Barbara Stanwyck withstands a furious rally by Olivia de Havilland to become the Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tourney Champion of 2018

The 2018 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Champion is Barbara Stanwyck. After two previous final fours where she came up empty handed, the third time was the charm for Missy, as she withstood a furious rally by Olivia de Havilland to win 78-76. Babs joins Carole Lombard and Audrey Hepburn as actresses to win the championship on their third try. Babs also becomes the 4th actress from the 30's era to win the tourney as that era continues to dominate. She joins Carole Lombard, Ginger Rogers and Irene Dunne in that distinction. The 30's era has now won 4 of the 8 tourneys. Yep they have won half of the tourneys played. Impressive. With this win, Babs also notched her 25th tourney win, placing her the all-time actress with most wins, one win ahead of Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. It may have been a tough loss for Olivia, but I wager she will be the favorite to win next year. Because she got stronger with each round and proved to be Babs toughest competitor. Her 76 votes would have been more than enough to win any other tourney match except  for this one. Hope everyone had a great time and please come back for next year's tourney.

It's Stanwyck vs De Havilland for the Favorite Classic Movie Actress Crown of 2018

Here we go with the championship match between Barbara Stanwcyk and Olivia de Havilland. The winner will become the favorite classic movie actress of 2018. Poll closes on Tuesday evening at 6pm.

BARBARA STANWYCK

30'S ERA CHAMPION

Lifetime Tourney Record (24-7)

Number of title match appearances: this is Barbara's 2nd championship match

(lost to Bette Davis 49-47 in 2014 championship match,
lost to Audrey Hepburn 52-45 in 2017 semi-final match)

2018 matches:

defeated Jeanette MacDonald 63-27

defeated Norma Shearer 58-35

defeated Una Merkel 65-32

defeated Myrna Loy 55-47
defeated Marilyn Monroe 61-54

what's at stake: to continue the dominance of the 30's era actresses

who have won 3 of the 7 previous tourneys

VS

OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND
40'S ERA CHAMPION
Lifetime Tourney Record (15-5)
Number of title match appearances: this is Olivia's first championship
2018 matches:
defeated Rosalind Russell 54-32
defeated Lauren Bacall 48-46
defeated Judy Garland 52-45
defeated Gene Tierney 53-49
defeated Elizabeth Taylor 60-55

what's at stake: would become the 3rd actress from the 40's era to win the 
championship, joining Bette Davis and Greer Garson

The Final Four Matches are now underway

Whoo..here we go with the Final Four of the 2018 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tourney.
In the semi-final match 1, it's 30's era champion and three time final four finalist Barbara Stanwyck up against 50's era champion and first time final four finalist Marilyn Monroe. In the 2nd match, its 40's era champion and first time final four finalist Olivia de Havilland (and the only actress of the four still alive) vs 60's era champion and three time final four finalist Elizabeth Taylor. Matches will close on Saturday at 6pm.

A Final Four Primer

Here are some facts and numbers are our final four finalists (Stanwyck, De Havilland, Monroe and Taylor) who are competing in the 2018 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tourney.

BARBARA STANWYCK

30'S ERA CHAMPION

Lifetime Tourney Record (23-7)

Number of Final Four appearances: this is her 3rd Final Four

(lost to Bette Davis 49-47 in 2014 championship match,
lost to Audrey Hepburn 52-45 in 2017 semi-final match)

2018 matches:

defeated Jeanette MacDonald 63-27

defeated Norma Shearer 58-35

defeated Una Merkel 65-32

defeated Myrna Loy 55-47

what's at stake: to continue the dominance of the 30's era actresses

who have won 3 of the 7 previous tourneys

 VS

MARILYN MONROE
50'S ERA CHAMPION
Lifetime Tourney Record (12-5)
Number of Final Four appearances: this is Marilyn's first Final Four
2018 matches:
defeated Dorothy Dandridge 42-40
defeated Debbie Reynolds 51-45
defeated Deborah Kerr 51-46
defeated Susan Hayward 56-44
what's at stake: could become only the 2nd actress to win in
their first final four appearance since Irene Dunne did in 2011

