the same film to be shown in different states. This process was obviously very costly, and studios were looking for ways to mitigate those expenses.

In 1927, Hays suggested to studio executives that self-censorship might be the best approach, and the execs reluctantly agreed. In a resolution passed on June 29th of that year, the studios established a set of guidelines known as “Don’ts” and “Be Carefuls”. Among the “Don’ts”:

• No pointed profanity
• No licentious or suggestive nudity
• No inference of sex perversion
• No white slavery (yes, you read that right – slavery of other races was perfectly acceptable)
• No miscegenation
• No ridicule of the clergy

And among the “Be Carefuls”:

• The use of firearms
• Brutality and possible gruesomeness
• Sedition
• The sale of women, or of a woman selling her virtue
• Rape or attempted rape
• Man and woman in bed together
• Excessive or lustful kissing

Not content with mere guidelines, Catholic groups implored the industry to adopt these standards as code, and, hoping to avoid further government intervention, the studios agreed. On April 1, 1930, the code became the law of Hollywoodland. The code was divided into two parts: the first part was a set of general principles which prohibited a picture from “lowering the moral standards of those who see it” and the second part was a precise list of items that could not be depicted. Much of that list derived from the earlier “Don’ts”.

Initially, the code was not strictly enforced, but that changed in 1934. On June 13th of that year, an amendment to the Code was adopted which established the Production Code Administration (PCA). Hays put Joseph I. Breen, a Catholic layman with experience in public relations, in charge of the PCA. Under Breen, enforcement of the Code became rigid. One notorious instance of censorship under the Code was Casablanca: the film could not contain any reference to Rick and Ilsa having slept together (although it’s clearly implied) and the Code forbade the filmmakers from showing the two consummating their adulterous love for one another, making the film’s famous ending inevitable.

Many film directors balked at the self-imposed censorship necessitated by the Code and found creative ways around its precepts. One such director was Alfred Hitchcock, who found a way around the so-called “Three second rule” (on-screen kisses couldn’t last longer than three seconds) by interrupting a two-and-a-half-minute kiss in 1946’s Notorious between stars Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman every three seconds.

One film that was significantly altered by the Code was 1951’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Based on Tennessee Williams’ play, the film was not allowed to explicitly state that Blanche’s late husband had been gay, so he was portrayed as “sensitive” – an obvious allusion to his sexual orientation.

In 1952, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned its earlier decision, ruling that motion pictures were entitled to free speech protections (Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson), but the Code continued to be enforced throughout the decade. By the late ’50s, competition from television and foreign films allowed for some relaxation of the Code, and film directors continued to push the boundaries. Many films in the ’50s were released without approval from the PCA, including Some Like It Hot and Anatomy of a Murder. Throughout the 1960s, films like Psycho, The Pawnbroker and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? continued to erode the power of the Code, and in 1968, it was abandoned altogether in favor of the ratings system.

Action movies tend to be the domain of men – actors like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Will Smith and Tom Cruise have prevailed at the box office for decades with their various brands of action movie hero. But here at Peanut Butter and Julie, women rule the day. Here is a list of some of the most badass female characters in action movie history.

• Sigourney Weaver (Alien series)

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Ellen Ripley is one of the most badass movie characters of any gender. The only survivor of the events of Alien (along with the ship’s cat, Jones), Ripley proceeds to outlast every marine but one in Aliens. After being impregnated by an alien queen embryo in Alien 3, Ripley sacrifices herself, but Sigourney Weaver nevertheless returns for Alien Resurrection as a Ripley clone. There aren’t many line readings more badass than this one:

• Linda Hamilton (Terminator series)

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Sarah Connor is a reluctant movie hero, pulled unwittingly into the events of the first Terminator film – a cyborg is sent back in time to kill Sarah, whose son John will someday save humanity from the machines. John sends soldier Kyle Reese back too, to protect his mom, who isn’t even pregnant yet (hint hint: Kyle’s the daddy – we may get into the time paradox thing later, but for now just go with it). In the second film, Judgment Day, a buff and badass Sarah, now institutionalized for her (supposedly) paranoid delusions about humanity’s future, is visited by an updated Terminator model, the T-1000, AND the T-800 model from the original film; this time, the T-800 is her ally. Linda Hamilton, who sat out the three previous films in the franchise, returned in 2019 for the sixth film, Dark Fate. She’s sixty-four years old and as badass as ever.

