Trisha Yearwood performs at USO Gala in Washington D.C.

PD Photo: American Country Music singer and actress Trisha Yearwood performs at the USO Gala in Washington, D.C., USA, on October 7, 2010 - DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley.

The home where Marilyn Monroe was found dead

PD Photos: The home at Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, where Marilyn Monroe was found dead in 1962.

This is the home where American actress, singer and model Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926 and died on August 5, 1962) was found dead in 1962. Marilyn Monroe bought the Spanish colonial revival home, a 2,624-square-foot, one-story house built in 1929, featuring four bedrooms, three baths and a swimming pool, in 1962 for $90,000 and lived there until her death. In 2010, Monroe's Brentwood home was put up for sale by Prudential California Realty.

Noor Jehan: actress, singer and music composer

Noor Jehan (or Noorjehan) was the screen/ stage name of Allah Wasai (1926-2000), a celebrated film director, film actress, singer and music composer in British India and Pakistan. In a career spanning seven decades, Noor Jehan became renowned as one of the greatest and most influential singers of her time.

Born in a Punjabi family of musicians, Noorjehan holds the envious record of singing 10,000 songs in various languages of India and Pakistan including Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and Sindhi languages, in genres Qawwali, Indian music and Pakistani music. She dominated the earliest Pakistani films with her talented performances, and she became the first female Pakistani film director.

In 1957, Jehan was honored with the President's Award for her acting and singing contributions. Noor Jehan died on December 23, 2000 at the age of 74 at Karachi in Pakistan.

Sana Nawaz: Pakistani model and actress

Pakistani film actress and model Sana Nawaz, commonly known by her screen name Sana, became famous as a successful and talented actress in Lollywood film industry (of Pakistan), after her performance in director Syed Noor’s film Sangam (1997).

Shafique Hussain, an assistant producer of PTV and a relative of her mother, introduced her as a television actress, before she entered films. Noted films of Sana Nawaz include Jannat Ki Talash (1999), Yeh Dil Aap Ka Huwa (2002), Kyun Tumse Itna Pyar Hai (2005), Kaafila (2007), Ishq Be Parwah (2009) and Haseeno Ka Mela (2010).

Sana Nawaz married film actor Fakhar Imam in Lahore on December 13, 2008.

Actress Babra Sharif of Pakistan

Actress Babra Sharif, 56, is an accomplished actress of Lollywood (Pakistani film industry), who was very active in her career during the 1980s and late 1970s. Initially in her career, she was noted for modeling for commercials such as the 'Jet' washing powder that made her famous as the Jet powder girl, and the 'Lux' soap ads with the catch phrase, 'Aakhir loag hamara chehra he to deiktay hain'. Afterwards, Babra Sharif appeared in television plays telecast from Karachi TV station.

Barbara soon became a household name and as a film actress, she acted in more than 100 movies, enjoying great success in Urdu films in Pakistan.

Angelina Jolie and Condoleezza Rice, World Refugee Day 2005

PD Photo: Angelina Jolie and Condoleezza Rice during the World Refugee Day at the National Geographic Society on 15 June 2005.

Marilyn Monroe with the U.S. troops in Korea

Photo: Marilyn Monroe poses for American troops in Korea after a performance at the 3rd U.S. Infantry Division Area on 17 February 17, 1954.

Immediately after her marriage to American baseball player Joe DiMaggio in San Francisco on January 14, 1954, Marilyn Monroe travelled to Japan for a honeymoon trip with an additional tag of business trip arranged by DiMaggio to conduct his business. Monroe then travelled alone to Korea and performed for the entertainment of 13,000 American Marines there during the Korean War. She spent three days entertaining the troops.

Barbra Streisand, the timeless American star

Photo: Barbra Streisand (1962), source: Library of Congress, New York, World Telegram & Sun Collection, Author: Al Ravenna, World Telegram staff photographer (Public Domain photo: No copyright restriction known. Staff photographer reproduction rights transferred to Library of Congress through Instrument of Gift.)

