Classic Actress Tribute video

Hollywood's Femme Fatality Rate - Features - News - IFC.com

Hollywood's Femme Fatality Rate - Features - News - IFC.com

Director Kathryn Bigelow on The Hurt Locker

Classic Movie Goddess Of The Month - Grace Kelly Part 3

Here are the essential films of Grace Kelly that you have to see. It's the films where she gets to shine and you see why she is a classic movie goddess.

REAR WINDOW (1954) Without a doubt my favorite Grace film in which she gives a wonderful performance as Lisa Fremont, fashion-model socialite to James Stewart's wheelchair bound photographer in one of Hitchcock's best films ever. Grace is perfect as Lisa and makes her character come alive every time she is onscreen.

TO CATCH A THIEF (1955) Another Hitchcock film and another solid performance by Grace as Frances, a young woman who falls in love with retired thief Cary Grant. Good stuff.

HIGH NOON (1952) Holding her own against Gary Cooper as his Quaker bride Amy in this classic western. One of Grace's early film performances that rank up there with her very best.

DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954) Grace really did her best work when teamed with Hitchcock as she did for a third time for this riveting thriller.

THE COUNTRY GIRL (1954) For her only Academy Award came this strong performance as the wife of alcoholic Bing Crosby. Grace is good here but I happen to think her performance in Window is her best work.

Happy Birthday Cary Grant

I almost forgot today was Cary's birthday. My favorite actor of all time and I forgot. Thanks for KC for posting it or I wouldn't have realized it until later on. Here;s to a class act and a wonderful actor
who did some of the best films of all time. My favorites include: His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, Arsenic and Old Lace, My Favorite Wife, I Was A
Male War Bride, The Bachelor and the Bobby-soxer, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, North By Northwest, To Catch A Thief and tons more.

My Top 20 Favorite Actresses

Last month I did my favorite actors of all time, so now it's the ladies turn. The trouble is I couldn't narrow it down to just 20, so I had to expand it to 25. Even then, I could have named a few more, but I had to draw the line somewhere. So here goes, starting at number 25 and working my way up to my favorite actress of all time. And I  have just made a change to include Joan Blondell.

25. Joan Blondell

Favorite Role: Rosie Sturges (Kansas City Princess)

24. Debbie Reynolds

Favorite Role: Kathy Selden (Singin' in the Rain)

23.  Lee Remick

Favorite Role: Laura Manion (Anatomy Of A Murder)

22. Natalie Wood

Favorite Role: Maggie Dubois (The Great Race)

21. Jane Wyman

Favorite Role: Emmadel Jones (Here Comes The Groom)

20. Paulette Goddard

Favorite Role: Gwen Saunders (Nothing But The Truth)

19. Marilyn Monroe

Favorite Role: Lorelei Lee (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)

18. Hope Lange

Favorite Role: Selena Cross (Peyton Place)

17. Deborah Kerr

Favorite Role: Sister Clodagh (Black Narcissus)

16. Olivia de Havilland

Favorite Role: Maid Marian (Robin Hood)

15. Ginger Rogers

Favorite Role: Jean Maitland (Stage Door)

14. Barbara Stanwyck

Favorite Role: Elizabeth Lane (Christmas In Connecticut)

13. Teresa Wright

Favorite Role: Charlie Newton (Shadow Of A Doubt)

12. Grace Kelly

Favorite Role: Lisa Fremont (Rear Window)

11. Doris Day 

Favorite Role: Judy (Send Me No Flowers)

10. Bette Davis

Favorite Role: Margo Channing (All About Eve)

 

 

9. Lana Turner

Favorite Role: Sheila Regan (Ziegfeld Girl)

8. Donna Reed

Favorite Role: Alma Burke (From Here To Eternity)

7. Shirley Jones

Favorite Role: Marian Paroo (The Music Man)

 

6. Gail Patrick

Favorite Role: Bianca Bates (My Favorite Wife)

5. Elizabeth Taylor

Favorite Role: Maggie (Cat On A Hot Tin Roof)

4. Ann Sheridan

Favorite Role: Catherine Gates (I Was A Male War Bride)

 

3. Myrna Loy

Favorite Role: Nora Charles (The Thin Man)

 

2. Irene Dunne

Favorite Role: Ellen Arden (My Favorite Wife)

And finally my favorite actress of all time at No. 1

Carole Lombard

Favorite Role: Ann (Mr. and Mrs.Smith)

So there you have it, my list of my favorite actresses of all time.

And I could have gone on and on but decided to stop at 25.

Great Pics Of Gail Patrick

The Underrated Gail Patrick

I need to post my Top 20 actresses ASAP but until I finish tweaking it, I wanted to write a post about one of the most underrated actresses of all time...the lovely and very talented Gail Patrick. Born in 1911 as Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick in Alabama, She received a B.A. and was a dean of women at her alma mater, Howard College, for a time. She was studying pre-law at the University of Alabama at the time she, by happenstance, became a finalist in a nationwide contest for a Paramount film role (which she did not get). This led her to going to Hollywood and, despite her loss, the studio wound up offering her a studio contract at $50 a week.

Gail appeared in a lot films early in her career including Death Takes A Holiday (1934), Mississippi (1935), and Early To Bed (1936). Just making her way along until she finally secured a notable role in a great film. It was My Man Godfrey (1936) with Carole Lombard and William Powell, with Gail cast as Carole's spoiled sister. Gail held her own in this marvelous screwball classic and she would add two more certifiable screwball classics: 1937's Stage Door, trading wisecracks with Ginger Rogers and 1940's My Favorite Wife as Cary Grant's second wife who had to deal with the unexpected return of Cary's presumed dead first wife, Irene Dunne. So if Gail didn't do anything else in her film career, she could say she starred in these three all time comedy classics.

