Doris Day and Greer Garson Named Co-Champions of the 2016 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament

Doris Day and Greer Garson have been named co-champions of the 2016 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament. I'll let the tourney's founder, Monty, explain (here).

There were more than 1800 votes cast over the last four days.

Day and Garson join previous winners Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers, Carole Lombard, Bette Davis and Natalie Wood. Congratulations to two wonderful actresses and their devoted fans!

2016 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament Finalists: Doris Day Versus Greer Garson

To vote, click here.

Final Four: Myrna Loy versus Doris Day / Greer Garson versus Julie Andrews

The Final Four of the 2016 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament is underway. Myrna Loy (1930s) versus Doris Day (1950s) in one semi-final, Greer Garson (1940s) versus Julie Andrews (1960s) in the other.

To vote, click here.

My Favorite Performances By An Actress In The Sixties (A Baker's Dozen)

Monty of All Good Things is once again hosting his annual Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament this March. We here at the Monkey are proud to be handling the 1960s bracket.

To get into the mood, here's an idiosyncratic list of my favorite performances by an actress in the 1960s (in alphabetical order):

Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins). I could have also gone with The Americanization of Emily and The Sound of Music. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, indeed!

Doris Day (Lover Come Back). I prefer this pairing with Rock Hudson even over Pillow Talk.

Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany's). Charade is another personal favorite, but the scene where Holly Golightly crawls through the window into George Peppard's bed puts this over the top.

Sally Ann Howes (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). A doll on a music box.

Carolyn Jones (Television's The Addams Family). Katie-Bar-The-Door and I have modeled our marriage on Carolyn Jones' Morticia and John Astin's Gomez. Without the seven-foot butler.

Shirley Jones (The Music Man). Serves me right for not being musical.

Angela Lansbury (The Manchurian Candidate). Boy, and you think you've got mother issues ...

Shirley MacLaine (The Apartment). Probably my favorite performance from the 1960s.

Misfit Dolly (voiced by Corinne Conley) (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer). Who among is so hard-hearted not to be moved by the tears of a doll? Especially a red-headed doll?

Julie Newmar (recurring role on TV's Batman). Julie Newmar's stoner Catwoman and Frank Gorshin's speed-freak Riddler are two of the greatest comedy villains of all-time.

Paula Prentiss (Man's Favorite Sport?) I'd go fishing with Paula Prentiss any day.

Diana Rigg (On Her Majesty's Secret Service). You should also check her out in Theatre of Blood, a Vincent Price masterpiece.

Tippy Walker (The World Of Henry Orient) One of the most poignant performances of the decade. Read about this great lost talent in The New Yorker (here).

Your Favorite Classic Movie Actress Of The 1950s: Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn has narrowly defeated Doris Day, 65-60, to advance to the Final Four of Monty's Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tourney—and on Doris Day's 90th birthday, to boot. That's just mean!

When I know who else won, I'll let you know. Please wait by your computer with bated breath.

1950s Final: Doris Day v. Audrey Hepburn

The top two seeds in the 1950s bracket meet for the right to compete in the Final Four of Monty's Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament. Doris Day won by a single vote over Deborah Kerr, a real nail-biter, if biting nails is your idea of fun, while Audrey Hepburn put her boot on Grace Kelly's neck early and never let up.

The contestants in the other brackets boast similar pedigrees:

The 1930s: Barbara Stanwyck v. Myrna Loy
The 1940s: Bette Davis v. Olivia de Havilland
The 1960s: Elizabeth Taylor v. Natalie Wood

The voting starts now and runs through Thursday evening.

Round Four Starts Now

With the conclusion of Round Three, all four number one seeds have advanced to the semi-finals of the 1950s bracket. As last year's winner of the 1950s bracket, Doris Day gets to choose her opponent, takes one look at Oscar-winners Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly, and opts for Deborah Kerr.

Monty, who is the creator and primary host of the Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament, tells me that this is the third time in four years that Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly have squared off against each other, with Ms. Kelly winning the first two—perhaps three's the charm for Ms. Hepburn.

He also tells me that Grace Kelly's win over Lana Turner was her 20th in tourney competition, more than any other actress. And yet the top prize has continued to elude her. Is this the year?