Barbra Streisand, born Barbara Joan Streisand on April 24, 1942, is an American singer, actress, director and songwriter, who has won two Academy Awards, nine Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, an American Film Institute award, a Special Tony Award and a Peabody Award. She has been credited with more than 71.5 million music albums sold in USA and 140 million albums sold worldwide. Along with Frank Sinatra, Cher, Jamie Foxx and Shirley Jones, she shares the distinction of being awarded an acting Oscar and also recording a number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Streisand holds the record for the most top ten albums for any female recording artist with a total of 31 to her credit since 1963. With her 2009 album, “Love Is the Answer”, she became the only artist to achieve number-one albums in five consecutive decades. According to the RIAA, she has released 51 Gold albums, 30 Platinum albums, and 13 Multi-Platinum albums in USA.

Jessica Simpson, American singer and actress

American singer, actress and television personality Jessica Simpson sings the US National Anthem during the opening ceremonies for the 2009 AT&T National at Congressional Country Club, Bethesda, MD. The tournament was hosted by the PGA and the Tiger Woods Foundation in honor of all the men and women of the United States Armed Forces on July 1, 2009 - photo by Christopher Wellner.

Jessica Simpson and her father and manager Joe Simpson pose for a snapshot on the flight line at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, on March 10, 2008. Simpson toured the camp and visited with US troops the day before performing at the Operation: MySpace concert in the evening - U.S. Army photo by PFC. David J. Marshall.

Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey at publicity shoot for the MTV Video Music Awards at ISC Miami on 29 August 2004, USCG photo by PA2 Anastasia Burns.

Jessica Simpson performs during a USO/ DoD Celebrity Tour at Eagle Base on 14 November 2001: US Army-Military photo.

Portrait of Margaret Woffington by Jean-Baptiste van Loo

Image: Margaret Woffington (1738) oil on canvas portrait painting by French portrait painter Jean-Baptiste van Loo, dimensions 111 cm x 88 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, England.

Actress Margaret Woffington (1718-1760), popularly known as ‘Peg’, enjoyed a lively and unconventional life, and she was one of the most famous actors of her times. Various artists are known to have painted her. This portrait is not signed, but because of the delicate treatment of the flesh tones and the sensitive rendering of the costume, critics justify the attribution to French portrait painter Jean-Baptiste van Loo (1684-1745).

Marilyn Monroe in pink satin gown

Photo: Marilyn Monroe performs ‘Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend’ in the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

The bubblegum pink satin gown Monroe was wearing while performing ‘Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend’ was put up on auction in June 2010.

Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Photo: Marilyn Monroe performing ‘Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend’ in the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

This is a snap from the film ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ (1953) in which Marilyn Monroe performed in one of cinema's most memorable and evergreen song-dance sequence, ‘Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend’. The iconic bubblegum pink satin gown Monroe was wearing while performing for the scene was up for auction on in early June 2010, and the pink gown is probably included in an exhibition of about 250 personal items and memorabilia from Monroe's life and career, on display till August 31 at the Hollywood Museum, Los Angeles.

Earlier, the revealing rhinestone studded dress she wore while singing ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ in May 1962 at the birthday party for President John F. Kennedy at the Madison Square Garden in New York, was sold at auction in 1999 for $1.27 million. Now, it is reported that the picture taken by White House photographer Cecil Stoughton, minutes after her infamous rendition of ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ is being offered in an auction at the Art & Artifact Gallery in West Hollywood, California.

It was Monroe's last major public appearance before her mysterious death in August 1962. The black and white photo shows Monroe, Bobby Kennedy and John F. Kennedy together -- ‘There is no other known’ photo of them together, according to filmmaker Keya Morgan, who is selling the print. He bought the photograph for a documentary he is making about Monroe. It is one of only ten prints from the negative and is expected to reach £16,000 at auction.

