Woody Allen, who directed her in Stardust Memories, once said that his ideal dinner companions would be Charlotte Rampling and Franz Kafka. Not as unlikely a combination as you might think, given the duality of Rampling's appeal: a thoroughbred European beauty who projects more than a hint of inner darkness. After a fairy tale start to her career (plucked from a steno pool to model in a Cadbury ad), she put that double-sided style to singular use in such film roles as the selfish, promiscuous roommate in Georgy Girl and the concentration camp survivor in The Night Porter. She also featured in several Helmut Newton shoots—most notoriously smoking and drinking at the Hôtel Nord-Pinus in a 1973 nude portrait. Rampling's career has bumped upward recently; her 2003 movie Swimming Pool was a surprise success on this side of the Atlantic, and she's co-starring with photographer Juergen Teller in Marc Jacobs' spring ad campaign. Which just proves that dangerous beauty only grows more potent with time.
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