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Ann Harding

Established Broadway lead who landed a contract in 1929 with Pathe (very soon thereafter part of RKO) and starred in a series of soap operas through the mid-1930s, most typically as suffering heroines who must make noble sacrifices for the men they love. With her ash-blonde hair usually swept back into a bun, the patrician Harding brought a gentle, serene strength to such worthy star vehicles as "When Ladies Meet" (1933) and "The Life of Vergie Winters" (1934) but fared less well in such awkward efforts as "Devotion" (1931) and "Enchanted April" (1935). Ideal for the philosophical sophistication of playwright Phillip Barry, Harding shone in fine adaptations of two of Barry's best comedy-drama talkfests: "Holiday" (1930), for which she received an Oscar nomination as Best Actress, and "The Animal Kingdom" (1932). Two of her best films came late in her reign as a star: the haunting, almost surreal love story "Peter Ibbetson" (1935, opposite Gary Cooper) and the taut suspense melodrama "Love from a Stranger" (1937, with Basil Rathbone).