Which actresses have sparked, inspired, and stimulated your own romantic desires?

[cinewest]

Obviously, movies from the classic period (pre-60's) are full of romantic stories / fantasies, and though times have changed, romance continues to play a part in many films, so I imagine that many of you can relate in some way to this topic.

For me, even though I am somewhat older than most here, the pre-60's classics are somewhat removed from my own romantic stirrings and attractions, which were more connected to the time I grew up in. That isn't to say I didn't enjoy or find older films like Casablanca romantic, only that I couldn't relate enough on a personal level to truly connect.

That said, classic actresses like Ava Gardner definitely made an impression, especially in those Hemingway type adaptations, and films like The Barefoot Contessa. I was also quite smitten by Harriet Anderson, and early Bergman's like Summer With Monika, which I saw in my late teens or early 20's. I also had a movie crush on Natalie Wood, who was featured in a bunch of late 50's and 60's American films that began to delve into the changing times. My own favorite of hers is probably Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass. There were quite a few actresses from other countries in the 60's (particularly France) that got my attention as well, but perhaps none more so than Monica Vitti during her Antonioni period. As I approached my 20's (in the late 70's), I also developed an attraction for artsy, sexy Latina / Mulattas exemplified in the movies by the arrival of Sonia Braga (Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands was the first that got my dander up).

As I got older, I became a lot less fixated, but muses of cinema continued to speak to me and influence my dreams, as well as my life. I even entered into a relationship with a woman from Brazil, who I realized some time later reminded me a lot of Valeria Golino (one very good film that speaks to the way movies can confuse our romantic lives with the illusions they create is Alain Resnais' Mon once d'Amerique).

Still, actors can touch parts of ourselves that awaken us in so many ways, even open us to qualities in people we are unfamiliar with, as well as invite us to be intimate with the characters they create by drawing upon aspects of themselves, and I have continued to be touched and enriched by numerous screen performances that tap into my own romantic nature.

Here's a list of my favorite movies about romance: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls087972454/

[Tim2460]

I remember being way too much impressed by Elisabeth Taylor on Cléopatra witch i saw on my Late teen. I still am secretly (or not so on that forum seeing my avatar) in love with the memory. (and also with some late 80's french Porn actresses ...but that's another subject

This clearly had an huge impression on the woman of my life (the whole 2 of them )

[cinewest]

I remember being way too much impressed by Elisabeth Taylor on Cléopatra witch i saw on my Late teen. I still am sectretly (or not so on that forum seeing my avatar) in love with the memory. (and also with some late 80's french Porn actresses ...but that's another subject

This clearly had an huge impression on the woman of my life (the whole 2 of them )

I hear you, Tim, and can relate, though I think you are talking more about sexual fantasies than romance, even as the two go hand in hand, along with other kinds of intimacies that can also be experienced.

[Torgo]

I also had a movie crush on Natalie Wood, who was featured in a bunch of late 50's and 60's American films that began to delve into the changing times. My own favorite of hers is probably Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass.

I've just seen this a few days ago!
I feel you ..

[kongs_speech]

I'm currently "simping," as the kids say, for Renate Reinsve, Maya Hawke, Hunter Schafer and Erin Moriarty, the latter of whom plays Starlight, the main heroine of Amazon's The Boys. There is also my forever love, Carey Mulligan.

[Silga]

So many really. Just to name a few: Winona Ryder, Abbey Lee, Camilla Belle, Penélope Cruz, Shu Qi, Sienna Miller, Rose Byrne, Lydia Hearst, Gong Li, Heather Graham, Madeleine Stowe, Lily James, Kate Bosworth, Zoe Saldana, Jacqueline Bisset.

Also, as a 90s kid, I vividly remember being struck by the beauty of Kelly Preston in Twins when I first saw it. Since then, I would watch it any time it's on TV just for her scenes.

[cinewest]

I'm currently "simping," as the kids say, for Renate Reinsve, Maya Hawke, Hunter Schafer and Erin Moriarty, the latter of whom plays Starlight, the main heroine of Amazon's The Boys. There is also my forever love, Carey Mulligan.

I don't know the others, but I agree that Carey Mulligan is special

[cinewest]

So many really. Just to name a few: Winona Ryder, Abbey Lee, Camilla Belle, Penélope Cruz, Shu Qi, Sienna Miller, Rose Byrne, Lydia Hearst, Gong Li, Heather Graham, Madeleine Stowe, Lily James, Kate Bosworth, Zoe Saldana, Jacqueline Bisset.

Also, as a 90s kid, I vividly remember being struck by the beauty of Kelly Preston in Twins when I first saw it. Since then, I would watch it any time it's on TV just for her scenes.

I remember Jacqueline Bisset from the 70's, but she was never really much of an actress, or in any memorable movies. And while Penelope Cruz definitely has the acting chops (she's in a couple on my list), I have actually been more beguiled by a few other Spanish actresses. As for Shu Qi, she is definitely one of the modern day angels of cinema, and Three Times is very high on my list.