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It’s striking just how alike they were: both petite women with big personalities and talent who achieved overnight success in iconic movies at age 19; both immensely driven professionals who, in the face of personal challenges and misfortune, channeled their prodigious energies into their work.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Rosalind Russell. Watch her in most anything, and you sense she’s different from all the glamorous female stars of the day. She was a beautiful lady who did not trade on her looks but instead her brain, talent and spirit.

Ida Lupino is a largely forgotten name that deserves to be remembered. She started as an ingenue in the thirties and through sheer pluck and determination, went on to become one of the only female directors in Hollywood. She was a trailblazer who found her own way to compete — and succeed — in a virtually all male world.

If you’re like me, a handful of movies are lodged in your memory that strike a special cord. These are the titles that made a big impact early on and never left you. Among my own short list of prized cinematic gems is Jacques Demy’s musical romance, “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (1964). My family was still living in Paris when it was shot, and over half a century later, I can still remember the cover of the soundtrack album, which we played endlessly.

Given all she accomplished, it’s astonishing that Thelma Ritter only broke through on the big screen when she was pushing fifty. In this case, definitely better late than never. 

Every couple of years, right around Independence Day, I revisit this beloved 1942 musical biopic, and it’s always the same joyful, rousing experience.

Ever since I first saw “The Awful Truth” on New Years’ Day, 1985 at New York’s Cinema Village Theater, I have been a vocal champion of this timeless screwball classic from 1937. Even with a crushing hangover, my (then-future) wife and I were convulsed, and I knew I had found a film I would return to for the rest of my life.

As far as legendary tough guy actor Lino Ventura is concerned, to know him is to love him. The question is, do you know him? If not, you should. He happens to be a personal favorite of mine, and I want others to recognize — or be reminded of — just how talented he was. All it takes is watching some of his best films.

In the years after the smashing success of Mike Nichols’s “The Graduate” (1967), Anne Bancroft came to believe that her portrayal of Mrs. Robinson, the bored middle-aged wife and mother who seduces newly minted college grad Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), overshadowed the rest of her career.