Gail would wind up making over 60 films before retiring in 1947 and after a stint designing clothes, she was an executive producer on one of the most successful TV shows ever made, Perry Mason. How's that for post film career success. Gail would marry four times and was also a diabetic.

She is one of my favorite actresses of all time and she ranks pretty high on my top actress list, which you will see once I finally post it. But I'm sure most classic movie lovers have seen her before..definitely in one of those three classics mentioned above. She was very talented and beautiful and could handle the on screen antics of screwball comedies very well. I dedicate this blog to Gail who was a class act.

Classic Movie Goddess Of The Month - Grace Kelly Part 2

Here are some noteworthy facts about Grace that most fans probably know about and maybe a few that don't.

Date of Birth: 12 November 1929 Philadelphia, PA
Date of Death: 14 September 1982 Monaco (car injuries)

Nicknames: Graciebird, Gracie
Height: 5'7"



Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#5). [1995]
Ranked #51 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Hoped to return to acting in Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964), but the people of Monaco didn't want their princess playing a thief and romancing Sean Connery.
Had three children with Prince Rainier of Monaco: Princess Caroline of Monaco (1957), Prince Albert of Monaco (1958) and Princess Stephanie of Monaco (1965).
Her movies were banned in Monaco by order of Prince Rainier of Monaco.
The inscription at her burial site in Monaco's cathedral does not refer to her as a princess. It uses the title "uxor principis" (prince's wife), which is traditional in the House of Grimaldi.
Interred at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Monaco.
Kelly's wedding gown was the most expensive garment that MGM designer Helen Rose had ever made. It used twenty-five yards of silk taffeta and one hundred yards of silk net. Its 125-year-old rose point lace was purchased from a museum and thousands of tiny pearls were sewn on the veil.
Was considered for the role of Maggie the Cat in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) that was eventually played by Elizabeth Taylor.


The so-called "wealthy" family Grace was born into was actually an immigrant family of bricklayers who had barely a generation of new-found business success. Grace's father and brother were both Olympic gold-medal scullers. Grace's cousin, former US Secy of Navy John Lehman, Jr. now chairs the Princess Grace Foundation, which supports young performing talent.
Attended and graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York.
The Country Girl (1954), the film that won Kelly an Oscar, was first offered to Jennifer Jones, who had to turn it down due to pregnancy.
When she left Hollywood, several roles she was slated to play were eventually filled by Lauren Bacall (Designing Woman (1957) and The Cobweb (1955)). Director George Stevens also wanted her for Giant (1956).

She was voted the 27th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Referenced in the songs "Grace Kelly", by Die Ärzte; "Grace Kelly Blues" by Eels (Mark Everett),"Grace Kelly with Wings" by Piebald; and "Grace Kelly" by Mika.
The very first actress to appear on a postage stamp, in 1993.
Hedda Hopper reported that Judy Garland's loss of the Academy Award to Grace for The Country Girl (1954) was the result of the closest Oscar vote up till that time that didn't end in a tie, with just six votes separating the two. In any event, it was a heartbreak from which Judy Garland never really recovered and which has remained a matter of some controversy ever since.
Summoned Sydney Guilaroff, the chief hairstylist at MGM Studios, to style her hair for her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956.
She was voted the 12th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
Was named #13 Actress on The American Film Institute's 50 Greatest Screen Legends
The road accident which led to her death was apparently caused by a stroke she suffered while driving.
Was romantically involved with fashion designer Oleg Cassini.
Is portrayed by Christina Applegate and Cheryl Ladd in Grace Kelly (1983) (TV).

2010 Preview

While I'm snowed in at my in-laws in West Virginia, I decided to write about the things I will be blogging abut this year. I will continue to do Screwball Wednesdays, which I will focus on one screwball comedy for that week or bi-weekly. Upcoming screwball films I will talk about include: The Women, The Thin Man, Bringing Up Baby, My Favorite Wife, and others. I will continue with my classic movie goddesses one per month with Grace Kelly already having kicking off the new year this month. Other actresses for the year will include: Liz Taylor, Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Doris Day, Rosalind Russell, Carole Lombard, Ann Sheridan, Ginger Rogers, and Irene Dunne. I will also list my top 20 favorite actresses to go along with the my list of favorite actors I did back in December. Also debating about doing a western a month. Oh and a new topic focusing on the silver screen's best performances like Bette Davis in All About Eve and James Stewart in Mr. Smith and tons more. Plus polls, photos, trivia, film recommendations and whatever else strikes my fancy. Not to mention my other polls which I blog about or contribute to: Screwball Cinema, Hero Worship, and the other blogs. Hope to get started as soon as I get back home in Georgia. 2010 will be an awesome year.

Visiting Family in West Virgina

Forgot to tell everyone I would be away from home, visiting family in West Virgina. Well I was on my way back home on Saturday when I had an accident on the interstate. My car hit a patch of ice, I spun out of control and hit the wall. Did some damage to front of the vehicle but it's still driveable. Same thing happened with my wife except her car was severely damaged. We were both unharmed though. Waiting for her insurance company to check out her vehicle and for the weather to be a little better before coming home. She was gonna stay an extra week and that's why we took two cars. But we're ok and that's the important thing. I miss all of you guys that are following my blogs and will be back at it soon. Did want to remind classic movie fans that TCM is airing several of Jane Wyman's movies on Monday Jan 4th starting at 6am. She is one of my favorite actresses. Check her out if you can.