• Carrie Fisher and Daisy Ridley (Star Wars)

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Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), member of the Imperial Senate, soldier in the Rebel Alliance and founder and General of the Resistance, is a feminist icon and all-around badass. Leia is anything but the damsel-in-distress sexpot (although she is hot as hell) and she proves you can be “one of the boys” without ever sacrificing your femininity. In the sequel trilogy, Leia’s successor Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, becomes a Jedi apprentice under Leia’s brother Luke and a leading figure in the Resistance movement. Skilled as a fighter, resourceful and brave, Rey is a survivor – and a total badass.

• Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)

I could have selected any number of Charlize Theron movies for this list – Hancock, Atomic Blonde and The Old Guard come to mind – but for my money, no Theron character is more badass than Imperator Furiosa. Although Max is the title character, the movie undeniably belongs to Furiosa, a war captain who is charged by antagonist Immortan Joe with ferrying oil back to the Citadel using the “war rig”, but instead uses the war rig to smuggle the Five Wives (Joe’s concubines) out of the Citadel. Although Joe sends his war boys after her, Furiosa uses her intelligence (and her mechanical arm) to best them and slay Joe, freeing herself, the Five Wives, Max and all of the Citadel’s citizens in the process. Apparently a stand-alone Furiosa prequel is in the works, with Anya Taylor-Joy in the role.

• Scarlett Johansson (Avengers)

Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow, is a Russian spy and expert in hand-to-hand combat who eventually defected to the United States and became a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. The lone woman on the otherwise all-male Avengers team, Romanoff is a very human superhero, using her fighting skills and her wits to defend her team, and doing it all in a badass black leather catsuit. More than ten years after her first appearance in 2010’s Iron Man 2, Black Widow will finally get her own stand-alone movie this year. Fun fact: Emily Blunt was originally tapped to play the role, but she had already committed to Gulliver’s Travels; Scarlett Johansson has more than made the part her own.

• Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman)

Gal Gadot’s version of Wonder Woman made her first appearance in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. She got her stand-alone film the following year. Wonder Woman is the alias of Diana, the daughter of Queen Hippolyta and Zeus, and an immortal Amazon warrior. She is strong and brave, and she believes in justice and the goodness of humankind. She battles Ares for the future of humanity, and of course she prevails. Gadot is such a badass that she did reshoots for the movie while five months pregnant; they used green screen technology to cover up her baby bump!

• Kate Beckinsale (Underworld series)

Kate Beckinsale plays Selene, a Death Dealer (a member of an elite group of vampire assassins) who is determined to destroy the Lycans who murdered her family. She also becomes the protector of a human named Michael, who is a descendant of both the vampires and the Lycans; both groups desire Michael for his unique gene which would allow him to become a vampire-Lycan hybrid. In keeping Michael safe, Selene is estranged from her vampire coven and places herself in the middle of the vampire-Lycan war. And of course, she does it all while wearing a skin-tight black leather suit.

• Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games series)

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Like a lot of the women on this list, Katniss Everdeen is a survivor and a reluctant hero. Her exceptional archery skills allow Katniss to be the primary provider for her family. She volunteers for the 74th Hunger Games in the first film when her younger sister Prim’s name is drawn for the annual competition. Her subsequent win sparks a rebellion against the Capitol and its fascist President, Coriolanus Snow. By the third film, Katniss has become the symbol of the rebellion, the Mockingjay. Jennifer Lawrence depicts all of Katniss’s conflicting emotions perfectly, and makes Katniss one of the most endearing movie heroines of the 21st century.

• Uma Thurman (Kill Bill: Volume 1 and 2)

The Bride, as Beatrix Kiddo is known, was shot in the head and left for dead on her wedding day. After awakening from a four year coma, she vows revenge on the people responsible – her former cohorts in the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and its leader (and her former lover) Bill. Using her sword-fighting skills, martial arts and the infamous Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, the Bride dispatches them one by one, unflinching in her quest for retribution.

