Good Morning from Donna Reed

Top of the morning to everyone from Donna Reed

My Top Ten Favorite Modern Film Actors

Was thinking about who my favorite current film actors were the other day and decided to make a top ten list. So here we go and I plan to do the same for actresses as well.

10. Ryan Reynolds

Favorite Films: Just Friends, The Proposal

9. Tom Hanks

Favorite Films: Saving Private Ryan, Apollo 13, A League Of Their Own

8. Harrison Ford

Favorite Films: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, Witness

7. Tom Cruise

Favorite Films: A Few Good Men, The Last Samurai, Jerry Maguire

6. Kurt Russell

Favorite Films: The Thing, Escape From NY, Big Trouble In Little China

5. Will Smith

Favorite Films: Bad Boys, Independence Day, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend

4. Morgan Freeman

Favorite Films: The Shawshank Redemption, Unforgiven, Kiss The Girls, Driving Miss Daisy

3. Robert Downey Jr.

Favorite Films: Iron Man, Soap dish, Tropic Thunder, Less Than Zero

2. Leonardo Di Caprio

Favorite Films: Blood Diamond, Titanic, The Aviator, Gangs Of New York

1. Denzel Washington

Favorite Films: Remember The Titans, Man on Fire, Crimson Tide, Courage Under Fire

Blog Spotlight on Blonde Episodes

Blonde Episodes was one of the first blogs I started following. It is wonderfully done by my good friend Kori. I'm spotlighting her blog now because she is my guest this month on All Good Things. And to let everyone that don't know already to check out her awesome blog. I believe Marilyn Monroe is her favorite actress because she has pics of her all over her blog. And she always seems to find the best Marilyn pics you would want to see. So head over to her blog and check it out, tell her Monty sent you.
http://blondeepisodes.blogspot.com/

Rest In Peace Lena Horne

Lena Horne has passed away at age 92.

Horne was born in June 1917 in Brooklyn. By her teens she began singing in nightclubs, including the famed Cotton Club as a chorus girl.

Although her Hollywood career spanned six decades, she never really achieved any huge success in that arena often because of her African American heritage was seen by studios as a deterrent when casting for lead roles or roles that might necessitate an interracial relationship on screen.

She was best known in the entertainment world for her singing and showcased that in more nightclubs, on Broadway and on TV variety shows, including "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Judy Garland Show." Later in her career she appeared on "The Cosby Show" and "The Muppet Show."

She won several Grammy awards over her career and received a best actress Tony nomination for the musical "Jamaica." Later, she received a special Tony for her one-woman show, "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music."

Her contributions to the Civil Rights movement include working alongside Paul Robeson and Medgar Evers, participating on the March on Washington and collaborating to end desegregation and lynching.

Horne is survived by her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, and granddaughter Jenny Lumet, screenwriter of "Rachel Getting Married."

Bette is wickedly good in All About Eve (1950)

All About Eve is my favorite Bette Davis film. She owns the screen as Margo Channing, a legendary Broadway star whose career is winding down who takes on actress Eve Harrington (a super Anne Baxter) as her understudy. But Eve has ulterior motives and she wants to be the star and will do anything to achieve that goal. The supporting cast includes Celeste Holm as Karen Richards, Margo's best friend; Thelma Ritter as Birdie, Margo's right hand woman; Gary Merrill as Bill, Margo's lover; Hugh Marlowe as Llyod, the playwright; and George Sanders as Addison DeWitt, the columnist who learns of Eve's true intentions and decides to play along. Also look for a young Marilyn Monroe in a small part as Addison's date.

The performances are all great, especially Davis and Baxter. Davis prowls the screen like a leopard looking for a kill. She attacks her dialogue with reverence and gives one of her best performances ever. She manages to fire off lines like she is firing a machine gun. Baxter by contrast is more subdued, especially in the earlier scenes, but once her devious plans come out, she lets out a beast of a performance that has her holding her own against Bette. Sanders is pretty good too as Addison, as every word he says just drips with sarcasm and venom. Thelma Ritter, the legendary scene stealer does it again with a marvelous performance as Birdie.

All About Eve is one of my all time favorite films and ranks high on my list. It's a must see. And it's one of those classics that they don't make them like they used to.
A+

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Birdie: What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end.

Happy Birthday Anne Baxter

I didn't realize that Anne's birthday was yesterday. My apologies to Anne and all her fans, but Happy Birthday to another one of my favorite actresses. (7 May 1923 - 12 Dec 1985). My favorite Anne films include All About Eve, Sunday Dinner for a Soldier, The Fighting Sullivans, A Ticket to Tomahawk, The Ten Commandments and her guest appearances as the villaness Olga, Queen of the Cossacks on the 1960's Batman TV series

Bette shines in Dark Victory (1939)

