Sunday, July 10, 2011

The Final Four

For various reasons (a road trip, the dog's surgery and one long, long Mary Pickford essay), I haven't been able to promote Monty's best actor tournament over at All Good Things as much as I normally would, but I'm here to tell you, the final four is set and voting starts today.

The match-ups: William Powell versus William Holden; and Cary Grant versus Paul Newman

Click here to vote.

The Tale of the Tape

BOUT ONE

Representing the Silent/1930s bracket
William Powell
Birth Name: William Horatio Powell
Birth Date: July 29, 1892
Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Height: 6'
Film Debut: Sherlock Holmes (1922)
Three To See: One Way Passage, The Thin Man and My Man Godfrey
A Gem You Might Have Missed: I Love You Again
Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards: 1 win—Best Actor (Comedy/Musical) (1936) (The Great Ziegfeld, The Ex-Mrs. Bradford, My Man Godfrey, Libeled Lady and After The Thin Man)
Academy Awards: 3 Oscar nominations, no wins
Marriages: Eileen Wilson (1915-1930, divorced); Carole Lombard (1931-1933, divorced); Diana Lewis (1940-1984, his death)



Representing the 1950s bracket

William Holden
Birth Name: William Franklin Beedle
Birth Date: April 17, 1918
Birthplace: O'Fallon, Illinois
Height: 5'11"
Film Debut: Prison Farm (1938) (uncredited)
Three To See: Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17 and The Wild Bunch
A Gem You Might Have Missed: Born Yesterday
Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards: 2 wins—Best Actor (Drama) (1950) (Sunset Boulevard) and Best Actor (Drama) (1969) (The Wild Bunch)
Academy Awards: 3 Oscar nominations, 1 win (Stalag 17)
Marriages: Brenda Marshall (1941-1971, divorced)



BOUT TWO

Representing the 1940s bracket

Cary Grant
Birth Name: Archibald Alexander Leach
Birth Date: January 18, 1904
Birthplace: Bristol, England
Height: 6'1½"
Film Debut: This Is The Night (1932)
Three To See: The Awful Truth, His Girl Friday and North By Northwest
A Gem You Might Have Missed: Holiday
Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards: 3 wins—Best Actor (Comedy/Musical) (1937) (The Awful Truth); Best Supporting Actor (1940) (The Philadelphia Story) and Best Actor (Drama) (1959) (North By Northwest)
Academy Awards: 2 Oscar nominations, 0 wins; honorary Oscar (1970)
Marriages: Virginia Cherrill (1934-1935, divorced); Barbara Hutton (1942-1945, divorced); Betsy Drake (1949-1962, divorced); Dyan Cannon (1965-1968, divorced); Barbara Harris (1981-1986, his death)



Representing the 1960s bracket

Paul Newman
Birth Name: Paul Leonard Newman
Birth Date: January 26, 1925
Birthplace: Shaker Heights, Ohio
Height: 5'9½"
Film Debut: The Silver Chalice (1954)
Three To See: The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke and The Sting
A Gem You Might Have Missed: Slap Shot
Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards: 1 win—Best Actor (Drama) (1961) (The Hustler)
Academy Awards: 10 nominations, 1 win (The Color of Money), honorary Oscar (1986); Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1994)
Marriages: Jackie Witte (1949-1958, divorced); Joanne Woodward (1958-2008, his death)

9 comments:

Katie said...

Slapshot is only a hidden gem in the sense that I've taken it out of the DVD cabinet and hidden it so that I never have to see it again.

Mythical Monkey said...

Wait, does this mean you don't want Slap Shot on Blu-Ray for your birthday?

Maggie said...

What!? Cary Grant against Paul Newman. Is this the manly cheesecake contest? Pffftttt...

William Holden was good, but the other William gets my vote.

MY word verification is, 'spleti.' That might be some sort of pasta.

Mythical Monkey said...

MY word verification is, 'spleti.' That might be some sort of pasta.

It's especially good with a marinara sauce ...

And you can have Cary Grant for dessert.

monty said...

Awesome post John. Thank you. Funny to thanks to Katie. You guys are awesome!

mister muleboy said...

This contest is a joke, right?

I mean, they don't actually think there's a genuine question in either competition, right?

Right?


Slap Shot. While I would never disagree with K-T-B-t-D, I will only say it is an classic.

-- Ye Olde Fence Sittere

mister muleboy said...

Hey Monkey:

tick tock.

We're waiting for content.

WV? wussa

that's about right. . . .

Mythical Monkey said...

Awesome post John. Thank you. Funny to thanks to Katie. You guys are awesome!

You are more than welcome, Monty. The actor and actresses tournaments were a brilliant idea, and lots of fun.

Go Cary!

Mythical Monkey said...

We're waiting for content.

That usually means cheesecake.

I'll see what I've got on tap ...