• Emily Blunt (Edge of Tomorrow)

Sergeant Rita Vrataski of the United Defense Force is charged with training US Major William Cage (Tom Cruise), a PR guy with no combat experience, to be battle-ready in the war against the Mimics, a race of aliens intent on conquering Earth. She has her work cut out for her. Emily Blunt trained for three months prior to shooting, including aerial wire work and Krav Maga, and wore the heavy metal suits required for combat scenes. She even did reshoots while pregnant with her first child. In the process, she stole the show, no easy feat when Cruise is the star.

• Noomi Rapace, Rooney Mara and Claire Foy (Millennium series)

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Lisbeth Salander, the androgynous, anti-social, tattooed computer hacker, is one of the most compelling fictional characters of the 21st century. A survivor of both childhood and adult trauma, Salander has her own code of ethics that guide her behavior, and she is fiercely protective of the people in her small social circle. Played by Noomi Rapace in the Swedish series and Rooney Mara in the US version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (sadly, David Fincher’s planned trilogy became a stand-alone movie when the box office receipts fell short of expectations), the character was revived in 2018’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web, in which she was portrayed by The Crown‘s Claire Foy. All three actors conveyed Salander’s badass-ness (Rapace was nominated for a BAFTA and Mara for an Oscar for their performances).

• Pam Grier (Jackie Brown)

Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is a flight attendant who makes ends meet by smuggling money into the US for gun-runner Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson). She negotiates a deal with Ordell to smuggle enough money for him to retire, but double crosses him by keeping the money for herself. Adapted from Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch, and inspired by the 1970s blaxploitation film Foxy Brown (starring Grier), the film changed Jackie’s ethnicity and last name, but kept her badassery in full.

• Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

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One of the most honored films of 2000, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon features female warriors struggling to shed the societal expectations placed on them by their gender. The title is a Chinese idiom that refers to people having hidden abilities and talents; it encourages us to look beneath the surface. These women are martial arts masters, strong and fierce, but still feminine. They are a good reminder that women can be whatever they want to be, while still being fully women.

• Jodie Foster (Panic Room)

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Meg Altman is recently divorced and looking for a home for herself and her daughter Sarah. She finds a beautiful brownstone on the Upper West Side. The house’s previous owner, a reclusive millionaire, installed a panic room and an extensive security system to protect himself from intruders. On Meg and Sarah’s first night in their new home, three men (led by the millionaire’s grandson) break in, looking for the bearer bonds hidden in a safe in the panic room. What they haven’t accounted for is the new occupant’s ferocious determination to protect herself and her child. Nicole Kidman was originally supposed to play a version of Meg that was more helpless, making her an easier mark for the burglars. When Kidman had to drop out due to a knee injury, Meg was rewritten because let’s face it, no one was going to buy Jodie Foster as a defenseless victim.

• Franka Potente (Run Lola Run)

Lola’s boyfriend is a bagman responsible for delivering $100,000 Deutschmarks to his boss. After inadvertently leaving the money on the train, he calls Lola in a panic; he has twenty minutes to come up with the cash or his boss will kill him. The film then replays the next twenty minutes three different times, each time showing how tiny variations in Lola’s interactions with others change the outcome. A pre-Bourne Identity Franka Potente is dazzling – and totally badass – as the flame-haired Lola.

• Gilda Radner

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• Laraine Newman

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• Jane Curtin

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• Julia Louis-Dreyfus

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• Nora Dunn

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• Jan Hooks

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• Julia Sweeney

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• Molly Shannon

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• Cheri Oteri

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• Ana Gasteyer

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• Rachel Dratch

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• Maya Rudolph

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• Tina Fey

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• Amy Poehler

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• Kristen Wiig

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• Vanessa Bayer

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• Kate McKinnon

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• Aidy Bryant

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• Cecily Strong

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• Leslie Jones

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• Melissa Villaseñor

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• Heidi Gardner

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• Spring has sprung! Michigan is looking beautiful – it’s going to be sunny and 60s today – and I’m feeling twitterpated!!

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• On this day in 1970, the first San Diego Comic-Con was held at U.S. Grant Hotel. How times have changed!

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• I just came across this ew.com article about Oscar winners as child stars, and some of these pictures are priceless!

https://ew.com/oscars/oscar-winners-child-stars/?slide=5577174#5577174

• Happy birthday to Matthew Broderick and Rosie O’Donnell, who both turn 59 today!