The match-ups (vote below):

Doris Day
Birth Name: Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff
Born: April 3, 1924
Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio
Height: 5' 7"
Film Debut: Romance on the High Seas (1948)
Final Film: The Doris Day Show (1968-1973) (TV series)
Oscars: 1 nominations, 0 wins
Three To See: Love Me or Leave Me; Pillow Talk; Lover Come Back

versus

Deborah Kerr
Birth Name: Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer
Birth Date: September 30, 1921
Birthplace: Helensburgh, Scotland
Height: 5' 6"
Film Debut: Major Barbara (1941)
Final Film: Hold That Dream (1986) (TV movie)
Academy Awards: 6 nominations, 0 wins
Three To See: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp; From Here To Eternity; Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

Audrey Hepburn
Birth Name: Audrey Kathleen Ruston
Birth Date: May 4, 1929
Birthplace: Ixelles, Belgium
Height: 5' 7"
Film Debut: One Wild Oat (1951)
Final Film: Always (1989)
Academy Awards: 5 nominations, 1 win (Roman Holiday)
Three To See: Sabrina; Breakfast at Tiffany's; Charade

versus

Grace Kelly
Birth Name: Grace Patricia Kelly
Birth Date: November 13, 1929
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Height: 5' 6½"
Film Debut: Believe It Or Not (1950) (TV series)
Final Film: High Society
Academy Awards: 2 nominations, 1 win (The Country Girl)
Three To See: Rear Window; To Catch A Thief; High Society





Voting continues until Friday evening.

As always, follow the links to vote in the other brackets:

The 1930s

The 1940s

The 1960s

Third Round Update: Doris Day And Marilyn Monroe Are Tied

If I had to pick two actresses from the 1950s who best typified the decade's popular tastes, Doris Day and Marilyn Monroe would be it. They were both blondes, both comediennes, both singers, but they couldn't have been more different and at times they seemed to be leading the culture in opposite directions. They were both the best at what they did, though, and choosing between them is the toughest choice of the tournament so far. Indeed, as of lunchtime today, they are tied.

Still plenty of time to vote. Tell your friends, tell your co-workers, tell the stranger sitting next to you on the bus. Tell them to make their way over to the Monkey and cast what might very well be the deciding vote in a culture war that's been raging for more than fifty years.

Click here to vote.

Round Three Starts Now!

Round Three is now underway. You have until breakfast time Sunday morning to cast your vote!

To vote for actresses in the other decades, follow the highlighted links:

The 1930s

The 1940s

The 1960s

Round One Results—More Voting Tomorrow Morning

The first eight matches in Round One of March Madness are complete. No surprises, except that there were no surprises. The higher seeded actress here in the 1950s bracket handily won every match. The numbers:

Doris Day def. Ann Miller, 44-19
Marilyn Monroe def. Kay Kendall, 43-18
Debbie Reynolds def. Betty Hutton, 49-13
Cyd Charisse def. Dorothy Dandridge, 37-21
Deborah Kerr def. Jennifer Jones, 50-11
Janet Leigh def. June Allyson, 46-13
Eleanor Parker def. Jean Hagen, 48-11
Thelma Ritter def. Anne Baxter, 41-18

The rest of round one commences tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Wakey wakey!

March Madness Preview: 1950s Bracket/Singers And Dancers Division

The Final Four Is Set

The final four is set in the 2013 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament—three favorites and a longshot, any one of whom would make a worthy winner.

The matches:

Carole Lombard

versus

Doris Day

with the winner to compete against the winner of

Bette Davis

versus

Diana Rigg

Voting starts tomorrow is now underway and runs through Tuesday at All Good Things.

The Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards (1955)

Generally speaking, the phrase "Ingmar Bergman comedy" is the very definition of an oxymoron, but Smiles of a Summer Night is the exception I can recommend to you.

Loosely adapted from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and later to inspire Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music and Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night is the story of tangled relationships—she loves her ex, he loves his bride, she prefers his son, and the maid sleeps with everybody—set right on a long summer evening with the aid of magic wine and moveable beds.

Serve with champagne.

PICTURE (Drama)
winner: The Night Of The Hunter (prod. Paul Gregory)
nominees: Bad Day At Black Rock (prod. Dore Schary); East of Eden (prod. Elia Kazan); Kiss Me Deadly (prod. Robert Aldrich); The Man From Laramie (prod. William Goetz); Rebel Without A Cause (prod. David Weisbart); To Catch A Thief (prod. Alfred Hitchcock)

PICTURE (Comedy/Musical)
winner: The Ladykillers (prod. Michael Balcon)
nominees: Guys And Dolls (prod. Samuel Goldwyn); Lady And The Tramp (prod. Walt Disney); Mister Roberts (prod. Leland Hayward); Oklahoma! (prod. Arthur Hornblow, Jr.); The Seven Year Itch (prod. Charles K. Feldman and Billy Wilder); The Trouble With Harry (prod. Alfred Hitchcock)