********************************

OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND
40'S ERA CHAMPION
Lifetime Tourney Record (14-5)
Number of final four appearance: this is Olivia's first final four
2018 matches:
defeated Rosalind Russell 54-32
defeated Lauren Bacall 48-46
defeated Judy Garland 52-45
defeated Gene Tierney 53-49

what's at stake: would become the 3rd actress from the 40's era to win the 
championship, joining Bette Davis and Greer Garson
VS

ELIZABETH TAYLOR 
60'S ERA CHAMPION
Lifetime Tourney Record (17-5)
Number of Final Four appearances: this is Liz's 3rd Final Four
(lost to Bette Davis in 2014 semi-final match 46-25
lost to Audrey Hepburn 51-47 in 2017 championship match)
2018 matches:
defeated Diana Rigg 49-27
defeated Shirley Jones 56-35
defeated Julie Andrews 55-42
defeated Shirley MacLaine 57-45
what's at stake: would become only the 2nd actress from the 60's era to win, 
joining Natalie Wood



The Final Four begins Thursday, April 5th at 7pm

Final Four Matches are now underway...

The two Final Four matches are now underway and will run through Thursday evening. Here is a primer on the two matches and the four actresses that are competing. And this is a historical tourney as Barbara, Audrey and Elizabeth all competed in the 2014 Final Four as well. To which none of them won.

BARBARA STANWYCK

30'S ERA CHAMPION

Lifetime Tourney Record (19-6)

Number of Final Four appearances: this is her 2nd Final Four

(lost to Bette Davis 49-47 in 2014 championship match)

2017 matches:

defeated Myrna Loy 37-36

defeated Jean Harlow 34-29

defeated Joan Crawford 21-20

defeated Claudette Colbert 30-4

what's at stake: to continue the dominance of the 30's era actresses

who have won 3 of the 6 previous tourneys

VS

AUDREY HEPBURN 

50'S ERA CHAMPION

Lifetime Tourney Record (22-6) 2nd best all time behind 

Grace Kelly's 24 wins

Number of Final Four appearances: this is her 3rd Final Four

(lost to Barbara Stanwyck 47-30 in 2014 and to Natalie Wood 305-232 in 2015)

2017 matches:

defeated Deborah Kerr 41-32

defeated Grace Kelly 35-31 (now holds 3-2 edge in head to head matches)

defeated Susan Hayward 36-13

defeated Shelley Winters 36-8

what's at stake: this marks Audrey 3rd trip to the final four, if she wins she

will join Carole Lombard and Natalie Wood in that same distinction

AVA GARDNER
40'S ERA CHAMPION

Lifetime Tourney Record (13-5)

Number of Final Four appearances: this is Ava's 1st trip to the Final Four

2017 matches:

defeated Ingrid Bergman 36-33

defeated Olivia de Havilland 30-26

defeated Vivien Leigh 26-23

defeated Joan Fontaine 31-14

what's at stake: not counting the first tourney, no actress has ever

won a tourney with their first Final Four appearance

VS

ELIZABETH TAYLOR

60'S ERA CHAMPION

Lifetime Tourney Record: (17-6)

Number of Final Four appearances: this is Liz's 2nd trip to the Final Four

(lost to Bette Davis 46-25 in 2014)

2017 matches:

defeated Shirley MacLaine 38-30

defeated Shirley Jones 30-19

defeated Julie Andrews 33-25

defeated Sandra Dee 42-10

what's at stake: Elizabeth could become only the 2nd actress to win a tourney 

in her second Final Four Appearance. Bette Davis is the other actress

to do so

The Final Four is set for the 7th Annual Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tourney

We started with 64 actresses and now have made it down to the Final Four. Whoo!
In the 30's era, it was tooth and nail the entire match but it was Barbara Stanwcyk edging out Myrna Loy 37-36
In the 40's era it was Ava Gardner finally pulling away from Ingrid Bergman for a tough win 36-33
In the 50's era, it was Audrey Hepburn cruising to a 41-32 victory over Deborah Kerr
And in the 60's era it was Elizabeth Taylor over Shirley MacLaine 38-30.