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• And finally, on this day in 1961, the Beatles made their first appearance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

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Alfred Hitchcock tended to put his leading ladies – the characters AND the actors who played them – through the wringer. “The Master of Suspense” was a consummate filmmaker, but by some accounts, he was verbally (and possibly sexually) abusive to the women he worked with. The torment they endured make their performances all the more impressive. Today, I’ll pay homage to seven of Hitchcock’s most badass leading ladies.

• Joan Fontaine – Rebecca and Suspicion

Rebecca was Hitchcock’s first American film, and what a debut it was. Based on Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel of the same name, the gothic tale of suspense centers around the psychological torture of the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter, who is haunted by the specter of the first Mrs. de Winter, Rebecca, and tormented by Rebecca’s confidant, housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. The story relies on Mrs. de Winter feeling unworthy of her aristocratic husband (played by Laurence Olivier), to the point of considering suicide, and Joan Fontaine portrays that vulnerability perfectly. For her efforts, Fontaine was nominated for Best Actress at the 13th annual Oscars (and the film itself was nominated for twelve more awards, and won Best Picture), and many felt she should have won (she lost to Ginger Rogers for Kitty Foyle).

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Suspicion, Fontaine’s second collaboration with Hitchcock, was released just a year after Rebecca, and as with that film, the central tension rests with the doubts and insecurities of its female lead. Fontaine plays Lina McLaidlaw, a young woman with wealthy parents who meets a charming, irresponsible playboy named Johnnie Aysgarth (played by Cary Grant, naturally). Johnnie convinces Lina to marry him, but almost immediately, Lina begins to suspect that her new husband’s motives are less than honorable. Once again, Fontaine was nominated for Best Actress, but this time, she won. Hers was the only Oscar-winning performance in a Hitchcock film.

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• Ingrid Bergman – Spellbound and Notorious

Spellbound, Ingrid Bergman’s first Hitchcock film, is the story of Dr. Constance Petersen, a psychoanalyst who falls in love with Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck), the new director of the mental hospital where she is employed. Since this is a Hitchcock film, Edwardes is not what he seems. It turns out he’s not Edwardes, he’s suffering from amnesia and he may or may not have murdered the real Edwardes. Dr. Petersen uses her psychiatric skills to get to the bottom of both the amnesia and the murder mystery.

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In Notorious, Hitchcock and Bergman’s next collaboration, Bergman plays Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of a Nazi spy, who is recruited by US government agent TR Devlin (Cary Grant) to seduce Alex Sebastian (Bergman’s Casablanca co-star Claude Rains), a Nazi friend of her father’s who is currently living in Brazil. The mission is complicated when Alicia and Devlin fall in love. Once again playing on themes of trust (trust withheld, trust too easily given), Hitchcock also succeeds in telling his most passionate love story (even getting around the three-second rule in the Hays Production Code by interrupting a two-and-a half-minute kiss every three seconds).

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• Grace Kelly – Dial M for Murder, Rear Window and To Catch a Thief

In Dial M for Murder, Grace Kelly’s first of three Hitchcock films, Kelly plays a wealthy socialite named Margot whose husband discovers she has had an affair and arranges to have her murdered. The hit goes awry, the hitman ends up dead and Margot winds up in prison. The assault scene supposedly took five days to film and left Kelly covered in bruises. Hitchcock, enamored of (obsessed with?) Kelly’s combination of “frigidity and lust”, would cast her in his next two films, and would even attempt to coax her out of retirement ten years later to play Marnie; Tippi Hedren would wind up with the role – more on that in a bit.

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Kelly’s next collaboration with Hitchcock, Rear Window, is one of Hitch’s best and Kelly is perfect as Lisa Fremont, socialite girlfriend to photographer LB “Jeff” Jeffries (James Stewart), who is laid up in his Greenwich Village apartment with a broken leg. To pass the time, Jeff spies on his neighbors through his courtyard window and becomes obsessed with the notion that one of them has murdered his wife. Initially, Lisa is skeptical, but eventually comes around, even participating in the investigation by climbing up the fire escape and breaking into the neighbor’s apartment. One of my favorite shots in any movie is Lisa pointing to her finger, on which she has placed the missing wife’s wedding ring.

