The Men's FINAL FOUR is now set...

Paul Newman beat Sidney Poitier 26-9 for the last spot in the Classic Movie Actor Tournament. He joins William Powell, Cary Grant, and William Holden. I will have the Final Four begin on Sunday afternoon. I can't wait to see who wins, but everyone knows my favorite actor is Cary, so that's who I'm going for. As far as my final four picks went: I got Cary and William Holden right. I had also chose Errol Flynn and Jack Lemmon. By the way Paul Newman joins Cary as the only other top seed to advance to the final four (men or women). And guess what, they face off against each other first. Ouch! Anyway, congratulations guys. Here are the scheduled matches which begin on Sunday. Place your bets.

MATCH 1

2 WILLIAM HOLDEN (50'S FINALIST)

VS

6 WILLIAM POWELL  (30'S FINALIST)

----------------------------------------------------

MATCH 2

1 CARY GRANT (40'S FINALIST)

VS

1 PAUL NEWMAN (60'S FINALIST)

It's PAUL NEWMAN vs SIDNEY POITIER for the last spot in the FINAL FOUR...



VS

Sidney Poitier had to go into a tie-breaker match with Peter O'Toole and he won 10-7. The question asked of the films the two men made with Katherine Hepburn...Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and The Lion In Winter, which one do you most like. Well Guess Who won out and now Sidney gets to face top seed Paul Newman for the last spot in the men's final four. These two men were good friends in real life and made the movie Paris Blues in 1961. So this should be a very interesting match. Cary Grant, William Holden and William Powell await the winner of this match. Voting becomes immediately and will run through Thursday 8PM EST. Good luck to both men.

We have a tie....

For only the second time in tournament play (men and women) we have a tie. Sidney Poitier and Peter O'Toole are deadlocked at 17 apiece. So I will have a tie-breaker question to decide the winner. That winner will face off against top seed Paul Newman who deafeated Jack Lemmon 20-14. So for the tie-breaker question I will leave in the hands of the great Katherine Hepburn. She appeared with both men in different films: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner with Sidney and The Lion in Winter with Peter. The question is which film do you prefer more with Kate as the connecting piece. I will have this poll up for 24 hours to decide the winner.

Classic Movie Goddess Of The Month - Olivia de Havilland Part 1 (Facts and Trivia)

Here are some interesting facts about Olivia:

Date of Birth : July 1, 1916 Tokyo, Japan

Nickname: Livvie (which I just love)

Height: 5'4"

Older sister of actress Joan Fontaine.



Married and divorced twice.

Relations between de Havilland and younger sister Joan Fontaine were never all that strong and worsened in 1941, when both were nominated for 'Best Actress' Oscar awards. Their mutual dislike and jealousy escalated into an all-out feud after Fontaine won for Suspicion (1941). Despite the fact that de Havilland went on to win two Academy Awards of her own, they remained permanently estranged.

Justly famous for her court victory against Warner Brothers in the mid 1940s (many others had sued Warners but failed), which stopped Warners from adding suspension periods to actors' contracts and therefore meant more freedom for actors in Hollywood. It became known as the "de Havilland decision".


Has made Paris her home since the mid 1950s.

Showed flair as a writer when "Every Fenchman Has One," a lighthearted autobiographical account of her attempts at adapting to French life, was published in 1962.


At the age of 82, was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Hertfordshire, England.


Ms. de Havilland lives a peaceful retirement at her home on Rue Benouville, in Paris. She spends time teaching Sunday School to children at a local church.

 
She had two children (one from each of her marriages): Benjamin (1949-1991), who became a mathematician, and Gisele (b. 1956), who followed in her father's footsteps by becoming a journalist.

She and Joan Fontaine are the first sisters to win Oscars and the first ones to be Oscar-nominated in the same year.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Happy 4th of July from Susan Hayward and Virginia Dale...

#1 FAN AWARD OF THE MONTH GOES TO....

We have a new top fan on All Good Things. And her name is Desiree. For the past two months my good friend Irene had been my top fan. And Desiree was always runner-up. Well for the month of June, these two gals commented back and forth all month long with Desiree edging out Irene 46-42. Congratulations Desiree. And thank both of you for being such frequent commentors. Also notable people making lots of comments were Patti with 19 and Dawn with 15. Thanks to everyone who stops by to check out All Good Things. I hope you guys are enjoying what I write each and every month.

