Wringing Some Neck(lace)s!

This photo-filled post may be a pain in the neck to some of you or perhaps make you hot under the collar, depending on your interest in classic actresses and jewelry! We're spotlighting attractive neckwear as modeled by several famous gals. (Between you and me, it's really just a way to keep the blog rolling with some lovely portraits of a similar theme without having to do another "text-heavy" one right away!) Thanks to cover girl Marilyn Monroe as we begin the link of necklaces...

Ida Lupino looks lovely in her gilded neckpiece.

Claudette Colbert in her Cleopatra drag and a necklace of precious stones.

Barbara Britton is in danger of being weighted down by her array of rocks.

Rhonda Fleming sparkles in repose.

Deanna Durbin shows off a heavy duty necklace not long before she prematurely retired from the biz.

Merle Oberon is wearing an ornately designed piece.

Hedy Lamarr has some baggage around her neck!

Virginia Field models an amulet-like necklace.

Both Anna Lee and her necklace are luminescent!

Both Vivien Leigh and her pendant are stunning to behold.

That's quite a rock around Miss Greer Garson's neck.

Lovely Lana Turner's necklace highlights her decolletage.

Loretta Young's jewels are dazzling.

Deborah Kerr goes for understatement (and an enigmatic half-grin.)

Hmmm... We like Jean Simmons' elaborate, floral-design jewelry as well as her dramatic eye makeup.

Dreamy Joan Crawford has some glitz going on under her blouse.

Sophia Loren has quite a trinket around her neck here (but we do hope she isn't trying to tell us something with that middle finger!)

Ava Gardner is dripping with gems in this pose from "55 Days at Peking."

Natalie Wood coordinates her necklace to her colorful dress.

I wonder if Desi Arnaz ever gave Lucille Ball a pearl necklace? Ha ha!

We continue to look at some oyster offerings with Lana Turner again, who appears to have cleaned out one whole section of the ocean!

Jane Wyman approaches things more minimally, with a simple, but lovely choker.

British starlet and "Goldfinger" Bond girl Shirley Eaton dresses up her pearls a bit.

There was a time when even Miss Zsa Zsa Gabor went for the (comparatively) understated look.

Luscious Kim Novak seems to be checking to make sure hers are real!

Never one to preach "Less is more!," Jayne Mansfield pairs a chain pendant with her pearls.

Miss Diahann Carroll has strands of pearls in increasing widths.

I'm betting that there are merely white beads and not pearls, but Diane Ladd looks great in them nonetheless.

Vanessa Williams has her pearls bunched up in a fierce new way. I love the way she looks here.

Elizabeth Taylor plays with one of her multitudinous bits of treasure during "Ash Wednesday."

It seems blasphemous to even mention jewelry without at least a mini-tribute to the queen of collecting, Elizabeth Taylor. It's remarkable, though, how few of her early studio portraits fail to include a necklace. It was after her tracheotomy (as well as marriages to the gift-giving Mike Todd, Eddie Fisher and Richard Burton) that she began to sport them more often.

Like Claudette Colbert before her, Taylor showed off some ornate bits of neckwear when she made "Cleopatra."

This (in)famous, gigantic gem was a gift to her from Richard Burton and was deliberately set in just the right way to rest on her chest, just above her ample bosom.

Her perpetual tan during the late-1960s set the jewel off even more!

This was a big favorite of hers, an emerald stunner she wore to meet another Elizabeth, Elizabeth II of England (but wearing the get-up on her head shown here.)

Here, a cheerily-chubby Liz wears another favorite of hers, a sapphire concoction.

The jewelry of her stage and screen characters suffered in comparison to her own goodies unless she wore them in the project at hand. She's seen here during the Broadway production of The Little Foxes.

We all know that diamonds were this girl's best friend, at least in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes!"

And here we find Miss M. with nothing on BUT a necklace!

Gorgeous Sharon Tate has on only a little bit more than Miss Marilyn in this "more is more" shot.

Sharon was hardly first out of the gate with that sort of look, though. Take, for example, 1930s superstar Carmen Miranda.

Miranda could always be counted on for mountains of accessories to go with her Latin outfits.

Sometimes it's difficult to even make out the individual components of her busy ensembles, but do take note of the clunky geometrically-designed necklace she has on here.

I wonder whatever happened to all this stuff?!

Mr. T. had it easy compared to the effusive Carmen Miranda.

I have a decided weakness for oversized necklaces like the one Loretta Young is showing off here.

Now Zsa Zsa is getting closer to the glitz we know and love...

Keep on goin', dahlink...

Atta girl!!

Score!

No matter whether they look (or are!) uncomfortable, having a dramatic, gigantic necklace on, such as Lauren Bacall's here, is a shortcut to my heart for movie or TV actresses (unless their initials are KK, as in Kardash...)

I like this one on Miss Vivien Leigh a lot.

In one of her most iconic roles, Audrey Hepburn wore a few of them.

Recently, I was alerted to the incredible drama of this necklace from "The Shanghai Gesture," as worn by Ona Munson (yes, that is "Gone with the Wind's" Belle Watling under there!)

My all-time favorite movie necklace, however, belongs to Joan Crawford in "I Saw What You Did."

It doesn't matter a whipstitch to me that she is merely enjoying an evening at home next door to murdered John Ireland and happens to be wearing this lunatic creation. I LOVE it!

Joan was never afraid to wear strong colors or strong pieces of jewelry. Amazingly enough, even the more obnoxious pieces never distracted one from that face... Bless you!