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Kelly’s final Hitchcock film, To Catch a Thief, is a more light-hearted romp than Hitchcock’s usual fare. It’s technically a mystery, but one with lower stakes – John Robie, played by Cary Grant, is a former jewel thief lured out of retirement when a copycat burglar puts him in legal jeopardy. Robie teams up with an insurance adjuster, who reluctantly divulges the name of the woman most likely to be the cat burglar’s next target and arranges a meeting with her – and her socialite (seeing a trend here?) daughter Frances, played by Kelly. The plot is merely a pretext to put the two impossibly beautiful stars together, but they both play their roles to perfection. And Kelly, wearing some of the most exquisite costumes Edith Head ever created, never looked more stunning.

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• Kim Novak – Vertigo

Widely regarded as Hitchcock’s finest work (and one of the best films ever made, period), Vertigo received mixed reviews at the time of its release. A film noir about romantic obsession, Vertigo is the story of John “Scottie” Ferguson (James Stewart), a police detective forced into early retirement when an incident leaves him with a fear of heights and a raging case of, you guessed it, vertigo. An old acquaintance named Gavin Elster hires Scottie as a private investigator to track the movements of his wife Madeleine, played by Kim Novak. In the process of trailing Madeleine, Scottie naturally falls for her. If you haven’t seen the movie, I’ll not spoil it here, but since it’s Hitchcock, things aren’t exactly what they seem. There’s so much genius in this film – from Bernard Herrmann’s iconic score, to Edith Head’s elegant costumes, to the use of the dolly zoom to mimic Scottie’s vertigo – but the audience buy-in depends so much on the captivating, unattainable Madeleine, and Novak plays her to perfection.

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• Eva Marie Saint – North by Northwest

For his next film, North by Northwest, Hitchcock hired another beautiful blonde, Eva Marie Saint. Saint plays Eve Kendall, who meets Cary Grant’s Roger Thornhill on a train. Thornhill, in a case of mistaken identity, is on the run from thugs who think he’s a spy (he’s actually an advertising exec). And because this is a Hitchcock film, once again the beautiful blonde is not who she says she is. North by Northwest features some of Hitch’s most iconic set pieces – the UN General Assembly, a crop dusting plane over a cornfield, Mount Rushmore – but those are mere backdrops to Kendall’s icy beauty.

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• Janet Leigh – Psycho

For his next film, 1960’s Psycho, Hitchcock chose another gorgeous blonde, Janet Leigh. The promotional materials – and the fact that Leigh was such a big star – led audiences to believe that her Marion Crane was the film’s protagonist; imagine their shock when she is murdered less than halfway through. Psycho was revolutionary in a lot of ways – showing an unmarried, bra-clad Marion in bed with her lover, for instance, was forbidden by the Hays code, as was the shot of the flushing toilet. And the film’s casual violence, though merely hinted at through quick cuts and clever camera angles, was unthinkable prior to 1960. Filming the shower scene was brutal – it took a full week, and Leigh never voluntarily took another shower in her life. But for her efforts, she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and won the Golden Globe in that category.

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• Tippi Hedren – The Birds and Marnie

In 1961, Hitchcock saw Tippi Hedren in a diet soda commercial and knew immediately that he wanted to work with her; she certainly was his type – tall, blonde and beautiful. Hedren met with Hitch and agreed to a seven year contract. She made her film debut in Hitchcock’s next effort, 1963’s The Birds. Filming turned out to be an arduous experience for Hedren. In her 2016 memoir, Tippi, Hedren accused Hitchcock of making sexual advances toward her, and when she rebuffed him, he punished her by using live birds instead of mechanical ones for the scene in which her character, Melanie, is attacked. She spent five days filming the scene with live birds being thrown at her and attached to her body with rubber bands. At one point, a bird almost pecked her in the eye. The ordeal left Hedren exhausted and leery of working with Hitchcock again.

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Knowing she couldn’t break her contract with Hitchcock without consequences – and afraid of being blacklisted – Hedren worked with Hitch again on his next film, 1964’s Marnie. A psychological thriller about a damaged woman with suppressed memories of childhood trauma, Marnie turned out to be traumatic for Hedren as well. In her memoir, Hedren states that Hitchcock put her dressing room next to his office, with an adjoining door, so he could walk in whenever he pleased. Hitch “gleefully” wanted to keep the marital rape scene when screenwriter Evan Hunter implored him to excise it. At one point, Hedren alleges that Hitchcock sexually assaulted her. Once filming was complete, Hedren was under contract with Hitchcock for several more years, but she refused to work with him again, and he refused to allow her to work with other directors. Hitchcock promised Hedren, “I’ll ruin your career”, but Hedren was a fighter, saying “He ruined my career but he didn’t ruin my life.”