As per tradition the 30's era champion will face the 50's era champion which means Barbara faces Audrey
While the 40's era champion will face the 60's era champion..Ava vs Liz.

Those matches will begin on Sunday afternoon and tomorrow I'll post each actress stats and history in the entire tourney.

Sweet Sixteen Round is now underway

So we move on with the sweet sixteen round as things begin to get a little tight. The bracket winners of each era will now face off against each other to set the stage for next week's era finals to see who goes on to be a final four finalist. As before I will handle the 30's era action here and then you can click on the links below to go vote in the other eras as well:
40's era: mythicalmonkey
50's era:thewonderfulworldofcinema
60's era: screwballcinema

Matches will run through Saturday afternoon

First up it will be Screwball Queen winner Myrna Loy vs Icons winner Barbara Stanwyck

Next is International Appeal winner Margaret Lockwood vs Drama Queens winner Marlene Dietrich

It's official...Bette wins the crown for Favorite Classic Movie Actress of 2014

Bette beams proudly as she is named Favorite Classic Movie

Actress of 2014

Wow! What a match! Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck battled back and forth for the past 6 days and when it was all said and done, Bette emerged victorious with a 49-47 win. It gives Bette her 18th tourney win and places her 2nd all time, behind only Grace Kelly's whopping 20 wins. It also ends the 30's era actresses domination in the tourney. All three previous tourney winners (Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers and Carole Lombard) came from that respective era. And Barbara Stanwyck was close to joining that exclusive club. She held the lead of 3 votes over Bette early yesterday morning but Bette stormed back to tie and then eventually take the lead. Today Bette led by as many as 5 votes before Babs made a late rally to tie the match again until Bette picked up two more votes to secure a victory. 

Asked what she will do after her loss to Bette, Babs replied

"Oh I think I will go play a little tennis! But I'll be back and ready

for next year!" That's our Missy!

It was a momentous occasion for Bette in several ways. Me and Desiree had recently given her a two week tribute on our facebook pages and of course April 5th marked Bette's birthday. So the final piece to this wondrous month was winning the crown as favorite classic movie actress of 2014. Well done Bette! Well done! Thanks to my good friends Desiree, Kristen and John for helping me once again for putting on this event and to all those fans and friends that voted and had a good time! 

We'll do it all again next year but for now let Bette have her moment. She deserves it!

Championship Match Update: Barbara and Bette are in a close one...

We begin day 3 of our championship match to see who is the favorite classic movie actress of 2014 between Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis...and boy is it a good one. Bette currently leads Babs by only three votes, 20-17. But we have 3 and a half more days of voting so you know this match is going down to the wire. And given the pedigree of these two women, that is all not that shocking.

The 2014 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Championship Match: Barbara Stanwyck vs Bette Davis

It all comes down to this...after 5 weeks and 132 actresses vying for favorite classic movie actress of 2014, we are down to the final two. Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis. The match begins tomorrow morning and will run through Wednesday evening. Here are the stats for our two finalists:

BARBARA STANWYCK

30'S ERA CHAMPION

Tourney record (12-3)

Number of final fours: 1st time

How she got here:

defeated Thelma Todd 38-4

defeated Marlene Dietrich 49-7

defeated Norma Shearer 40-19

defeated Greta Garbo 49-16

defeated Myrna Loy 51-43

defeated Audrey Hepburn 47-30

total votes accumulated so far 274

what's at stake for her: continuing the streak of 30's era actresses

being tourney champions....all three previous tourney

winners came from the 30's era

VS

BETTE DAVIS

40'S ERA CHAMPION

Tourney Record (17-3)
How she got here:

defeated Katharine Hepburn 50-25

defeated Rosalind Russell 40-36

defeated Judy Garland 53-16

defeated Rita Hayworth 50-7

defeated Olivia de Havilland 35-34

defeated Elizabeth Taylor 46-25

Total votes accumulated so far: 274 (the exact same number as Babs)

what's at stake for her: this is Bette's 2nd straight championship

match...I'm sure she doesn't want a 3rd

It will be BARBARA STANWYCK and BETTE DAVIS in the title match for Favorite Classic Movie Actress of 2014

Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis both faced tough competitors in their final four matches and came away with similar results. Barbara rocked Audrey Hepburn to the tune of 47-30 while Bette crushed Elizabeth Taylor by the count of 46-25. So the title match is now set..Stanwyck vs Davis! It marks Bette 2nd consecutive championship match. She lost to Carole Lombard last year. While this marks the first title match for Barbara, who was actually the pre-tourney pick to win it all.  I will do a post about this sure to be epic match tomorrow and then start it on Friday morning. 

Babs is supremely confident heading into the title match

But so is Bette....should be fun!

THE FINAL FOUR Update: Day 2

After a close first day, things have opened up on day 2 with Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck firmly in control of their matches. Bette leads Elizabeth Taylor 33-14 whille Barbara Stanwyck leads Audrey Hepburn 34-19. On day one, Bette and Liz was tied at 10 votes each and Babs was actually trailing Audrey 14-12. But things have turned around big time. Matches continue through Wednesday evening!

THE FINAL FOUR..Classic Movie Actress Style begins tomorrow

Last month we began with 132 actresses competing for the title of Favorite Classic Movie Actress. Well we have now made it to the final four and what a foursome we have. Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. And it's notable as three of the women present are first time Final Four finalists. Bette Davis is the only returnee. Here are the breakdowns and match-ups that will begin tomorrow afternoon (3 pm EST). Note: tourney record is for all tourney appearances since inception.

BARBARA STANWYCK

30'S ERA CHAMPION

Tourney record (11-3)

Number of final fours: 1st time

How she got here:

defeated Thelma Todd 38-4

defeated Marlene Dietrich 49-7

defeated Norma Shearer 40-19

defeated Greta Garbo 49-16

defeated Myrna Loy 51-43

total votes accumulated so far 227

VS

AUDREY HEPBURN

50'S ERA CHAMPION

Tourney Record (13-4)

how she got here:

defeated Shirley Booth 40-4

defeated Eva Marie Saint 46-9

defeated Susan Hayward 51-23

defeated Grace Kelly 54-20

defeated Doris Day 65-60

total votes accumulated so far: 256

******************

BETTE DAVIS

40'S ERA CHAMPION

Tourney Record (16-3)
How she got here:

defeated Katharine Hepburn 50-25

defeated Rosalind Russell 40-36

defeated Judy Garland 53-16

defeated Rita Hayworth 50-7

defeated Olivia de Havilland 35-34

Total votes accumulated so far: 228

VS

ELIZABETH TAYLOR

60'S ERA CHAMPION

Tourney record (10-3)

How she got here:
defeated Vanessa Redgrave 41-17

defeated Julie Andrews 37-11

defeated Jean Simmons 46-26

defeated Lee Remick 45-17

defeated Natalie Wood 41-27

Total votes accumulated so far: 210

It's interesting to note that while Elizabeth Taylor has the smallest amount of accumulated votes out of all the finalists, she is the only one not to have a close match. Her smallest margin of victory was by a double digit win of 14 votes over Natalie Wood. All the other finalists had at least one close call. Bette Davis even had two, narrowly surviving Rosalind Russell in round 2 by four votes and then just the other day edging Olivia de Havilland by one vote. Audrey Hepburn has racked up the most votes in this year's tourney with a whopping 256 votes and racked up a tourney high 65 votes against Doris Day. Barbara Stanwyck has been quite consistent with averaging over 40 votes per match but topped 50 with a solid win over Myrna Loy in the previous round. So it looks like each actress brings an impressive resume to the table with some great wins in pivotal matches. Bette Davis is the only returning Final Four finalist and she looks to bring home a crown this time. But the other three ladies might have something to say about that. The matches begin tomorrow at 3 pm EST and will run through Wednesday evening! 

Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor...now that's a FINAL FOUR!