The Semi-Final Matches for the Men's 60's Era Bracket is set...

There were two blow-out matches and two close matches that wrapped up last night and now we have two semi-final matches all set to go. Top seed Paul Newman rolled over Sean Connery 30-7. Frequent co-stars Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis did not have a tight race. Lemmon destroyed Curtis 31-7. Sidney Poitier edged out Robert Redford 19-17 in the round's closest match. And the lone upset was when 2nd seed Steve McQueen lost 20-16 to Peter O'Toole. So on to the semi's now with two more exciting matches that will begin immediately and run through Monday 4 PM EST.

SEMI-FINAL MATCH 1

1 PAUL NEWMAN

VS

4 JACK LEMMON

--------------------------------------

SEMI-FINAL MATCH 2

3 SIDNEY POITIER

VS

7 PETER O'TOOLE



The 1960's Part 1: OVERVIEW

Ah, the 1960's. What a decade. After the wonderful 30's, which is my favorite era, the 60's are my next favorite time period. And while I wasn't born during this time frame, thanks to TV, video, books and the internet, the history of the 60's is readily available. So for this month on my blog, I will focus on this fabulous decade of changing times. Film became more daring and bold. TV offered a lot more interesting choices. And some of the biggest stars burst on the scene during this time. Stars such as Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Raquel Welch, Sidney Poitier, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Michael Caine, Diana Rigg, Robert Redford, and tons more.

Some notable sensations occurred as well such as the huge spy craze. Fueled by the huge success of the James Bond films (which made Sean Connery a household name), spy adventures popped up on the big and small screens. Such as Matt Helm (with the cool Dean Martin), In Like Flint (James Coburn) and Harry Palmer (played by Michael Caine) at the theaters. And The Avengers (with Diana Rigg as the sexy Emma Peel), I SPY (with Robert Culp and Bill Cosby) and The Man From UNCLE (starring Robert Vaughn). Spies were definitely the top choice back in the 60's.

Musicals became a different animal too, with such hits as West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Funny Girl (ah Irene, there you are) and the huge international smash The Sound Of Music. Musicals became epic in scope and dazzling dance routines with such new stars like Rita Moreno and the always gyrating Ann-Margret.

Horror films took on a whole new life as well once Hitchcock unleashed Psycho. The film which featured an excellent performance by Anthony Perkins as troubled man Norman Bates ushered in a new wave of horror/suspense films like Rosemary's Baby, The Birds, Carnival of Souls and all those vampire/mad scientist flicks from Hammer Studios.

Films became more realistic and violent that the MPAA rating board was formed. And films carrying a R rating would now be commonplace. The blood and sex would flow freely with such films like  Lolita, Bonnie & Clyde, The Wild Bunch, Valley of the Dolls and Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice.

Fashion also became a pivotal player in films and women and minorities made vast leaps with bigger and better roles. And let's not forget the swinging and very cool music. This was just a brief taste of what I will be covering this whole month and I expect to be quite busy. But I know I will have a good time doing it and I hope everyone will enjoy it.

Look for Part 2 within a few days as I will concentrate on the films of the 60's. Stay tuned.

Happy Birthday: Olivia de Havilland.

Olivia de Havilland, played in many adventure films and proved to be a very talented dramatic actress, earning five Academy Award nominations and two Best Actress Oscars over the course of her career.

My favorite Olivia de Havilland films:
1977 Airport '77
1964 Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte
1949 The Heiress
1941 Hold Back the Dawn
1940 Santa Fe Trail
1939 Gone with the Wind
1939 Dodge City
1938 Four's a Crowd
1938 The Adventures of Robin Hood
1937 It's Love I'm After
1935 Captain Blood
1935 A Midsummer Night's Dream

Perfect timing...Happy Birthday to Olivia de Havilland who is my Classic Movie Goddess of the month

There has been only one other time when the classic movie goddess of the month celebrated her birthday the month I chose her to be the goddess for her month. That was for Liz Taylor in February of last year. Well Olivia de Havilland is my classic movie goddess for July and her birthday happens to be July 1st. How about that? I had no idea when I made the schedule and picked her for the month of July but now it seems very fortunate and appropriate. So expect some extra little things about the wonderful Olivia all month long. And an extra special happy birthday to Olivia as she is one of the few Hollywood legends still alive.