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• It’s St. Patrick’s Day! Here are a few of my favorite depictions of the holiday in film and television:

“No Tomorrow” – How I Met Your Mother

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Ted has decided to forego barhopping for game night at Marshall and Lily’s new apartment; Barney has other plans, and convinces Ted to join him for an evening of consequence-free debauchery. It turns out to be anything but consequence-free, but when Ted returns to the club the next day to search for his lost phone, he instead finds his future wife’s yellow umbrella.

The Fugitive

Deputy US Marshall Gerard has tracked Richard Kimble to a downtown Chicago prison (Kimble is visiting a one-armed man who may be his wife’s killer); Kimble escapes and disappears into the St. Patrick’s Day parade, eluding Gerard once again.

“St. Patrick’s Day” – The Office

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Jo Bennett, on her last day at the Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin, forces the office to work late, much to Michael Scott’s dismay (“It is St. Patrick’s Day. And here in Scranton, that is a huge deal. It is the closest that the Irish will ever get to Christmas.”).

• The nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards were announced this week. Regina King missed the cut for Best Director (she would have been the first black woman to be nominated), but two women were nominated for the first time ever – Promising Young Woman‘s Emerald Fennell and Golden Globe winner Chloé Zhao for Nomadland. Somehow both title characters in Judas and the Black Messiah are supporting roles, as Lakeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya were both nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Viola Davis is now the most-nominated black actress in history, with four career nominations. And Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy) became the third person to receive Oscar and Razzie nominations for the same performance; the other two were James Coco for Only When I Laugh and Amy Irving for Yentl.

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• Yaphet Kotto has died at the age of 80. I loved him as Parker in Alien and as Lt. Giardello on Homicide: Life on the Street.

Rhythm & Blues (R&B) is a blanket term used to describe music recorded primarily by black artists; it combines elements of jazz, gospel, blues and soul. R&B developed in the mid-20th century along with the Great Migration that saw African-Americans leaving the South for urban industrial centers like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit. The term “rhythm & blues” is credited to Jerry Wexler of Billboard Magazine; previously, R&B had been referred to as “race records”, and that term (understandably) didn’t sit well with Wexler.

As with other musical genres, men generally get much of the credit for its development, but the women of R&B have been badasses from the start. Artists like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Mamie Smith and Big Mama Thornton contributed to the development of R&B. As the decades went by, R&B evolved into sub-genres like doo-wop, disco, funk and hip-hop. The following artists were instrumental in that evolution. Here are some of the most badass women in the history of R&B.

• Etta James

Etta James is a significant artist in the development of R&B in the 50s and 60s. James primarily recorded doo-wop inspired ballads, but she could growl her way through bluesy numbers as well. Her signature song, “At Last”, is one of the greatest love songs ever recorded; her sweet and soulful voice blends perfectly with those dreamy strings. James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

• Dionne Warwick

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Dionne Warwick is one of the most-charted female vocalists of all time, with fifty-six Hot 100 singles and twelve Top Ten hits. Warwick and Burt Bacharach represent one of the greatest singer/songwriter combinations ever – their collaborations include “Wishin’ and Hopin'”, “Anyone Who Had a Heart”, “Walk On By”, “The Windows of the World” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose”. At the age of 80, Warwick shows no sign of slowing down; she’s still performing, and if you don’t follow her on Twitter, you’re really missing out.

I am always tweeting while wearing a black, vintage, sequin gown… as divas do.

— Dionne Warwick (@dionnewarwick) March 12, 2021

• The Supremes

R&B took a big leap into the mainstream in the 60s, and Motown Records was largely responsible. Motown popularized the “girl group” sound with artists like The Marvelettes and Martha & The Vandellas, but none attained the critical and commercial success of The Supremes. Comprised of Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson, The Supremes are, to date, the most successful vocal group in US history, with twelve number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 (only The Beatles, Mariah Carey, Elvis Presley, Rihanna and Michael Jackson have had more). With some of the greatest songs of the era, a career that has influenced countless artists (among them, The Pointer Sisters and Destiny’s Child) and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, The Supremes have left a lasting legacy.

