Round 2 (British Invasion and All-American Girls) begins now!

We move on to round 2 of the 2014 Favorite Movie Actress Tourney where the matches start to get a little more competitive.

Here in the 60’s era, the British Invasion and All-American Girls brackets begin this evening. Here are the match-ups and I have to say all four promise to be very exciting. In the All-American Girls brackets, top seed Anne Bancroft will have to face the red hot Paula Prentiss, who beat Faye Dunaway in the first round. In the other match, 3rd seed Lee Remick will have to deal with 7th seed Sharon Tate, who upset Jane Fonda a few days ago. Over in the British Invasion, top seed Diana Rigg, who squeaked

by Hayley Mills last round will have an even tougher challenge this time in Jean Simmons. And the spotlight match takes place when 2nd seed Elizabeth Taylor squares off against 3rd seed Julie Andrews. My oh my. These matches will run through Wednesday evening. Good luck to all these wonderful actresses!

BRITISH INVASION BRACKET

ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS BRACKET

60's era top seed Diana Rigg avoids an upset and holds on for a win over the spunky Hayley Mills in first round action...

Sometimes the 60's may get overlooked when speaking in terms of classic movies and stars, since it comes at the tail end of the classic movie age. But I have to admit that the 8 matches that just wrapped up part one of the first round arc produced some great excitement.Take for example top seed Diana Rigg, who made it to the final four last year, had to rally to beat upstart Hayley Mills 32-29 after Mills had tied her only moments ago. It would have been a disastrous loss for Rigg and she would have had the dubious honor of being the first top seed from the previous year to lose in the opening round the following year. But she came back and held on to survive Hayley. Another exciting match was 2nd seed Jane Fonda losing to 7th seed Sharon Tate which I had called an upset special before the tourney even started. I figured Sharon had a pretty good fanbase and Fonda might have some resentment from fans that would enable Sharon to pull out a win. And win she did 30-26. 3rd seed Julie Andrews had to fend off 6th seed Maggie Smith in a thrilling match 34-26. And competing for the first time in the 60's era, was Elizabeth Taylor, who previously had competed in the 50's era brackets, dominated Vanessa Redgrave 41-17, producing the widest margin of victory in this era. Here are the complete scores for all the matches below and the other two brackets are scheduled to kick off in a few hours. I'll have those matches posted and up running soon.

Time was on Diana's side as she held on to defeat Hayley Mills

LEE REMICK 35-21 over PATRICIA NEAL
SHARON TATE 30-26 over JANE FONDA
PAULA PRENTISS 34-25 over FAYE DUNAWAY
ANNE BANCROFT 38-21 over TUESDAY WELD
JULIE ANDREWS 34-26 over MAGGIE SMITH
ELIZABETH TAYLOR 41-17 over VANESSA REDGRAVE
JEAN SIMMONS 39-20 over JULIE CHRISTIE
DIANA RIGG 32-29 over HAYLEY MILLS

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!!!!

The 2014 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tourney (1960's Era Brackets: British Invasion/All-American Girls)

Ahhhh you can always tell spring is on the way when days start to feel warmer and flowers start to bloom. Oh and when your favorite classic movie actresses come together to duke it out to earn bragging rights for favorite of the year. This marks the 4th annual edition and things look to be wide open this year. I mean previous winners Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers and Carole Lombard all took care of business and eventually won their tourney for their respective years. But this year, it's anyone's ball game. I mean odds are in favor of someone from the 30's era bracket clinching the crown, since all three previous winners have come from that era. But I think Bette Davis, the #1 seed from the 40's era and overall #1 seed thanks to her 2nd place finish last year, might have something to say about that. I'll be hosting the 60's era for the 2nd time and here are the first round brackets (British Invasion and All-American Girls) that kick off beginning on Sunday.

BRITISH INVASION

1 DIANA RIGG 

VS

8 HAYLEY MILLS

Looks like upstart Hayley is aiming to take down last year's final four
finalist Diana Rigg...game on!

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

4 JULIE CHRISTIE

VS
5 JEAN SIMMONS

Should be a very interesting match...4 vs 5 usually are!

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

2 ELIZABETH TAYLOR 

VS
7 VANESSA REDGRAVE

Elizabeth Taylor moves from the 50's era to here and right away she
will face stiff competition in the form of Vanessa Redgrave

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

3 JULIE ANDREWS

VS
6 MAGGIE SMITH


Julie usually does very well in tourney play, making it to the sweet sixteen a few times
but this is probably her toughest first round match ever!


