Maggie McNamara

This is a 1954 Lydia Lane article where actress Maggie McNamara talks about a bunch of beauty stuff, including how to pose for photos. Enjoy!

Maggie McNamara shot up from an unknown to one of Hollywood’s most important actresses. Her first picture, “The Moon is Blue,” won her an Academy Award nomination. In that picture she played the part of an individualistic, frank girl. When I lunched with Maggie recently at 20th Century-Fox I found her exactly as she was on the screen. “It’s almost a fetish with me to want to stay the way I am to be the way I want to be,” Miss McNamara explained. “I wouldn’t let them change a thing, not even my hair which I cut  myself so’ that it’s long in the back but short around my face.”

“My hair is naturally lighter than it is now,” Maggie added. “But I love black hair so I’ve darkened mine with a rinse. I was afraid that in Hollywood they would try to make me over but they’ve been wonderful. I am so grateful because I couldn’t be happy going around with an appearance which was sponsored by someone else which didn’t represent me.” It is surprising to find one so young who is so sure that she has discovered the right type. “I was a model,” Maggie explained, “mostly for fashions. When I posed I had to dress exactly as they wanted me to. After three years of this I had to know which was my working self and which my real self.”

Maggie was one of Powers’ most successful models before she went into the theater. “It’s funny the way one’s life is shaped. I started out to be a fashion designer and attended a textile school in New York. In to my art courses I modeled as everyone thought I photographed well I went to Powers. I was terribly shy and I used to have to work on myself to keep from showing it. When I was facing a camera I pretended that neither it nor the photographer were there. I played a game with myself according to the clothes I was wearing. If it was a teen-age costume I imagined that I was sitting in the park watching children sail a boat in a pond. “You have to feel right in what you are wearing,” Maggie added, “to have it look right. “Just as each period has its own fashion, each person has his own style.”

“When you find it I think you should stay with it. When I was modeling I had to dress exactly as Vogue wanted the picture to be. But any good quality becomes something else when it is overdone and I feel that this applies to being too clothes conscious. “I don’t care what the fashion dictator says. I will not follow if it’s not right for me. But your over-all impression consists of more than clothes. Your grooming, posture, the sound of your voice and your perfume play a part in the total picture you create.”

Maggie has a very distinctive way of talking and I mentioned this. “I never realized that I had a curious speech pattern,” Maggie confessed, “until I went into the theater. Mother talks exactly the way I do but I suppose it is not one hundred percent American because she was born in England of Irish parents.” Maggie had eaten a very little lunch She just nibbled at the broiled liver and drank little of her milk. “I don’t have much of an appetite so it s a struggle for me to keep at 92. At the moment I’m eight pounds underweight.” she told me. ‘ Maggie commented that being underweight was a real problem and I told her I would send a diet that would help to increase her weight.

Maggie was sitting there so shy and quiet, that I remarked: “I’m sure” one problem you don’t have is how to relax.” “You can’t always tell by the exterior,” she answered. “But I, personally, don’t have trouble sleeping because I read until I am drowsy. “But when I am on the verge of stage fright, or very keyed up, I find breathing exercises the most effective way of breaking tension for me. Very few people know how to breathe properly and this not only affects your vitality but the quality of your voice. I think it is a good idea if you can afford to take singing lessons, to work with a teacher, even if you don’t have a desire to sing professionally, you will learn the proper way to control your breath.”