The Elite 8 matches just wrapped up and we now have our final four set. And what a final four it is. Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. Wow! You couldn't have asked for a better foursome. But it wasn't easy, especially for Davis and Hepburn. Here's the complete wrap up of their stellar matches.

30'S ERA CHAMPION: Barbara Stanwyck

In the 30's era, it was Barbara Stanwyck (a pre-tourney number 1 seed) out-lasting Myrna Loy 51-43. Since the previous tourney champions have all come out of the 30's era and Babs made it all the way to the 30's era championship match last year  before losing to eventual champion Carole Lombard, she was a heavy favorite to win it all this year. But Myrna gave her some serious competition before Babs was finally able to pull away.

40'S ERA CHAMPION: Bette Davis

In the 40's era, Bette Davis stormed out of the gate and jumped out to big lead over Olivia de Havilland before Livvie made a charge. de Havilland was down by as many as 10 votes before she made a rally only to fall short by one vote, 35-34. Due to Kristen's class running late the poll remained up after the official cut off time and Livvie actually tied up the match. But we called the match over at 6 pm declaring Bette the winner. So Bette heads back to the final four for the second consecutive year. Great showing by Olivia though! Damn great showing!

50'S ERA CHAMPION: Audrey Hepburn

Doris Day was looking for a return trip to the final four as she and Audrey Hepburn had one of the best matches of the tourney. They had multiple lead changes before Audrey managed to pull away slightly on the last day to win 65-60. On Doris Day's birthday no less. Ouch! So Audrey earns her first trip to the final four!

60'S ERA CHAMPION: Elizabeth Taylor

And in the 60's era, it was fantastic news for Elizabeth Taylor. This was her first year competing in this era as she normally competes in the 50's era. But we decided to move her to the 60's due to her two Oscar wins during that decade. It paid off for Liz as she defeated Natalie Wood 41-27. It was a lopsided loss for Natalie as she normally dominates in her matches. In fact her 27 votes is the lowest amount out of these four matches. Seems her fans just disappeared when Natalie needed them the most.

So the final four is now set and as tradition, the 30's era champion will face the 50's era champion while the 40's era champion meets the 60's era champion. Which means Barbara Stanwyck vs Audrey Hepburn while Bette Davis will face Elizabeth Taylor. The matches will begin on Saturday right here on All Good Things and run through Wednesday evening. I will write a post tomorrow detailing these sure to be thrilling matches. Thanks to Desiree, Kristen and John for their help once again in helping me put together another great tourney!

Round 5 (THE ELITE EIGHT) begins on Sunday

My oh my...we have come down to the elite 8 actresses left in the 2014 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tourney. This round features the final matches of each respective era with the winner moving on to the final four. Matches start tomorrow and will run through Thursday evening. Below are the match-ups with each actress complete tourney record over the past 4 years since we first started doing this! And also other match play events that they may have competed in!

30'S ERA CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

BARBARA STANWYCK (10-3) vs MYRNA LOY (10-3)

Go here to cast your vote once the polls are open: http://www.rozrussell.com/

40'S ERA CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

BETTE DAVIS (15-3) vs OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND (8-3)

Go here to cast your vote once the polls open: http://journeysinclassicfilm.com/

50'S ERA CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

DORIS DAY (14-3) vs AUDREY HEPBURN (12-4)

Go here to cast your vote once the polls open: http://mythicalmonkey.blogspot.com/

60'S ERA CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

 NATALIE WOOD (16-4) vs ELIZABETH TAYLOR (8-3) 

Which will take place right here on ALL GOOD THINGS

Good luck to all these amazing women!

Tourney Update Round 2 (second set of brackets)

Here's an update with the latest numbers in the 2014 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tourney in all four eras. And I posted the link to each era to go cast your votes if you haven't done so already. Matches in the 30's, 50's and 60's eras will run through Sunday night, while the matches in the 40's will wrap up a day later on Monday. 