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

ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS

1 ANNE BANCROFT

VS
8 TUESDAY WELD

*****************
4 FAYE DUNAWAY

VS
5 PAULA PRENTISS

Last year Paula Prentiss made a deep run into the tourney with some surprising
victories. She looks to improve in this year's tourney.

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

2 JANE FONDA

VS
7 SHARON TATE

Now this one I am putting on upset alert because I really think Sharon Tate has
a good chance of knocking off 2 seed Jane Fonda. We'll find out here shortly

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

3 LEE REMICK

VS
6 PATRICIA NEAL

This promises to be a very exciting and close match. Could go either way!

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!

Post Tourney Wrap-Up

Carole is reflective after winning the trophy

By now everyone knows that Carole Lombard is the Favorite Classic Movie Actress of 2013 thanks to her tournament win. It was a sweet victory for Carole, who had lost twice previously in the 30's era bracket final match the past two years to eventual tourney winners Irene Dunne and Ginger Rogers. I just wanted to do a post about some of the achievements that were accomplished with this year's tourney. And give thanks again to my friends Mythical Monkey, Desiree and Kristen who helped me stage this annual fun event.

Carole logged the most votes in the tourney with 309 votes through 7 matches. Her 65 votes against Bette Davis in championship match were the most votes she received out of any of her matches.

But Barbara Stanwyck has the honor of most votes in any match this tourney as she logged 72 in her lopsided win over Norma Shearer. Ava Gardner was second with 67 votes against Eleanor Parker.

Audrey was quite happy with her record setting win

Audrey Hepburn did something really cool. She posted 55 vote victories in round 1 and 3 of the 50's era bracket. She also recorded the only shut-out in tourney history in one of those matches as she drubbed Pier Angeli 55-0. The other 55 scoring output came against Deborah Kerr.

Biggest surprises came in the form of two-time Final Four finalists Grace Kelly and Natalie Wood, both making early exits. Natalie lost to Shirley Jones in round 3 of the 60's era bracket while Grace got knocked off by Ava Gardner in round 4 of the 50's era bracket. It would seem strange not seeing Natalie and Grace in the final four this year after making it to the first two.

Another happy camper was Diana, who will most likely be the top

seed in the 60's era bracket next year

Tourney first timers that did well included Diana Rigg, who made it all the way to the final four to lose to Bette Davis and finish with a 5-1 record. Paula Prentiss also from the same 60's era bracket made it to round 3 before losing to Anne Bancroft. And Eleanor Powell in the 30's era bracket danced her way to two wins before losing to Joan Blondell.

Some of the best matches that came down to the wire included Loretta Young outlasting Maureen O'Hara 33-30; Julie Andrews 41-39 over Maggie Smith. Marilyn Monroe edging Lana Turner 35-33 in a nail-biter. And the one lone tie match between Lauren Bacall and Ida Lupino in the 40's era bracket. Desiree had to do a tie-breaker poll question which saw Lauren squeak by.

So there you have some highlights from the 3rd Annual Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tourney. I hope everyone enjoyed it and look forward to next years.

Bette quietly went about her business under the radar

and almost took home the crown. Next year Bette..it might be yours!

A quick primer on Diana Rigg

The wonderful Diana Rigg

Carole Lombard. Bette Davis. Doris Day. All classic movie fans recognize these names immediately. But a few of my followers and friends have shook their heads and asked me who the heck is Diana Rigg. Since Diana is in the final four for this year's tourney, I thought it would be prudent to shed some light on her. So here we go.

Born Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg on July 20, 1938 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England, UK.
Got her start in small bits in British tv films in the late 50's and early 60's.
Caught her first major break when cast as Emma Peel in 1965 on the hit spy TV series, The Avengers, with co-star Patrick Macnee. She was not in the series when it first started in 1962. That honor went to the wonderful Honor Blackman who played Cathy Gale. And when Diana left the show in 1968 her replacement was the spunky Linda Thorson who portrayed Tara King.

As Emma Peel..always prepared

Diana first major film came after she left The Avengers. It was in 1969 and it was the James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service with George Lazenby, who replaced Sean Connery as the super spy. Rigg was cast as Tracy and has the distinction of being the only woman to carry the name Bond and become his wife. Bond may have lots of girlfriends and one night stands, etc..but he only settled down the one time...and it was to Tracy. Diana Rigg gives one of the best performances you will ever see in a Bond film. She is engaging, resourceful, melancholy, funny...just all around and memorable.

The only woman to become wife to James Bond

Her next biggest and most know film has to The Hospital (1971) co-starring George C. Scott, a black comedy about the day in the life of a hospital. I only saw it one time many, many years ago but remember it  being pretty good.

