» period makeup » the C16
updated: Mar 28, 2002
Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, is a recurrent favourite and has been played by: Sarah Churchill, Bette Davis (twice), Glenda Jackson (TV and movie), Flora Robson (three times), Claudette Colbert, and Jean Simmons among others. Recent movies have featured Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench in the role: a movie with Glenn Close was supposedly in production or pre-production but appears to have disappeared into development-hell. And yes I know that Quentin Crisp is not an actress — but it’s my site.
Here the look of the character is somewhat constrained by surviving portraits. But the they look almost bizarre to today’s eyes, and many Elizabeths have shied away from an appearance that might prevent audiences identifying with the character (eg apart from the hairline Sarah Churchill's makeup looks more 50s than C16).
In the UK, the aged Elizabeth was at one time an almost a standard makeup test for aspiring makeup artists. It’s easy to see why: the older queen involves a whole series of skills, ageing, bald-cap, wig, creating a likeness and the whole thing topped off with, what appears, to us at least, as an outlandish colour scheme.