The truth is that Hollywood makes stars, but the public makes icons. But we can't tell you why. However, when two Chicago cultural institutions turned to the glamour days of Hollywood this month for material, we couldn't resist the chance to reflect on the question. In doing so, we sought a range of thoughts from those who don't fit the classic mold of American beauty: non-whites, non-straights, non-thins, non-women. We'd also like to hear yours. --Brian Hieggelke

The family's first VCR lumbered home in February 1984, just in time for my eleventh birthday. And the first feature to grace the enormous Hitachi (complete with a remote that attached to the front with a cord) was Alfred Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief."

Though I've seen it countless times since, the lingering memory from that first viewing is the vision of Grace Kelly, regally blonde in strapless blue (and later white) chiffon looking every inch a princess, or, in this case, a wealthy heiress. And though it wouldn't occur until much later that her cool blonde looks weren't really something a young black woman could aspire to duplicate, Kelly's glamour, style and elegance would forever set a somewhat unreachable standard for my view of true fifties beauty.

Kelly and contemporary Audrey Hepburn (both actresses won Oscars during the 1950s, though Hepburn's career would last much longer) continue to leave an impression on upon contemporary culture that's unmatched in the last half century. "I just couldn't help but notice how often--more than anyone else I can think of--Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn's names are evoked in magazines," says Barbara Scharres, executive director of the Gene Siskel Film Center.

This month the Film Center celebrates the duo with a retrospective, "Sophisticated Ladies," curated by Scharres and Marty Rubin, and featuring eleven films (seven for Hepburn, five for Kelly) that showcase the actresses' most enduring images.

"I was looking through fashion magazines--Elle, Vogue and others. In every issue they made reference to Audrey Hepburn in ads, in copies of articles," Scharres says of the series, which they began planning a year ago. "It was fascinating to me. Aside from the substantial personal accomplishments as performers, these stars seem to have an image that lives apart from their film careers. Audrey and Grace live on in some iconic way."

But the major question is, exactly how did these two particular actresses become so immortal when many others have been sexier, more talented or more beautiful. "Why them, as opposed to Lauren Bacall or Rita Hayworth or Betty Grable or any of the others?" Scharres asks. "There are dozens of female stars in American cinema, powerful actresses, who captured the imagination of people over a decade and whose performances live on, but they don't have the same kind of iconic presence outside their careers as screen goddesses."

In part, Scharres says, the answer lies in the way women, not men, reacted to the two actresses' images. "In a certain way these women both created a model for American women at a particular time that still has an influence. Neither of them was as idealized by men as they were by women," she says. "Look at the way Grace Kelly's look and manner was idealized by women at the time. And it's still the ultimate--not just the look, but the whole package. And she wasn't the goddess men were drooling over, it was the women who were drooling over her.

"But there's something more mythic than that and it has to do with transformation," Scharres continues. "Audrey Hepburn's role in 'Funny Face'--she's transformed from someone mousy--if you could ever call Audrey Hepburn mousy--a clerk in a bookstore. In 'Roman Holiday' she's a princess. Even when she's out around town, she's still a princess. By the time you get to 'My Fair Lady,' it's almost a parody of the types of transformations she's gone through in her entire career. And you're especially conscious of this in films like 'Breakfast at Tiffany's,' where she's essentially a call girl. At the same time she's also this princess."

With Kelly, Scharres says, it's not about transformation, but about her inherent regal quality and regal demeanor. "And the fact that she became a princess in real life, it's life imitating art."

And the fact that Hepburn's image has endured, perhaps even more so than Kelly's, may have less to do with her shorter career and more to do with Hepburn's exceptional pacakaging. "We got a new Audrey Hepburn still from one of the movies and we were looking at it and someone commented, 'Look at those eyebrows,'" Scharres says. "She really did not have a beautiful face--it was certainly a very striking face and the makeup done for her at the time exaggerated the uniqueness of her features--her image was very created. With Hepburn it has a lot to do with her appearance of vulnerability, her projection of knowing innocence."

But, if it were just packaging with either actress, they never would have attained iconic status, Scharres says. It may well be that they were the right image at the right time. "It has a lot to do with our idealization of the fifties," she says. "Of course, the fifties weren't all that wonderful, but this is an extraction of all that was so wonderful about the fifties--the good times, the post-World War II affluence. It was also a time--unlike now, when people wear sweats anywhere--where even the average woman could aspire to own a cocktail dress. These two actresses represented, and still represent, this aspiration to elegance shared by ordinary women throughout North America."

"Sophisticated Ladies" runs through June 6 at the Film Center, 164 North State. This week's features include "Dial M for Murder," "Funny Face," "Rear Window" and "Sabrina." See www.siskelfilmcenter.org for descriptions and times.

See these other American Icons stories:
Glam Sham: The changing shape of icons
Living Large: Existing outside the popular image of woman
Garbo Lives: Pondering the created quality of Hollywood stars