Nellie LaRoy wrote: ↑August 7th, 2023, 9:06 am As a huge Ava Gardner fan, I may be somewhat partial to the 50s version
Nellie, I also love Ava Gardner.
She's one of those movie stars from the studio era whose acting is so "natural" yet still doesn't seem out of place in the movies from that era.
I doubt she had training in any of the Stanislavsky techniques, but she certainly created very real and seemingly spontaneous behavior on screen.
Here's a great clip of her from MOGAMBO.
(It doesn't hurt that she's also gorgeous.)