Diana would land her own TV series called Diana in 1974 but sadly it only lasted one year. Not too many people even realize she had her own tv series. It was a comedy and center on a young woman (Rigg) who moves from London to New York. 

Diana...giving all to any part she takes in

For the better part of the 80's and 90's Diana concentrating on theater work, starring in such works as Medea, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Mother Courage and Her Children, Britannicus and Phedre. And tons of movies for PBS. Oh and she has appeared on the long running UK series, Doctor Who. And was made a dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth the second in 1994 for her contributions to theater and film. In short, Diana is a well respected actress and definitely deserves to be in the conversation of all time great actresses.

Good luck Diana!

And one more thing..she will be appearing in this year's season three of Game of Thrones, starting Sunday, March 31st...super cool!

The matches are underway...and Diana Rigg is ready!

The matches to decide who will face off in the championship match to decide the favorite classic movie actress of 2013 have begun. Carole Lombard faces Doris Day while Bette Davis takes on Diana Rigg. These matches will run through Tuesday evening at 6 pm EST. 

Whoa Diana...it's just a match....no need for that knife!

THE FINAL FOUR begins tomorrow

The Final Four for the 2013 Favorite Classic Movie Actress will begin tomorrow and I think this year's foursome represents each specific era quite well. These four actresses: Carole Lombard, Bette Davis, Doris Day and Diana Rigg are all making their first final four appearances. In the case of Diana Rigg, it is her debut tourney. I was getting used to see tourney mainstays like Grace Kelly and Natalie Wood being in the final four that it is something of a shock to not see them here this year. But the show must go on and here is the rundown on this year's final four.

CAROLE LOMBARD
Tourney Record 13-3 (through 3 years)
wins so far:
Barbara Stanwyck 36-27
Joan Blondell 39-20
Myrna Loy 61-21
Jean Harlow 50-31
Margaret Dumont 58-7




VS

DORIS DAY 
Tourney Record 9-2
wins so far:
Ava Garder 40-19
Audrey Hepburn 34-32
Jane Russell 54-22
Cyd Charisse 51-17
Vera-Ellen 45-13




Carole has logged 244 votes in her favor in her five wins for a 48 vote average.
Carole leads the final four finalists with most votes gained. Hope that's a good sign.
Doris has logged 224 votes in her favor in her five wins for a 44 vote average. 
So they are pretty close and will go into this match evenly matched.


**************************************************
BETTE DAVIS
Tourney Record 10-2 
wins so far:
Rita Hayworth 25-13
Judy Garland 44-39
Vivien Leigh 32-18
Olivia de Havilland 31-13
Jane Wyman 55-4




VS


DIANA RIGG
Tourney Record 5-0 (first year)
wins so far:
Shirley Jones 30-17
Catherine Deneuve 38-14
Julie Andrews 48-20
Angela Lansbury 44-40
Julie Christie 43-19

Bette has logged 187 votes in her favor over five wins for an average of 37 votes per match.
Diana has logged 203 votes in her favor over five wins for an average of 40 votes per match.
Diana has had some impressive wins, particularly over 60's titans Catherine Deneuve and Julie Andrews. She did struggle with Angela Lansbury though. While Bette has been pretty consistent with her only real close match coming against last year's final four finalist Judy Garland.

I will have the polls up early tomorrow morning and will have the matches run through either Monday evening or Tuesday evening. Not quite sure yet.

Elite Eight Round Update

After 2 days these are the current numbers for the matches currently going on....

Diana Rigg is happy as can be..leading Shirley Jones

CAROLE LOMBARD leads BARBARA STANWYCK 23-19
BETTE DAVIS leads RITA HAYWORTH 17-4
DORIS DAY leads AVA GARDNER 23-12
DIANA RIGG leads SHIRLEY JONES 17-13

Voting continues through tomorrow evening

THE ELITE EIGHT

From the sweet sixteen round we are now at the elite eight. These upcoming four matches will decide who makes the final four. The eight women vying for the crown of 2013 favorite classic movie actress are:


1 BARBARA STANWYCK VS 1 CAROLE LOMBARD

Both women are number 1 seeds from their respective categories...Babs from 
Pre-Code Babes and Carole from Funny Ladies 

1 BETTE DAVIS VS 1 RITA HAYWORTH

Bette is top seed from Drama Queens and Rita is top seed from Sophisticates


2 DORIS DAY VS 2 AVA GARDNER

Doris is the second seed from Singer/Dancers while Ava is second seed from
Drama Queens


7 SHIRLEY JONES VS 7 DIANA RIGG

And finally two seven seeds are still hanging around, Shirley representing 
Song and Dance while Diana represents British Invasion. The last time a
seed this low was still around was when Irene Dunne, who was seeded 10th
in the original tourney went all the way and won the whole thing. So there's
a chance one of these women can make some magic again.