• Aretha Franklin

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What can I possibly say about “The Queen of Soul” that hasn’t been said before? Not a god damn thing, so I’ll just leave this here.

• Tammi Terrell

Another sound that Motown helped popularize was the soulful duet, and no two people did duets better than Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. “You’re All I Need to Get By”, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” are essential pop songs in the Motown canon. Tragically, Terrell’s career was cut short when she died of brain cancer at the age of 24, but she left behind a substantial legacy nonetheless.

• Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight & the Pips were one of the top vocal groups of the 60s and 70s; first with Motown Records, where they recorded such songs as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “If I Were Your Woman”, then with Buddah Records, where they recorded “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” and the #1 smash “Midnight Train to Georgia”. Knight also had a successful solo career with songs like “License to Kill”, the theme song to the 1989 James Bond film. Known as “The Empress of Soul”, Knight was inducted, along with the Pips, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

• Merry Clayton

You might be asking yourself, “WHO?” By far the least famous woman on this list, Merry Clayton nonetheless merits a spot. She began her career at age 14 when she performed a duet with Bobby Darin titled “Who Can I Count On? (When I Can’t Count on You)” and for a time was one of Ray Charles’ Raelettes. But Clayton is most well known for providing vocals for “Gimme Shelter”, off the Rolling Stones’ 1969 masterpiece, Let It Bleed. Listening to Clayton’s voice cracking as she delivers the searing lyrics “Rape, murder/It’s just a shot away/It’s just a shot away” gives me chills every time. Clayton, who was pregnant at the time, suffered a miscarriage shortly after returning home, leading some to speculate that the physical strain of her exertions during recording were to blame.

• Tina Turner

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From her early days performing with ex-husband Ike on hits like “Proud Mary” and “River Deep – Mountain High” (and surviving years of his abuse) to her 1984 comeback Private Dancer to her acting career in films like Tommy and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome to her recent career as a writer, there really is nothing Tina Turner can’t do. She has sold over 100 million records, won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted with Ike into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991; she is nominated again this year as a solo artist, and she would be only the second woman (and the first black woman) to be inducted twice.

• Diana Ross

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The only artist on this list twice, Diana Ross had a very successful solo career in addition to her work with the Supremes. She also made the leap into acting in films like Lady Sings the Blues, for which she won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Billie Holiday. She ranks among the top five artists on the all-time Billboard Hot 100 and she was named “Female Entertainer of the Century” by Billboard in 1976. She was responsible for #1 hits like “Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)”, “Love Hangover”, “Upside Down” and “Endless Love”, her 1981 duet with Lionel Richie. Her role as an R & B legend is unequivocal.

• Thelma Houston and Gloria Gaynor

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Thelma Houston and Gloria Gaynor are responsible for two of the most iconic and abiding #1 singles of the disco era; Houston’s 1977 smash “Don’t Leave Me This Way” and Gaynor’s 1978 phenomenon “I Will Survive” were both runaway successes. “Don’t Leave Me This Way” became the unofficial theme song for the HIV/AIDS epidemic among the gay community, and “I Will Survive” is the biggest dance anthem of all time. If you can hear either song without shaking your groove thing, you’re a stronger person than I.

• Donna Summer

Known as “The Queen of Disco”, Donna Summer recorded some of the most iconic songs of the 70s and 80s, including forty-two Hot 100 singles and four #1s – “MacArthur Park,” “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls” and “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)”, her duet with Barbra Streisand. Her three-octave voice could belt or coo, and it harmonized exceptionally – listen to “I Feel Love” to hear how well she harmonized with herself. She oozed sex appeal, but also sang about female empowerment. Her sixteen minute opus to sexual ecstasy, “Love to Love You Baby”, contained (by the BBC’s count) 23 orgasms; an edited version of the song became Summer’s first top 10 hit.