30'S ERA:

BARBARA STANWYCK leads MARLENE DIETRICH 40-6
NORMA SHEARER leads GLENDA FARRELL 37-6
JOAN BLONDELL leads JEANETTE MACDONALD 26-20
ELEANOR POWELL leads BILLIE BURKE 21-19
http://www.rozrussell.com/

40'S ERA:

ROSALIND RUSSELL and BETTE DAVIS tied 21-21
JUDY GARLAND leads AVA GARDNER 28-13
INGRID BERGMAN leads VIVIEN LEIGH 22-18
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND leads MAUREEN O'HARA 26-15
http://journeysinclassicfilm.com/


50'S ERA:

AUDREY HEPBURN leads EVA MARIE SAINT 32-7
SUSAN HAYWARD leads JUDY HOLLIDAY 29-11
GRACE KELLY leads SOPHIA LOREN 28-11
LANA TURNER leads KIM NOVAK 23-15
http://mythicalmonkey.blogspot.com/

60'S ERA:

ROMY SCHNEIDER leads ANNA KARINA 29-8
CATHERINE DENEUVE leads CLAUDIA CARDINALE 27-13
SHIRLEY MACLAINE leads SHIRLEY JOENS 22-19
NATALIE WOOD leads ANN-MARGRET 36-8

MARCH MADNESS is now underway....

The top 4 seeds

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the tourney has begun. The 60's era brackets featuring All-American Girls and the British Invasion are on the right hand sidebar and will be up through Wednesday. The other two brackets, A Foreign Affair and Song and Dance will begin later on that night. Here are the links to the other sites where you can vote on the 30's, 40's and 50's eras...they will be up later on today!

the 30's ERA: http://www.rozrussell.com/

the 40's ERA: http://journeysinclassicfilm.com/

the 50's ERA: http://mythicalmonkey.blogspot.com/

GAME ON!!!!

MARCH MADNESS...Classic Movie Actress Style gears up again

*This cool photoset comes courtesy of darlinghepburn at Tumblr

The 4th Annual Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tourney returns next weekend and the 132 field of competing actress across four decades is wide open. The previous three champions: Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers and Carole Lombard are ineligible to compete so we will definitely have another new winner. The top 4 seeds heading into this year's tourney are Barbara Stanwyck (30's era); Bette Davis (40's era); Doris Day (50's era) and Diana Rigg (60's era) based on their finish in last year's tourney. Bette Davis is the overall top seed since she made it to the final match against Carole Lombard. But Stanwyck is in a much more coveted spot, as all three previous winners have come from the 30's era. This should be another fun tourney with so many compelling stories. I'm sure that two time Final Four finalists Natalie Wood and Grace Kelly look to erase their early exits from last year while Audrey Hepburn looks to go a few rounds further after she had so many early dominating victories and still holds the only shut-out match in tourney history (thanks to a 55 point drubbing of Pier Angeli). My friends Desiree, John and Kristen will once again help with the festivities as I will  host the 60's era here on All Good Things, while Desiree holds center court with the 30's era, Kristen will duties for the 40's era while John will handle the 50's era. The fun begins Sunday, March 2nd with 64 matches taking place in the first round. I will post more information and brackets showcasing the matches over the next few days. GAME ON!

The top 4 tourney seeds!

Here we go...the final six matches in the 2013 Lombard Cup...for all the marbles

TEAM CAROLE has 9 and 1/2 points
TEAM VERONICA has 5 and 1/2 points

Six matches this week will decide who gets to take The Lombard Cup home. Here we go...matches start tomorrow morning and run through Friday evening!

Match 16 
VIVIEN LEIGH (Team Carole)


















vs

BETTE DAVIS (Team Veronica)

**************************
Match 17
DEBORAH KERR (Team Carole)

vs


JANET LEIGH (Team Veronica)

**************************

Match 18
ANN SHERIDAN (Team Carole)

vs


ANN-MARGRET (Team Veronica)

***************************

Match 19
SUSAN HAYWARD (Team Carole)

vs


BARBARA STANWYCK (Team Veronica)

******************************

Match 20
AUDREY HEPBURN (Team Carole)

vs


ELIZABETH TAYLOR (Team Veronica)

****************************

Match 21
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND (Team Carole)

vs


JOAN CRAWFORD (Team Veronica)