The Rise of Hollywood's Leading Ladies

The Hollywood Heritage Museum celebrates the pioneering actresses in the fledgling film industry who created the role of “leading lady” in the exhibit From Famous Players-Lasky to Paramount: The Rise of Hollywood’s Leading Ladies. Paramount’s stable of stars helped define what it meant to be a movie star—and laid the foundation of how actresses would navigate Hollywood power structures for decades to come. The exhibit casts the spotlight on early screen icons such as Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson and Pola Negri as well as the many who came after.

With this exhibit, Hollywood Heritage celebrates the ladies who performed under the Famous Players-Lasky and Paramount banner. These women didn’t just entertain—they influenced fashion, social norms and the evolution of women’s roles in film. They were the first wave of female icons manufactured by Hollywood—many used their position to challenge the norms, subtly or boldly.

Several Paramount actresses demanded control over their image, wardrobe and even their scripts, asserting a level of creative agency rare for the time. Adolph Zukor supported long-term contracts and publicity machines that both promoted and protected these stars. As talkies arrived and the studio matured, Paramount continued producing female-led vehicles and sustained major careers.

The exhibit features costumes, props, personal items and more ephemera from a bevy of stars including:

Various Mary Pickford costumes.

Jeanette MacDonald wedding gown costume from THE LOVE PARADE (1929)

Claudette Colbert beaded gown costume from CLEOPATRA (1934)

Loretta Young costume from THE CRUSADES (1935)

Carole Lombard’s gown from THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS (1936)

Shirley MacLaine costumes from TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983) and the

famous bat costume from ARTISTS AND MODELS (1955)

Hedy LaMarr's cape from SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949)

Anjelica Huston "Morticia" costume from THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1991


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