“You know, Marilyn died within months. President Kennedy died the next year and Bobby a few years from that. So what a haunting photograph, and it's the only one of any of them together,” said Mr. Keya Morgan.

Mademoiselle Lange as Danae, painting by Anne-Louis Girodet

Image: Mademoiselle Lange as Danae, the 1799 oil on canvas painting by French painter Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson (1767-1824), currently located at Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The model for this painting was the French actress of the Comédie-Française Anne Françoise Elizabeth Lange (1772-1816).

Mademoiselle Lange as Venus, painting by Girodet

Image: Mademoiselle Lange as Venus, the 1798 painting by French painter Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson (1767-1824). The model for this painting was a French actress of the Comédie-Française Anne Françoise Elizabeth Lange (1772-1816).

Shilpa Shetty in PETA campaign ad

In March 2006 various sources reported that Indian actress and businesswoman Shilpa Shetty has joined PETA for an advertising campaign against the use of wild animals in circuses. Shetty is a long-time PETA supporter and has assisted the campaign by posing for photographs in a tiger costume.

Pamela Anderson promotes vegetarianism

Photo: Pamela Anderson, a vegetarian, an ardent advocate for animal rights, and an active member of the animal rights organization, ‘People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA), takes part in campaigns for promoting vegetarianism and animal rights. She became a vegetarian in her early teens when she saw her father cleaning an animal he had hunted.

Ursula Andress celebrating her 70th birthday

Photo: Ursula Andress, surrounded by TV crews, on board the Royal Yacht Britannia celebrating her 70th birthday in 2006 in Edinburgh.

Ursula Andress as Bond girl Honey Ryder in Dr. No

The Swiss actress Ursula Andress was voted top film siren by men according to a poll by Radio Times, famous as the Bond girl Honey Ryder in the James Bond movie ‘Dr. No’. A poll of 2,000 people voted for their favorite and the top 50 film sirens, spanning over 75 years of cinema, was conducted by Radio Times, the result of which was declared on 6 April 2010. Interestingly, women voted in favor of Audrey Hepburn, famous for her role as the sophisticated Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Andress became world famous as the shell diver Honey Ryder, the center of desire of James Bond (Sean Connery) in Dr. No (1962), the first Bond movie, based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name. In a memorable scene, she rises out of the Caribbean Sea in a white bikini (see photo above). The scene made Andress the ‘quintessential’ Bond girl.

"My entrance in the film wearing the bikini on that beautiful beach made me world famous as the Bond girl", she said. The bikini from this ‘classic moment in cinema and Bond history’ was sold for £35,000 at auction in 2001. In 2003, in a UK Survey by Channel 4, her entrance in Dr. No was voted #1 in ‘the 100 Greatest Sexy Moments’. In 2007, Australian series 20 to 1 ranked her entrance in Dr. No as the #2 Sexiest Movie Moment.

Also, Andress won a 1964 Golden Globe award for New Star of the Year for her performance in Dr. No.

Barry Norman, the film reviewer, said, “You seem to have a penchant for naughty girls, women who play hookers: Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour, Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman and, of course – top of the heap – Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, although in the demure age in which it was made, just before the Swinging Sixties got under way, the nature of her profession couldn’t be specified… In fact there could easily have been a fourth – the Oscar-winning Jane Fonda in Klute, but instead you chose her for Barbarella and, as an impressionable young man who interviewed her in Rome in 1967 when she was actually wearing that erotic costume, I can well understand why. It was an unnerving experience, as you can imagine. I didn’t know where to look never mind what to say. As interviews go, it was a washout. Memorable, though.”

Josephine Baker dancing The Charleston

Photo: Josephine Baker dancing The Charleston at the Folies Bergère, Paris in 1926.
The Charleston, a dance named for the city of Charleston, South Carolina, was popularized in mainstream dance music in the United States by composer/pianist James P. Johnson. It originated in the Broadway show Runnin' Wild and became one of the most popular hits of the decade.

Josephine Baker performs the Danse Banane