| Blondell was actually a bigger star and played leads in films in her heyday, I would say more so than Winters. Joan Blondell was an especially wonderful leading lady for James Cagney, full of vigor and crackling energy to match his. She's marvelous in some incredible pre-code films, like the has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed "Night Nurse" alongside Barbara Stanwyck and a memorably rare villainous Clark Gable. Winters played a lot of victims in her films with some exceptions and forays into leading ladydom, but then again she came along after the '30s heyday of Blondell where speakeasys, bootleggers, and such film settings presented opportunities for Blondell to shine. If Blondell is she is known to younger audiences, it is as the lunch lady in "Grease", practically a cameo role. She seems to have fallen off Hollywood's map after a role in a tv series called "Here Come The Brides" in the late 60s, and she really could have been cast in more roles as she got more mature. |