Matches begin today..

A pair of number one seeds take a fall

One thing is for certain..this year's final four will be all newcomers to the big dance. A few days ago, reigning 60's era champion Natalie Wood was ousted by Shirley Jones. Today, two more top seeds followed suit. Judy Garland made an impressive rally but fell just short as she lost to Bette Davis 44-39, in the most highest scoring match in the 40's era for this tourney. Garland made it to the final four last year in her maiden tourney debut. This marks just the second loss for Judy. Bette will now face Rita Hayworth, who pummeled Gene Tierney 40-24 in the other 40's era semi-final match.

Looking to three-peat as a final four finalist was 50's era reigning champion Grace Kelly. But alas Princess Grace had no answers for Ava Gardner who had an impressive win 44-22. Grace holds the all-time tourney and match play record with 16 wins. So beating her was an amazing achievement by Ava. Ava gets to face Doris Day, who upset Audrey Hepburn 34-32.

Over in the 60's era, a pair of 7 seeds will now face each other as Shirley Jones took down Anne Bancroft 34-18 and Diana Rigg blasted Catherine Deneuve 38-14.

These four matches begin tomorrow morning.

Barbara, Bette and Audrey continue to dominate this year's tourney with round 3 day one numbers..

Here are the latest numbers after day 1 of the third round of the favorite classic movie actress tourney. And three actresses in particular are flexing their muscles with another dominating round...Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis and Audrey Hepburn.

Stany is about to deliver a knock-out to Norma Shearer

THE 30'S ERA

Greta Garbo leads Lillian Gish 40-23
Barbara Stanwyck leads Norma Shearer 58-6
Joan Blondell leads Eleanor Powell 44-19
Carole Lombard leads Myrna Loy 44-20

All the actresses who are winning in this era have comfortable leads especially Barbara Stanwyck who is laying waste to Norma Shearer by the count of 58-6. Babs has been dominating from round 1 and is proving to be one force no one can handle. Joan Blondell is continuing her impressive tourney run, but this round her match is much closer than her previous match. Still she is up by 25 votes. Last round she crushed Ruby Keeler by a winning margin of 70 votes. Greta Garbo has a nice lead of 17 votes over Lillian Gish and my girl Carole leads Myrna Loy by the score of 44-20

Bette looking quite content

THE 40'S ERA

Bette Davis leads Vivien Leigh 24-10
Judy Garland and Teresa Wright are tied at 17-17
Rita Hayworth leads Loretta Young 26-7
Gene Tierney leads Lauren Bacall 25-9

Bette Davis is up big on Vivien Leigh which is kind of surprising. I thought this would be a much closer contest. Overall 40's top seed Judy Garland is getting all she can handle from upstart Teresa Wright, as they are tied at 17 apiece. Rita Hayworth leads Loretta Young by a 19 vote edge. And Gene Tierney is dominating Lauren Bacall. What's surprising about this match is that Bacall was leading 9-5 this morning before I left for work. That means Gene has scored 20 straight votes in her favor. That is very impressive.

Audrey appears to waiting by the phone for the latest numbers

THE 50'S ERA

Audrey Hepburn 33 to Deborah Kerr 20

Grace Kelly 28 to Marilyn Monroe 25

Ava Gardner 46 to Eleanor Parker 7

Doris Day 36 to Jane Russell 17

Audrey Hepburn continues to set a blistering pace as she leads Deborah Kerr 33-20 in a rematch from last year, which Audrey also dominated in. Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe are in a doozy of a match which has Grace clinging to a 3 vote lead. Ava Gardner is crushing Eleanor Parker by 39 votes. And Doris Day leads Jane Russell quite comfortably.

Diana is positively giddy about her round so far

THE 60'S ERA

Natalie Wood leads Shirley Jones 22-19

Anne Bancroft leads Paula Prentiss 25-17

Diana Rigg leads Julie Andrews 32-19

Catherine Deneuve leads Romy Schneider 26-16

Two-time final four finalist Natalie Wood is in a dogfight of a match with Shirley Jones and leads by only 3 votes. Natalie was actually down early in the match by many as 5 votes. Anne Bancroft has opened up a small lead on Cinderella girl Paula Prentiss. Diana Rigg is still going strong in her tourney debut with a 13 vote lead over perennial favorite Julie Andrews. And Catherine Deneuve is about to close the door on one of my final four picks, Romy Schneider.

Voting continues through Wednesday evening.