Lee Remick: A Classic Blonde Hollywood Beauty Whose Career Spanned Over Thirty Years

Some of the many adjectives used to describe the beautiful Lee Remick throughout her career were patrician, sensitive, womanly, perky, mischievous and intelligent. She was all that and much more. She was an extremely versatile actress of great depth. Lee had that rare ability to actually become her character in any given film so that you would forget you were watching Lee Remick and you would find yourself totally engrossed in the character she had become.

Lee Remick started out as a stage actress and burst into films in the role of Betty Lou Fleckum in 1957's A Face in the Crowd  with Andy Griffith. This film is considered an extremely underrated gem that should have been nominated for an Academy Award, and many also consider it to be prophetic of the power of the media in current times. Andy Griffith plays Lonesome Rhodes, an Arkansas hobo who becomes a famous TV star. 

This was also Andy Griffith’s film debut and while he never again accepted a role where he played a menace, his work in this film has often been hailed as a tour de force performance. Lee Remick plays the baton-twirling cheerleader that he seduces into marrying him. To prepare for her role, 22-year old Lee stayed with a local family in Arkansas and practiced twirling so that she would be believable in her role as a teenager.

The following year, in 1958, Miss Remick played the role of sexpot Eula Varner in The Long Hot Summer starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Lee is married to Tony Franciosa in the film, who plays Orson Welles’ son. While Miss Remick is not one of the major actors in either this film or A Face In the Crowd, she displayed her amazing versatility and talent to great advantage in both films.