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And it's official — Natalie Wood is the winner of the 2015 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament. Myrna Loy hung with her for a couple of days, then Natalie powered past her and won going away, 323-173.
She joins Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers, Carole Lombard and Bette Davis in the actress hall of fame.
I love a motivated fan base. Every actress in the tournament is a worthy contestant. The difference depends on whose fans spread the word and get out the vote, and this year, Natalie Wood's fans used Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter and put together a sophisticated campaign for their favorite. Good job!
And I have to say, Natalie Wood is a worthy champion, if only for that scene in Miracle on 34th Street where Edmund Gwenn teaches her how to imitate a monkey and she promptly writes a 3,000 word essay about Charlie Chaplin.
Okay, screw you — you remember movies your way, I'll remember them mine.
The second round of the 2013 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament is complete—well, almost—and among the winners are a mixture of favorites and Cinderellas. Here at the Monkey, each quarter-final round in the 1960s bracket includes a #1 seed and either a #6 or a #7 seed. The other eras produced similar results, with favorites such as Carole Lombard and Audrey Hepburn and longshots such as Eleanor Powell advancing.
And the 1940s era produced the first tie in the three-year history of the tournament, with Lauren Bacall and Ida Lupino deadlocked after three full days of voting. Desiree is hosting a today-only tiebreaker to determine the winner: "Which performance with co-star Humphrey Bogart did you like more? Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not or Ida Lupino in They Drive By Night." Click here to get your vote on.
Meanwhile, the rest of the tournament continues with round three.
Here at the Monkey, you have four matches to vote on:
"Song and Dance"
#1 Natalie Wood versus #7 Shirley Jones
"All-American Girls"
#1 Anne Bancroft versus #6 Paula Prentiss
"The British Invasion"
#1 Julie Andrews versus #7 Diana Rigg
"A Foreign Affair"
#1 Catherine Deneuve versus #6 Romy Schneider
Monty of All Good Things is hosting the 1930s bracket (click here).
Kristen of Journeys in Classic Film is hosting the 1950s bracket (click here).
Okay, round two is up and running—well, for the most part.
Kristen, who is hosting the 1950s bracket over at Journeys in Classic Film, discovered to her chagrin that the "free" site she was using to generate her poll wasn't so free after all. So she's starting part two of round one over again. Click here to recast your votes.
In the meantime, the rest of us are good to go. We'll be running half of round two through Wednesday afternoon, then the rest of round two on Wednesday night through Saturday (Kristen will run all of her round two Wednesday through Saturday). Got that?
In the 1960s bracket, here are your match-ups:
Song and Dance
#1 Natalie Wood versus #4 Ann-Margret
#6 Liza Minnelli versus #7 Shirley Jones
A Foreign Affair
#1 Catherine Deneuve versus #5 Claudia Cardinale
#2 Liv Ullmann versus #6 Romy Schneider
To vote in the other Round Two contests:
Monty of All Good Things is hosting the 1930s bracket (click here).
Desiree of Rosalind Russell: Dazzling Star is hosting the 1940s bracket (click here).
Oh, and for those keeping score at home, these were the results of Round One (Part Two) here at the Monkey:
#1 Julie Andrews def. #8 Margaret Rutherford, 41-14
#7 Diana Rigg def. #2 Julie Christie, 43-19
#6 Angela Lansbury def. #3 Jean Simmons, 44-22
#4 Maggie Smith def. #5 Vanessa Redgrave, 50-16
#1 Anne Bancroft def. #8 Julie Harris, 42-10
#7 Tuesday Weld def. #2 Jane Fonda, 41-24
#6 Paula Prentiss def. #3 Faye Dunaway, 38-25
#4 Patricia Neal def. #5 Geraldine Page, 33-30
Voting starts March 3rd.
Natalie Wood
Birth Name: Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "Song and Dance" #1
Birth Date: July 20, 1938
Birthplace: San Francisco, California
Height: 5'
Academy Awards: 3 nominations
Signature Role: Wilma Dean Loomis (Splendor in the Grass)
versus
Rita Moreno
Birth Name: Rosita Dolores Alverio
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "Song and Dance" #8
Birth Date: December 11, 1931
Birthplace: Humacao, Puerto Rico
Height: 5' 2½"
Academy Awards: 1 nomination, 1 win (supporting actress, West Side Story)
Signature Role: Anita (West Side Story)
with the winner to take on the winner of
Ann-Margret
Birth Name: Ann-Margret Olsson
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "Song and Dance" #4
Birth Date: April 28, 1941
Birthplace: Valsjöbyn, Jämtlands län, Sweden
Height: 5' 3½"
Academy Awards: 2 nominations
Signature Role: Kim McAfee (Bye Bye Birdie)
versus
Diahann Carroll
Birth Name: Carol Diann Johnson
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "Song and Dance" #5
Birth Date: July 17, 1935
Birthplace: The Bronx, New York City, New York
Academy Awards: 1 nomination
Signature Role: Julia Baker ("Julia")
Notes: Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno—West Side Story, obviously.
Ginger Rogers has jumped out to an early 27-11 lead over Natalie Wood in the finale of Monty's 2012 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament. You have until Tuesday evening to cast your vote.
We here at the Monkey asked for and received a little face time with each actress:
Ginger Rogers (and Cary Grant)
Natalie Wood
Click here to vote.
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)
The finals of the 1960s bracket of the Best Actress March Madness Tournament is underway over at All Good Things. Doris Day versus Natalie Wood.
The Tale of the Tape
Doris Day
Birth Name: Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff
Birth Place: Cincinnati, Ohio
Birth Date: April 3, 1922
Height: 5' 7"
Film Debut: Romance On The High Seas (1948)
Academy Awards: 1 nomination (Best Actress Pillow Talk)
Signature Song: "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)"
Did You Know? She was referenced in the Beatles song "Dig It"
Natalie Wood
Birth Name: Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko
Birth Place: San Francisco, California
Birth Date: July 30, 1938
Date of Death: November 29, 1981
Height: 5'
Film Debut: The Moon Is Down (1943) (uncredited)
Academy Awards: 3 nominations (Best Actress Love With The Proper Stranger (1963) and Splendor In The Grass (1961) and Best Supporting Actress Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
The Monkey's Favorite NW role: Susan Walker, Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Sue me.
Did You Know? She dated Elvis Presley. "He didn't drink, he didn't swear, he didn't even smoke. It was like having the date that I never had in high school."
Click here to vote.
The semi-final matches are set in the 1960s bracket of the best actress tournament over at All Good Things—Doris Day versus Shirley MacLaine in one, Natalie Wood versus Julie Andrews in the other. Tough choices.
Click here to head on over and cast your vote.
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