The Splendor of Gwen

In a pictorial essay in our November 1972 issue, Contributing Editor Bruce Williamson hailed Gwen Welles as a coming love goddess of the screen. These days, his prediction is looking pretty good. Since breaking up with French star maker Roger Vadim--a rupture anticipated in Williamson's story--she has come back to the States and solidified her claim to stardom in a pair of Robert Altman films: California Split, which cast her as a kindhearted prostitute, and the upcoming Nashville. There's no one better qualified than Altman to appraise the talent of the 26-year-old actress, and he thinks it's all there: "Off the set, she may seem vulnerable and dependent, but when the camera goes on, she's a complete professional." The niece of Gustave Tassell and the daughter of Rebecca Welles, both top Hollywood fashion designers, Gwen sold dresses at 17, then started tagging along with some friends who went to acting school at night. Her very first attempt at onstage emoting caught the eye of an agent, who signed her to a contract. But Gwen went through the traumatic changes you'd expect of an overprivileged Hollywood brat--plus, of course, her thing with Vadim--before getting herself together. Now Gwen--whose offstage companion is usually record producer Richard Perry--keeps a vegetarian diet and practices yoga, meditating twice a day to slow down her pulse rate. She's been refining her already formidable dramatic skills by studying with Lee Strasberg, and she's been delighting the Hollywood columnists, one of whom has said she provides the best copy since Marilyn Monroe. Evidently, our charismatic heroine is on her way.