Like mother, like daughter

On International Women's Day, tabloid! reporeter I-Cheng Chan looks at the ladies sharing the spotlight across generations.

Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson

There's something so endearing about Goldie Hawn. Whether it's her cute little smile, big blue eyes, high-pitched giggle or comedic timing, it's hard to say. But whatever it is, no-one does it better.

Even with age, the 61-year-old has matured gracefully and still has plenty of the girlish charm that captivated audiences in Private Benjamin in 1980.

For loyal fans of the Oscar-winning actress, it was a welcome surprise to see her daughter Kate Hudson rising through the Hollywood ranks as Hawn's acting output regrettably declined in recent years.

While we would never be so bold as to say we had found a perfect replacement, the joy of watching her 27-year-old offspring at work is an experience to be savoured.

Yes, there's a striking resemblance and Hudson's ability to hold a romantic comedy is no coincidence.

While Hudson's breakthrough in Almost Famous was a serious role which earned her an Academy Award nomination, she has effortlessly flourished in the rom-com genre with films such as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and You, Me and Dupree to her credit.

In addition to the acting genes, Hudson is said to have inherited her mother's sweet nature and grounded personality.

As Hawn once said: "The biggest lesson you can learn in life, or teach your children, is that life is not castles in the skies, happily ever after. The biggest lesson we have to give our children is truth. We're all built with illusions. And they break."

Speaking of her mother, Hudson said: "I'd say my first teacher, who continues to always be my teacher, is my mum. That's the woman that I've learned the most from and who I look up to, who has conducted her life in a way that I can look up to."

A sweetheart indeed.

Blythe Danner and Gwyneth Paltrow

There's a certain poise shared by Blythe Danner and Gwyneth Paltrow that makes it obvious they are mother and daughter.

Danner, 64, is a celebrated actress with numerous accolades under her belt after a lifetime on the stage and screen.

In recent years she received the Emmy award for best supporting actress in the television series Huff in 2005 and 2006.

But she first began collecting trophies for the mantelpiece in her 20s with a Theatre World Award for her part in the play The Miser and a Tony award for her role in the Broadway play Butterflies are Free in 1970.

Paltrow first followed in her mum's footsteps when the two starred alongside each other in the Williamstown Theatre play, Picnic.

They worked again together in the 1992 television movie Cruel Doubt and once more in the 2003 film Sylvia as mother and daughter.

When Paltrow scooped the best actress Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, Danner described it as her proudest moment.

While Paltrow has often spoken of her adoration for her father, producer Bruce Paltrow, who died in 2002, she has been less vocal about her mother, although she once said theirs was definitely a more complicated relationship.

But after having her own daughter Apple, in 2004, Paltrow said about her mum: "I thought, does she love me as much as I love my daughter? The my-mother-did-this, she-didn't-do-that, that adolescent stuff — it made me let go of it."

Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli

Among the Hollywood stars who have dazzled in the spotlight and taken heavy falls from grace are Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli.

Mum Garland shot to fame as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at the tender age of 16 and had a full career starring in several films a year and ending up with her own critically acclaimed television series.

But, her relentless years in the industry took their toll and the burnt-out heroine succumbed to amphetamines to keep her weight down and barbiturates to help her sleep. In 1969, Garland overdosed and died at the age of 47.

Despite having tried to discourage her children from entering show business, daughter Liza Minnelli became an entertainer and an icon herself. In November 1964, at the age of 17, Minnelli performed at the London Palladium with her mother.

Minnelli's sensational performance in the film Cabaret won her an Academy Award in 1972. But as well as inheriting her mum's talents, she too shared a weakness for drugs and alcohol and has been in and out of rehab on numerous occasions.

Another parallel between mother and daughter is their penchant for husbands. While Garland was married five times, Minnelli, who turns 61 on Monday, has had four husbands to date.

Jerry Hall and Elizabeth Jagger

It can't be easy growing up in the shadow of a supermodel mum and a father who is one of the greatest rock stars who has ever lived.

But Elizabeth Jagger has taken it in her 5ft 10ins (1.7 metre) stride and forged her own path on the catwalk under her own merits.

Texan-born mum Jerry Hall led the way as an Elite fashion model with her towering 6ft (1.82 metre) frame and her 35-24-36 measurements.

While 50-year-old Hall has raised four children and received high acclaim on the stage as Mrs Robinson in the Broadway production of The Graduate, her daughter has blossomed to become a sought-after model.

When listing the designers Jagger has modelled for, it would probably be easier to select those she hasn't strutted her stuff for.

However, here are just a few labels she has graced in recent years: Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Victoria's Secret, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Burberry, Pucci, Gucci, Chloé, Jean Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, Nina Ricci, Vivienne Westwood, La Perla, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Yves Saint Laurent, John Galliano and many more. All that at just 23 years of age.

Jagger was also paid £500,000 (Dh3.5 million) for being the face of Lancôme's LCM cosmetics range and even starred in the 2002 film Igby Goes Down. With a romance with Sean Lennon, the son of the late Beatle John Lennon, already in her past, it seems Jagger is following her mother almost to a fault.

Janet Leigh and Jamie Lee Curtis

No film fan could ever forget Janet Leigh's most terrifying role as the star of the 1960 classic Psycho.

The American actress — who never felt safe taking a shower at home alone again after the film's legendary scene — starred with her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in two horror films, The Fog and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, before she died in 2004.

Curtis mirrored her mother's work in her early career by starring in a series of horror movies that earned her the title of the "scream queen".

But she branched out and found success in comedy too with Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda and True Lies, for which she took home a Golden Globe.

While her dad, actor Tony Curtis, encouraged the rebel in her — they reportedly once snorted cocaine together — her mum inspired the good girl.

Curtis said of Leigh: "I never said no to my mother. I was the ultimate good girl with a toe in the water of bad girl-ness. She was a wonderful person."

Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith

There was something about Tippi Hedren's demeanour in a diet drink commercial that caught the eye of Alfred Hitchcock and inspired him to cast her in The Birds and Marnie.

The beauty and poise that helped launch her career were passed down to her daughter Melanie Griffith.

Blessed with the same first name as her mother's best-known role, Melanie Daniels, from the The Birds, Griffith had an unusual childhood.

For her 6th birthday, Hitchcock famously gave her a toy coffin with a replica of her mother in it. Hedren recently stated that the miniature doll was not intended to be a prank by the director.

Apparently, he wanted to give Griffith a doll with her mother's image, but it happened to be in a wooden box.

Mother and daughter's careers have since crossed paths with six films to their shared credit, including Pacific Heights in 1990.

Today, Griffiths, 49, helps to raise money for her 77-year-old mum's animal rescue reserve in California, US.