Flixster - Share Movies

Dark Victory was one of the first Bette Davis films I ever saw. I believe I was around 14 or 15 and it just blew me away. Easily one of Bette's most engaging performances and one of the best films from Hollywood's golden year of 1939. Bette plays Judith Traherne, a wealthy Long Island society girl who is having a ball with her lifestyle. Well fun and games come to an abrupt end when she finds out she has a brain tumor. Her secretary and friend Ann (played by Geraldine Fitzgerald in an understated but moving performance) and other friend Alex (Ronald Reagan) convince Judith to see a brain specialist, Dr. Frederick Steele (George Brent) who informs Judith that the tumor will cause her to die within the year. Through the course of the year Judith falls in love with Frederick and accepts his marriage proposal but can't go through with it because she thinks the doctor is being sympathetic to her illness. Humphrey Bogart is on hand as an Irish horse trainer who tries to make Judith fall in love with him. When he realizes that will never happen, he convinces Judith to be with the doctor. Dark Victory is one serious melodrama with an excellent performance by Bette. This is easily one of her top 5 film performances ever. She handles all her scenes with such ease and perfection. She goes from happy go lucky society girl to a woman on the brink of death. A lesser actress would have botched this role and could have went over the top with it, but Bette is terrific. She dominates this film and just overshadows everyone else. Not that the other actors involved aren't good, it's just that Bette is on another level. This film is definitely a tear jerker in every sense of the word and don't expect a happy ending. There are a couple scenes of light humor, especially in the beginning that won't make this film too hard to watch. And it is one of the best films Hollywood ever made. Oh and stay away from the colorized version, watch this in the original black and white version. The way it was meant to be seen.
B+

Judith: Moving to Vermont are you? What do you do there in between yawns?

Guest For The Month: Kori of Blonde Episodes

This month kicks off my new feature called Be My Guest. It's where a friend and co-blogger will join me in discussion about classic films and stars. I've asked Kori of Blonde Episodes to be the first. I've sent her some questions and when she responds I will post them here on my blog. Hope to discuss other things as the month goes on which will depend on Kori having the time to do it. I've already got other friends scheduled through October so far. Anyone else who would like to do it, just email me at monty_hawes@yahoo.com. Hope it turns into an ongoing thing.

Kori's very cool and entertaining blog

New Poll Started

For the month of May, the poll asks the question what time period of Bette Davis career do you enjoy the most. The selections are the 30's, the 40's, the 50's and the 60's. The poll will be open all month long.

Classic Movie Goddess Of The Month - Bette Davis Part 1

My classic movie goddess for the month of  May is none other than the legendary Bette Davis. And I will enjoy blogging about her all month long as she is in my Top ten favorite actresses of all time. So I will start with her bio and some lovely pics. Enjoy.

Bette Davis PhotosRuth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts. Her parents divorced when she was 10. She and her sister were raised by their mother, Ruthie. Bette demanded attention from birth, which led to her pursuing a career in acting. After graduation from Cushing Academy she was refused admittance to Eva Le Gallienne's Manhattan Civic Repertory because she was considered insincere and frivolous. She enrolled in John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School and was the star pupil. She was in the off-Broadway play "The Earth Between" (1923), and her Broadway debut in 1929 was in "Broken Dishes". She also appeared in "Solid South". Late in 1930, she was hired by Universal. When she arrived in Hollywood, the studio representative who went to meet her train left without her because he could find no one who looked like a movie star. An official at Universal complained she had "as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville" and her performance in The Bad Sister (1931) didn't impress. In 1932 she signed a seven-year deal with Warner Brothers Pictures. She became a star after her appearance in The Man Who Played God (1932). Warners loaned her to RKO in 1934 for Of Human Bondage (1934), in which she was a smash. She had a significant number of write-in votes for the Best Actress Oscar, but didn't win. She finally DID win for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938)). She constantly fought with Warners and tried to get out of her contract because she felt she wasn't receiving the top roles an Oscar-winning actress deserved, and eventually sued the studio. Returning after losing her lawsuit, her roles improved dramatically. The only role she didn't get that she wanted was Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). Warners wouldn't loan her to David O. Selznick unless he hired Errol Flynn to play Rhett Butler, which both Selznick and Davis thought was a terrible choice. It was rumored she had numerous affairs, among them George Brent and William Wyler, and she was married four times, three of which ended in divorce. She admitted her career always came first. She made many successful films in the 1940s, but each picture was weaker than the last and by the time her Warner Brothers contract had ended in 1949, she had been reduced to appearing in such films as the unintentionally hilarious Beyond the Forest (1949). She made a huge comeback in 1950 when she replaced an ill Claudette Colbert in, and received an Oscar nomination for, All About Eve (1950). She worked in films through the 1950s, but her career eventually came to a standstill, and in 1961 she placed a now famous Job Wanted ad in the trade papers.



Bette Davis PhotosShe received an Oscar nomination for her role as a demented former child star in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), which brought her a new degree of stardom in both movies and television through the 1960s and 1970s. In 1977 she received the AFI's Lifetime Achievement Award and in 1979 she won a Best Actress Emmy for Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979) (TV). In 1977-78 she moved from Connecticut to Los Angeles and filmed a pilot for the series "Hotel" (1983), which she called Brothel. She refused to do the TV series and suffered a stroke during this time. Her daughter Barbara Merrill wrote a 1985 "Mommie Dearest"-type book, "My Mother's Keeper". She worked in the later 1980s in films and TV, even though a stroke had impaired her appearance and mobility. She wrote a book "This 'N That" during her recovery from the stroke. Her last book was "Bette Davis, The Lonely Life", issued in paperback in 1990. It included an update from 1962 to 1989. She wrote the last chapter in San Sebastian, Spain. When she passed away of cancer on October 6, 1989, in France, many of her fans refused to believe she was gone.