PICTURE (Foreign Language)
winner: Pather Panchali (prod. Satyajit Ray)
nominees: Les diaboliques (Diabolique) (prod. Henri-Georges Clouzot); Du rififi chez les hommes (Rififi) (prod. René Bezard, Henri Bérard and Pierre Cabaud); Lola Montès (prod. Albert Caraco); Ordet (prod. Carl Theodor Dreyer, Erik Nielsen and Tage Nielsen); Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night) (prod. Allan Ekelund)

ACTOR (Drama)
winner: James Dean (East of Eden and Rebel Without A Cause)
nominees: Ernest Borgnine (Marty); Cary Grant (To Catch A Thief); Robert Mitchum (The Night Of The Hunter); Laurence Olivier (Richard III); Jean Servais (Du rififi chez les hommes a.k.a. Rififi); Frank Sinatra (The Man With The Golden Arm); James Stewart (The Man From Laramie); Spencer Tracy (Bad Day At Black Rock)

ACTOR (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Gunnar Björnstrand (Sommarnattens leende a.k.a. Smiles of a Summer Night)
nominees: James Cagney (Love Me Or Leave Me and Mister Roberts); Henry Fonda (Mister Roberts); Alec Guinness (The Ladykillers); Gordon MacRae (Oklahoma!)

ACTRESS (Drama)
winner: Anna Magnani (The Rose Tattoo)
nominees: Julie Harris (East of Eden and I Am A Camera); Susan Hayward (I'll Cry Tomorrow); Katharine Hepburn (Summertime); Grace Kelly (To Catch A Thief); Eleanor Parker (Interrupted Melody); Simone Signoret (Les diaboliques a.k.a. Diabolique); Jane Wyman (All That Heaven Allows)

ACTRESS (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Doris Day (Love Me Or Leave Me)
nominees: Eva Dahlbeck (Sommarnattens leende a.k.a. Smiles of a Summer Night); Katie Johnson (The Ladykillers); Shirley MacLaine (The Trouble With Harry); Marilyn Monroe (The Seven Year Itch)

DIRECTOR (Drama)
winner: Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali)
nominees: Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly); Henri-Georges Clouzot (Les diaboliques a.k.a. Diabolique); Jules Dassin (Du rififi chez les hommes a.k.a. Rififi); Carl Theodor Dreyer (Ordet); Alfred Hitchcock (To Catch A Thief); Elia Kazan (East of Eden); Charles Laughton (The Night Of The Hunter); Nicholar Ray (Rebel Without A Cause); John Sturges (Bad Day At Black Rock)

DIRECTOR (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Alexander Mackendrick (The Ladykillers)
nominees: Ingmar Bergman (Sommarnattens leende a.k.a. Smiles of a Summer Night); John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy (Mister Roberts); Chuck Jones (One Froggy Evening); Billy Wilder (The Seven Year Itch)

SUPPORTING ACTOR
winner: Robert Ryan (Bad Day At Black Rock)
nominees: Jack Lemmon (Mister Roberts); Sal Mineo (Rebel Without A Cause); Arthur O'Connell (Picnic); Sidney Poitier (Blackboard Jungle)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
winner: Natalie Wood (Rebel Without A Cause)
nominees: Harriet Andersson (Sommarnattens leende a.k.a. Smiles of a Summer Night); Betsy Blair (Marty); Lillian Gish (The Night Of The Hunter); Mildred Natwick (The Trouble With Harry); Rosalind Russell (Picnic); Susan Strasberg (Picnic); Jo Van Fleet (East of Eden); Shelley Winters (The Night Of The Hunter)

SCREENPLAY
winner: Millard Kaufman (Bad Day At Black Rock)
nominees: William Rose (The Ladykillers); Paddy Chayefsky, from his teleplay (Marty); James Agee, from the novel by Davis Grubb (The Night Of The Hunter); Nicholas Ray, Irving Shulman and Stewart Stern (Rebel Without a Cause); Ingmar Bergman (Sommarnattens leende a.k.a. Smiles of a Summer Night)

SPECIAL AWARDS
One Froggy Evening (Cartoon Short); Stanley Cortez (The Night Of The Hunter) (Cinematography); Hilyard M. Brown and Alfred E. Spencer (The Night Of The Hunter) (Art Direction-Set Decoration)