Female Stars of British Cinema

Film stars are often seen as a Hollywood creation but this book explores how British cinema developed its own culture of stardom, and how its female stars have been prized by audiences worldwide. Female Stars of British Cinema uses case studies of seven female stars whose careers span the 1940s to the present day – Jean Kent, Diana Dors, Rita Tushingham, Glenda Jackson, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Lloyd, and Judi Dench – to explore how British star femininities have developed over time, and how the image of the British female star has responded to broader social and cultural changes. These ‘women in question’ offer a way into the complexities of British cinema’s culture of stardom which has sometimes espoused glamour and sometimes rejected it, and is entangled with issues of regional, national and ethnic identity, as well as class, sexuality and age. Exploring and investigating the variety of British star femininities over the last seventy-five years, this book also interrogates the omissions and absences from that same cinematic firmament. ; Female Stars of British Cinema uses case studies of seven female stars whose careers span the 1940s to the present day – Jean Kent, Diana Dors, Rita Tushingham, Glenda Jackson, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Lloyd, and Judi Dench – to explore how British star femininities have developed over time. ; List of figures; Acknowledgements; 1: Introduction: questions of female stardom in British cinema; 2: ‘A girl appears in camiknickers’: Jean Kent’s austerity stardom; 3: ‘Blonde glamour machine’: Diana Dors in the 1950s and beyond; 4: British new waif: Rita Tushingham and sixties female stardom; 5: ‘A constant threat’: Glenda Jackson and the challenges of seventies stardom; 6: ‘From schoolgirl to stardom’: the discovery and development of Helena Bonham Carter and Emily Lloyd in the 1980s and 1990s; 7: National treasure: Judi Dench and older female stardom into the 2000s; 8: Conclusion: the unbearable whiteness of being (a female British star); Bibliography ; List of figuresAcknowledgements1. Introduction: questions of female stardom in British cinema 2. ‘A girl appears in camiknickers’: Jean Kent’s austerity stardom3. ‘Blonde glamour machine’: Diana Dors in the 1950s and beyond4. British new waif: Rita Tushingham and sixties female stardom5. ‘A constant threat’: Glenda Jackson and the challenges of seventies stardom6. ‘From schoolgirl to stardom’: the discovery and development of Helena Bonham Carter and Emily Lloyd in the 1980s and 1990s7. National treasure: Judi Dench and older female stardom into the 2000s8. Conclusion: the unbearable whiteness of being (a female British star)Bibliography