• Janet Jackson

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Janet Jackson comes by her talent naturally; the youngest of ten, Janet’s older brothers were superstars by the time she was in elementary school. Jackson began her career as an actress in such television shows as Good Times, Diff’rent Strokes and Fame. At age twenty, she catapulted to pop music fame with Control, her #1 smash album that contains five top 5 hits. Her next album, Rhythm Nation 1814, became the best selling album of 1990 and yielded seven top 5 hits. It is also the only album in history to produce #1 hits in three consecutive calendar years (1989-1991). Jackson continued her musical success through the 90s with albums like Janet and The Velvet Rope, and began a successful movie career with 1993’s Poetic Justice. She is a fashion icon, one of the most successful female recording artists of all time, and an all-around badass.

• Whitney Houston

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Another artist who came by her talent naturally (her maternal aunt is Dionne Warwick), Whitney Houston became a superstar at age twenty-two with the release of her first album, Whitney Houston, which stayed at #1 on the album chart for fourteen weeks and yielded three #1 singles. Her follow-up, Whitney, debuted at #1 on the album chart and produced four #1 singles. Her musical career continued to flourish in the 90s, and she launched a successful film career with 1992’s The Bodyguard, in which she starred as – and this was quite a stretch – a pop star. Her musical contributions to the film, including the #1 sensation “I Will Always Love You”, made the soundtrack the best-selling album of 1993. By the early 2000s, Houston’s personal struggles and drug use began to overshadow her career, and Houston tragically died in 2012 when she accidentally drowned in the bathtub of her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. But her status as one of the best R&B singers ever remains intact. Houston was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.

• Queen Latifah

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From her early career as one of the most successful female hip-hop artists to her Oscar-nominated turn as Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago to her recent jazz-inspired recordings, Queen Latifah is constantly transforming, but always stays true to herself. She is a fashion and feminist icon, and an absolute badass.

• Mariah Carey

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With her bonkers five-octave range and incredible vocal runs (known as melisma), Mariah Carey has one of the most distinctive voices in R&B. With the release of her self-titled debut album in 1990, Carey became an overnight sensation at just twenty years old, and was the first artist in history to have their first five singles go to #1 on the Hot 100. With sales of more than 200 million worldwide and nineteen #1 singles, she is one of the most successful female artists of any genre.

• TLC

Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas – TLC – are one of the most successful female vocal groups of all time. Their signature blend of R&B, funk and hip-hop – along with their sexy, edgy image – made them superstars. TLC recorded three of the most successful albums of the 90s, and scored four #1 hits – “Waterfalls”, “Creep”, “No Scrubs” and “Unpretty”. The video for “Waterfalls” made TLC the first black act to win the MTV Video Music Award (VMA) for Video of the Year. In 2002, before their fourth album could be completed, Lopes died in an auto accident; T-Boz and Chilli carried on as a duo.

• Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott

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Missy Elliott is the best selling female rapper in history, and a consummate badass. Songs like “Work It” and “Get Ur Freak On”, and their companion videos, made Elliott one of the most successful hip-hop artists of the 2000s. She was the first female rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and she paved the way for future artists such as Eve, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B. She’s a feminist, a fashion icon and one of the most impossibly cool human beings on the planet.

• Destiny’s Child and Beyoncé

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Destiny’s Child exploded onto the pop music scene with the release of their second album, The Writing’s on the Wall, in 1999. The album yielded two #1 hits, “Bills, Bills, Bills” and “Say My Name”. Their second album, Survivor, entered the Billboard album chart at #1 and generated two more #1 singles, “Independent Women Part I” and “Bootylicious”. In 2002 and 2003, on hiatus from the group, all three members released solo albums, and the most successful – by far – was Beyoncé’s Dangerously in Love. Destiny’s Child officially disbanded in 2006, and Beyoncé has continued to dominate pop music ever since. She’s won more Grammy Awards than any other artist in history (thirty-two after last night). She’s won more MTV VMAs than any other artist in history. She won a Peabody Award in 2017 for Lemonade. She’s an actress, a fashion designer, a philanthropist and a bona fide badass.

• Rihanna

Rihanna is the best-selling artist of the 21st century – and seventh on the all-time list – with more than 250 million albums sold. Her distinctive Caribbean-inspired (she’s from Barbados) dance music and her sexy, provocative image have made her a superstar. Like other artists on this list, she too made the foray into acting and fashion design. She is known for her humanitarian efforts, donating millions to HIV/AIDS and cancer research, and COVID-19 relief. She is sexy as hell, and a complete and total badass.

Some other badass women of R&B:

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