Happy 'They Aren't Mothers' Day!

Sometimes we resent how the biological drive takes the great actresses away from us for years at a time or even forever. We're selfish about movies. Sue us. You'll be hearing or saying "Happy Mother's Day" all day today -- call your mother! -- but just for something a bit different we'd like to wish the following actresses and directors a "Happy Day!" even though they never had children (biological or adopted).

The Queen... Dame Helen Mirren

There's more than one way to give back to the universe and live on past your own time.

These women have given us much to enjoy so Happy Day to them, too. Some of them, like Katharine Hepburn, are no longer with us and some of them, like Zeéeee and The Lovely Laura Linney may yet still have children... but that's no reason not to cherish what any of them have already given the world over the years.

Formidable Ava, 'Barefoot Contessa' / Enigmatic Julie, 'The Sunshine Girl'

A VERY HAPPY DAY to...

• Helen Mirren
• Patricia Clarkson
• Katharine Hepburn
• Ava Gardner
• Dolly Parton
• Maggie Cheung
  
• Julie Christie
  
• Betty White
• Jacqueline Bissett
• Daryl Hannah
  
• Kim Cattrall
• Lily Tomlin
• Marsha Mason
• Mae West
  
• Juliette Lewis
• Anjelica Huston
  
• Renée Zellweger
• Katherine Bigelow
• Julie Taymor
  
• Lauren Hutton
• Laura Linney
• Tallulah Bankhead
• Parker Posey
• Claudette Colbert
• Kathy Bates
  

Read more about any of them by clicking on their names. Did I forget anyone? (If I missed a pregnancy or adoption announcement for someone, my apologies and best wishes!). We send all of these women virtual flowers and cards today.

This post is dedicated to three of the cinema's very first star actresses: Florence Lawrence (1886-1936), Mary Pickford (1892-1979) and Lillian Gish (1893-1993).

Mary Pickford & Lillian Gish. Their lives made history.

None of them had children but in many ways they helped to invent both the movies and screen acting. Their artistic descendants, one might say, are legion.
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