Idolizing a Dead Celebrity is Far Often Preferable than One Who is Still Alive

We love old movies. Seriously though, what's better than watching Humphrey Bogart fall in love with Ingrid Bergman, Gene Kelly dance in the rain or Marilyn Monroe sing "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend"?

We frequently find ourselves wishing we could've lived in the '40s and '50s when our favorite Hollywood stars were running around. Instead of writing about Paris Hilton and Tom Cruise we could be discussing Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Katharine Hepburn. And it would be glorious.

We forget sometimes that the Old Hollywood stars that we idolize are also idolized by current Hollywood celebs. Many of them claim to be influenced by James Dean, Grace Kelly, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, etc. But others take it one step further in their idolization. They try to become, to the best of their abilities, the star that they so admire.

Take Jennifer Love Hewitt. She starred as her personal idol, Audrey Hepburn, in the made-for-tv biopic, "The Audrey Hepburn Story." It could've ended there. But no, just this week Jennifer Love Fefferman took it one step too far when, for her 30th birthday, she dressed up as Holly Golightly and literally had breakfast at Tiffany's (A croissant and Starbucks' coffee for any inquiring minds). Later that night she had a party with friends, family and her "Ghost Whisperer" colleagues. Castmate Jamie Kennedy commented, "The whole cast, we all went and all the women were Audrey Hepburn and all the guys were George Peppard." Now, we're not knocking a "Breakfast at Tiffany's" party (in fact WE might need to throw one). But when you're an actress and you've starred as Audrey in a movie and proclaimed her to be your muse, well it's a little creepy.

Speaking of creep, we could find many examples to share about Lindsay Lohan being one, but for this story, we'll only cite the time she dressed up as Marilyn Monroe for a series of photographs by Bert Stern. In 1962, Bert Stern shot Marilyn Monroe in a series of nude and semi-nude photographs that became known as "The Last Sitting." Six weeks after she posted, Marilyn was found dead of an apparent overdose. Forty-six years after she posed, Stern put a blonde Marilyn wig on Lindsay and photographed her in the same series he did Marilyn. Now, we know there are a LOT of people out there, especially actresses, who idolize Marilyn Monroe. But agreeing to dress up as her for a re-creation of photos she took that ended up being her last by the same photographer? Yeesh.

Something we've learned is that idolizing a dead celebrity is far often preferable than one who is still alive. Thank you Beyonce Knowles and Jessica Simpson for teaching us that valuable lesson. Beyonce's idol is (was) singer Etta James. She met with the singer while portraying her in the recent film "Cadillac Records." According to Beyonce, she and Etta got on fine, and Etta approved of her portrayal. HOWEVER, that was before a man named President Barack Obama chose Beyonce to sing Etta's song "At Last" at his inaugural ball. Etta was vocal about her severe dislike of that situation, and told reporters she was definitely a better singer than Beyonce. Ouch. Jessica Simpson didn't fare much better with her idol, Dolly Parton. After telling the press, "Dolly is awesome! I idolize her. And she is beautiful. I would love to be just like her." Jessica was asked to sing Dolly's famous song "9 to 5" at the Kennedy Center Honors. While on stage in front of then-President George W. Bush and wife Laura, Jessica messed up the lines of the song and fled the stage in tears. Dolly was very nice about it, but still, embarrassing!

We totally understand looking up to a celebrity and even idolizing them. Who doesn't have a framed poster of Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in their room? (Anna does!) But when you think you ARE that celebrity or get a little too big for your britches (Beyonce) there are problems.