CNBC anchorwoman Amanda Drury

Amanda Drury is the latest rising star on NBC Universal's Consumer News and Business Channel.

A former anchor for Bloomberg Television, where she reported on both business and international relations, Drury worked in her native Australia at CNBC's Asian Pacific channel anchoring its editions of "Squawk Box" and "Cash Flow". Before working at CNBC headquarters in New Jersey, Drury worked in Sydney on CNBC's Asia Pacific where she anchored "Squawk Box" and "Cash Flow." She joined CNBC's American headquarters in New Jersey as a co-anchor for "The Call" in May 2010.

Ratings for that show, I understand, have skyrocketed. ;-)

French actress Clotilde Courau

Clotilde Courau got a great deal in her native France at the age of 22 for her acting in Le petit criminel in 1991. She won a César award (the French equivalent of an Oscar) as Most Promising Actress.

Today she goes by another title: Clotilde, Princess of Venice and Piedmont. She married Emanuele Filberto di Savoia, Prince of Venice and Piedmont, in September 2003. Emanuele Filberto is a grandson of the last king of Italy. So Clotilde Courau - not Catherine Deneuve - is technically the French Grace Kelly. ;-)

Courau's movies from the nineties included Map of The Human Heart (1993) and Milk (1999, not to be confused with the Harvey Milk bio of the same name). She has continued working since becoming a real-life princess, with suich films as 2008's Modern Love.

American audiences know of her best - if they know of her at all - as Katie in the Hollywood film Deterrence.

Minnesota State Senator Tarryl Clark

Tarryl Clark, an accomplished Minnesota politician, is Mary Richards incarnate, a bright and eager woman with heartland charm and appeal. But that's not why I'm featuring her here.

She represents District 15 in Minnesota's state Senate. But that's not the reason I'm featuring her here.

She's involved with many charities and community activist groups. But that's not why I have her on this blog.

No, the reason I'm featuring Ms. Clark, a distinguished gentlewoman from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, is because she is the Democratic candidate opposing the Republican representing Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District in the House of Representatives . . . the horrible Michele Bachmann!

The Democrats are expected to lose a bunch of seats in the House this year and possible control of the House altogether. But if Tarryl Clark can unseat Bachmann in the meantime - if she can arrange it so that at least the Democrats, if they must go down, can take Bachmann with them - that would be more than great.

It would be beautiful. Just beautiful. :-)

Go here for more information about her campaign.

Supermodel Elsa Benitez

In a television commercial for some fast food chain - does it really matter which? - Mexican model Elsa Benitez walks by a group of teenage boys and says, "Hi, guys!" The boys swoon.

Believe me, they weren't acting. :-D

Elsa Benitez came from Hermosillo, the capital of the Mexican state of Sonora. There aren't many women's magazines she hasn't appeared on the covers of - among those whose covers she has graced are Vogue, Elle, Glamour, and Marie Claire - and she also appeared in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue, causing many more teenage boys to swoon. :-)

Actress Bess Armstrong

In a perfect world, Bess Armstrong would be having a distinguished acting career and have a trophy case full of Oscars. At least that's the impression I got from her performance as a trophy wife in the 1981 Alan Alda movie The Four Seasons. I thought it would lead to such a career.

However, fate - or the Muses or some Hollywood executive or whoever the heck guides these things - dictated that she merely be an ubiquitous character actress rather than a star. Too bad. People don't realize how much talent she has.

While Bess Armstrong has done several movies since 1981 - the adventure movie High Road to China and the comedy-drama Nothing In Common are two of her better-known ones - she's mostly been on television, most notably as Sara Sheffield on the sitcom "The Nanny" and as Patty Chase on the critically acclaimed but low-rated "My So-Called Life." She's also been in several TV movies, as well as the 1997 version of Walt Disney's That Darn Cat.

The Latest Numbers

As of now, I have posted pictures of 367 different women on this blog.

Of course, the number of pictures is much bigger. I lost count of that long ago! :-D

More are to come. Soon.

The Beauty of Retrospect: A Very Special Catherine Deneuve Post!

Only a fashion designer whose father is one of the greatest rock stars of all time could have made this photographic opportunity possible.

That's right, that's French actress and cinematic and fashion icon Catherine Deneuve at right with Paul McCartney and his daughter Stella. The most beautiful woman in the world got her picture taken with a Beatle. :-)

Oh yeah, the Beatles song "Michelle" - about a Frenchwoman - was Paul's. :-D

Photographers live for opportunities like this! My hat's off to the celebrity photographer who got this one.