It’s been a while since our last two rundowns of some of our favorite bitches in historical costume flicks, so I thought we should revisit some more of our favorite on-screen harpies, harlots, and hoors. Because everybody loves a bad girl!
Julianne Moore – Mrs. Cheveley (An Ideal Husband)
Elizabeth Taylor – Cleopatra (Cleopatra)
Never was there a sister more intent on doing it for herself than Cleopatra. And even though there are numerous portrayals of the last Queen of Egypt worth mentioning here, you gotta admit that Elizabeth Taylor’s over the top performance is the gold-plated standard for boss bitches.
Vivien Leigh – Lady Hamilton (That Hamilton Woman)
Like so many of Vivien Leigh’s roles, you wind up being both seduced and repulsed by the witty, gorgeous, and ruthlessly predatory Lady Hamilton.
Samantha Morton – Margaret Wells (Harlots)
We could easily devote an entire post to all the bad girls in Harlots that deserve to make this list (so stay tuned for future installments), but I think the ambitious madam of Greek Street deserves special mention.
Samantha Morton plays brothel owner Margaret Wells. Photo credit: Liam Daniel/Hulu/Monumental/ITV
Polly Walker – Atia of the Julii (Rome)
Hands down, Atia is my entire reason for watching a show that’s filled with quite a few excellent examples of bad girl bad-assery. What sets her apart? She’s deliciously amoral and completely unrepentant.
Got other favorite bad girls? Share them in the comments, and we’ll probably include them in the next installment!
Livia [Sian Philips] from I Claudius. grrr-owl [I know scifi doesn’t count here, but the ultimate bad bitch was Servalan in Blake’s 7 [Jacqueline Pearce]]
Thank you for mentioning Servalan. She was truly one boss bitch. And even though Blake’s 7 was sci-fi, I think Frock Flicks should take a look at their outfits. They were…remarkable.
I will never forget Star One where Jenna and Callie beam down to save the guys’ bacon attired in long, narrow skirts and six inch heels.
Check the previous editions (note the title – this is part 3!).
I have to agree Livia in I Claudius was totally badass. It’s hard to find a bigger badass than Sian Philip’s interpretation of a woman who will do literally everything to make her son emperor. Even killing his younger brother – having him killed. Poison was her method.
Terri Garber as the 19th century South Carolina belle, Ashton Main in the “North and South” trilogy. Very memorable.
Pauline and Juliette from Heavenly Creatures qualify for sure.
The casting and acting of I Claudius is what spoiled part of the second season of Rome for me. The actor Rome had for their old version of Octavian and the petulant little girl they had for Livia could never have grown up to be Brian Blessed and Sian Phillips.
Also, the actress playing Cleopaterer in Rome was awful … give me the Glorious Liz for that role every time.
But, I agree that Atia is why you watch Rome … it is essentially the stories of Atia and Pullo.
Polly Walker being bitchy is the reason why Rome is on the to-watch list for my mom and I (after we finish s2 of outlander).
Harriet Walter as Fanny Dashwood in “Sense and Sensibility.” (Her bangs might deserve a stand-alone mention)
Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone
(And Olivia Coleman, why not?) as Lady Sarah, Abigail, and Queen Anne in “The Favourite.”
Oh. those bangs!!
i have the curse Lesley Duncan’s character recites outside Polly Walker’s house in “Rome”, I aspire to use it one day, although I’m not sure I want to kneel in the dust for 3 days in literal sack cloth and ashes and then kill myself!
Please, do write a post just about the bad girls of Harlots.
Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan in ‘Love and Friendship’.
That character was a hoot, but she not really a boss bitch. she more like a parasite, and subject to the whims of others.
The best part of the early seasons of Rome was watching the icy frenemy relationship between Atia, old money to be sure, but also bawdy and tacky, vs. the serenely composed and haughty Servilia, played by Lindsay Duncan, who was equally patrician, but just somehow more patrician.
Atia is one of the best female characters ever created by television (her historical counterpart was nothing like her), and Polly Walker imbued the character with such warmth and humor you found yourself liking her even when she was doing horrible things, especially to her children.
Always loved the cleopatra costume that Liz Taylor wears in that movie