Cute, but with the talent to overcome it

[JackFavell]

I thought the discussion of cuteness was an interesting topic, so I thought I'd just open up a new thread instead of continuing on in the February Schedule topic.

So far we've got votes for:

Teri Garr
Carol Kane

which I can totally get behind. Love both actresses a lot.

Juliette Binoche's name has also been bandied about.

Ditto for Annette Funicello.

Maybe Sandra Dee, maybe not.

Audrey Tautou has a hit and a miss.

Emma Stone's name was mentioned.

I'm going to throw out some other names and see what you all have to say about them, or any others you might think of. Some of these are my own favorites, but all of them, I think, had the talent to overcome their cuteness:

Marshall Thompson
Bill Williams
Brandon de Wilde
Russ Tamblyn
James Dean
Natalie Wood
Dennis Hopper
Tuesday Weld
Ron Howard
Patty Duke
Michael J. Pollard
Lili Taylor
Jeremy Sisto
Peter Kraus
Michael C. Hall
Bradley Cooper
Diane Lane
Ellen Page
Paul Rudd
Keri Russell
Lauren Graham

My favorite younger stars growing up were Mark Lester, Jack Wild, Michael Jackson, Freddie Prinz, Ralph Carter and Brandon Cruz. A complete strikeout on the 'overcoming it' part. I was also very fond of Ken Osmond - Eddie Haskell on Leave it to Beaver, and he did indeed have the talent to overcome his cuteness, but it was a talent in a completely different career.

In case you couldn't tell, I am a BIG Six Feet Under fan. 4 of my favorite cuties are from that show.

[CineMaven]

I see a few of my faves on your "CUTE" list. I'd like to add Peter Brown and Connie Stevens. And of course, Mickey Rooney. He's a whirling dervish, but he was awfully cute as a kid. And how could I leave out: Scotty Becket. Ya gotta admit he was the cutest Little Rascal one ever did see.

[movieman1957]

My daughter Maureen.

[ChiO]

Natalie Wood and Tuesday Weld certainly have my wholehearted support.

May I toss in Dean Stockwell (along with Tamblyn, about the only child actor I could truly enjoy watching)?

Oops -- edited to add Jackie Cooper.

[JackFavell]

Oh yeah! Maven, Scotty Beckett should have gone on to better things, such a sad story. And the Mickster? The original cutie!

That was so sweet, Chris! I bet Maureen is a very talented as well as a cute girl. She has a pretty great dad, too.

ChiO - I can't believe I forgot Dean Stockwell. He is an absolute favorite of mine, no matter what age. He's simply great, whatever he does, never had a bad period, acting wise. I'd love to see TCM get him to a screening or an interview sometime soon.

I love Tuesday Weld. I honestly don't know why she didn't become a bigger star.

[Robert Regan]

Well, my friends, it looks like we have found a topic of consuming interest here. Not to drain all the fun out of this thing, but I think we need to maybe not go so far as to define cute, but differentiate among different kinds of cute as implied by the comments so far. F'rinstance, I certainly agree that Teri Garr and Carol Kane are cute, and I would add Shelley Duvall to that group, but theirs was never the childlike cute of young Sally Field, Natalie Wood, Shirley Temple, or Baby Peggy. They were always cute in the manner of an adult woman. Tuesday Weld is an anomaly, as even in her earliest movies, there was always something oddly beyond her years about her. She was usually running circles around older, ostensibly more experienced men like Anthony Perkins and Gregory Peck. Ellen Page has yet move beyond cute, but she was a good advertisement for not underestimating cute in Inception where she was some kind of scientific genius.

I can't even begin to get into the subject regarding the male of the species, though I old enough that I can to describe a man as attractive or cute without embarrassment. Can't wait to read more.

[JackFavell]

I wanted specifically to add males to the list, maybe because I thought it was used in a bit of a derogatory way for a female, and I happen to have been considered 'cute' in the past. I wanted the thread to be equal opportunity.

[Maricatrin]

Hmm, very interesting idea for a thread.

Of leading ladies, I can't think of a cuter lady than Debbie Reynolds.

To me, where actors are concerned, it's mostly the "juvenile" types who fall into the "cute" category ... for instance, Ben Cooper immediately comes to mind.

[Robert Regan]

You're right, Wendy. The men and boys belong here, too. I was not being clear if I suggested that cute is a negative quality. Far from it. I guess what bothers me is what we might call "acting cute". I think we have all known, though hopefully not for too long, an adult woman or man who behaves as if still twenty. That can be very tiresome, though the incomparable Goldie Hawn carried it off pretty well throughout her thirties. There are so many admirable and attractive qualities had by women and men in their forties and fifties that I, for one, like to see.

[JackFavell]

I didn't think you were being derogatory, Robert. I do the same thing myself, I tend to mark off my list someone who plays 'cute' beyond that initial moment when it works. I think June Allyson could be put into this category, though I've come to appreciate the hard work she did and even like her in the few movies where she was allowed to expand into adult or more serious roles.

Mary-Kate - Debbie is cute, but I think it would be a great underestimation to say she has relied on it all her life. She's got a lot more going for her than cute, and I think she'd have loved to have been given a chance to do serious roles. She knocked me out a few weeks ago when I finally sat down and watched How the West Was Won. There wasn't a cute scene in the movie and she did a fantastic job with the very grown up role.

[ChiO]

Working Definitions of Cute

Button (as in "Cute as a....") - a positive quality; "precious" as a child; and an attractive vulnerability, but still having an inner strength, as an adult.

Gag Me with a Spoon - a negative quality; a precociousness combined with sentimentality that is unattractive in a child or adult.

[JackFavell]

I agree with most of what you are saying, kingrat. Even more-so with ChiO's description of when it works and when it doesn't!

I included men that I thought had a boyish or childlike quality, even a childish look. I never meant "good-looking."

[Robert Regan]

All these examples are fascinating, and I think they are contributing to a definition. These pro and con examples are easier to come up with off the tops of our heads and, in the long run, may prove more useful.

Wendy, June Allyson and Debbie Reynolds were always too cute for my taste, though I have liked Wanda Hendrix since I was a child. Though she was certainly very cute, now that I think about her best work, as in Ride the Pink Horse, she did not as a rule "play" cute. Incidentally, it has always been a mystery to how one of my heros, the late Andrew Sarris, could have been so fond of June Allyson. After all, he appreciated Carole Lombard (staggeringly beautiful, but not cute) and Miriam Hopkins (very cute, but never infantile) and he married the very womanly Molly Haskell. Well, let he who is without contradictions cast the first stone.

In this context, I am also thinking about Kirsten Dunst who was and is damned cute! I suppose dimples kind of push one in that direction. But, even as a child she did not play cute unless it was a requirement of her character, like Amy in Little Women or the cheerleader in Bring It On.

I'm wondering if size has something to do with it, although Stanwyck, Davis, and Crawford were all rather short, but I don't think anyone would describe them as cute. Are there any tall women who are cute?

[CineMaven]

Silly ol' me!

I took the word "CUTE" literally. But I see there are about 555 iterations of 'cute." Looking cute - as in attractive looking; playing cute - as in one's behavior inducing a diabetic coma.

These would be my candidates for being cute either darned attractive and/or just too precious for words.

* Jeanne Crain

* Lon McAllister

* Shirley Temple

* Margaret O'Brien

* Teresa Wright

* Cathy O'Donnell

* Allene Roberts ( I saw her recently mauled by Lawrence Tierney in "The Hoodlum"

* Martin Stephens ( the little boy in "The Innocents" )

any of those Perreau kids

and yes...

* Robert Cummings