With Summer upon us (at least in the northern hemisphere), we at Hollywood Dreamland thought it best that we enjoy some of these long, blisteringly hot days--I'm based just north of Miami--or "Miamuh", as the old-timers called it--and I'll be scaling back the posts a bit. Perhaps four or five posts monthly instead of the average ten, though this month has seen twenty one due to the Favorite Actors List draining my rudimentary thinking and writing skills. Hope you're enjoying the Summer wherever you are--or Winter, where applicable.
Still a Knockout: Ginger Rogers poolside-- and in color.
Though he was number three on the Hollywood Dreamland Ten Favorite Actors List (my wife insists I should've made him top of the list, given that I've been a Duke fan for so many years), John Wayne is still number one in terms of how much dough his movies raked in! Remember this list from a few years ago, proclaiming The Duke the all-time greatest movie moneymaker? You don't? Well, read on Pilgrim:
John Wayne All Time Top Money-Making Star
GROTON, Mass., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Using data from 72 years of Quigley Publishing Company's annual Top Ten Money-Making Star Poll of motion picture exhibitors, John Wayne has been named the Top Money-Maker of All Time. The Quigley Poll, conducted every year since 1932, is an annual survey of motion picture exhibitors, which asks them to vote for the ten stars that generated the most box-office revenue in the preceding year for their theatres. Long regarded as one of the most reliable indicators of a Star's box-office draw, the Quigley Poll has been cited in hundreds of publications and appears annually in Quigley Publishing Company's International Motion Picture Almanac and on our site; http://www.quigleypublishing.com/. During this motion picture awards season, it is interesting to see who theatre owners and operators believe really have meant something at their box-office. During his 50-year career John Wayne appeared in over 150 films, including classics such as, The Quiet Man, The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, but only won one Academy Award for True Grit.
To come up with a weighted score, an actor received 10 points for a first place finish, nine for a second place finish, etc. The total score was determined by adding up the weighted scores from each year that the actor was voted on the list. John Wayne's appearance 25 times in the poll from 1949 to 1974 yielded 172 points versus 165 points for second place Clint Eastwood, who has been on the list 21 times. Tom Cruise placed third with 133.5 points combining six first place finishes with 16 appearances on the QP poll.
The rest of the Quigley Top Ten All-Time Money Makers are Bing Crosby #4, Gary Cooper #5, Clark Gable #6 and Burt Reynolds #7. Tom Hanks, who was recently voted the Top Ten Money-Making Star of 2004, tied with Bob Hope for #8 and Paul Newman was #10.
Of the current active stars, it appears that only Clint Eastwood and Tom Cruise have a reasonable chance of overtaking John Wayne in the future.
Perhaps reflecting shorter careers in Hollywood than men, no women made it into the Top Ten but Doris Day #11, Julia Roberts #13, Betty Grable #15, Elizabeth Taylor #23 and Shirley Temple #25 were in the Top Twenty Five.
The complete list is:
QP All Time Weighted
Position Top Ten Stars Score
1 John Wayne 172
2 Clint Eastwood 165
3 Tom Cruise 133.5
4 Bing Crosby 111
5 Gary Cooper 106.5
6 Clark Gable 95
7 Burt Reynolds 90
8 Tom Hanks (Tie) 83
Bob Hope (Tie) 83
10 Paul Newman 76
11 Doris Day 72
12 Rock Hudson 69
13 Julia Roberts 68
14 Eddie Murphy 67
15 Betty Grable 66
16 Cary Grant 62
17 Abbott & Costello 57
18 Harrison Ford (Tie) 56
James Stewart (Tie) 56
20 Mel Gibson 55.5
21 Robert Redford 55
22 Arnold Schwarzenegger 53
23 Elizabeth Taylor 52
24 Sylvester Stallone 50
25 Jim Carrey (Tie) 49
Shirley Temple (Tie) 49
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One pleasant surprise we as young(ish) classic movie fans receive is the "shocking" revelation that Golden Age movie stars were actually young once! Every generation since the baby boomers were initially introduced to beloved performers through perpetually-running TV programs from our childhood or these days-- DVD, since 99% of classic shows just aren't shown on television anymore. Anyway, we grow accustomed to seeing an actor in a certain period of their careers and then after years of seeing that one era of their onscreen lives, we get a shock at finding their young, beautiful selves. Years ago, I got this kind of shock upon seeing Barbara Stanwyck in Ball of Fire. Prior to that, I had known her only as "Miss Barbara Stanwyck" from the TV western, The Big Valley. So, this pleasant surprise theme continues as I marvel at the above photograph of Joan Bennett. I half-jokingly referred to her in the previous post as "Mrs. Banks" from Father of the Bride because Miss Bennett was such a thrill to behold in this picture. Although she wasn't exactly ancient (age 39) as Kay Banks' (Elizabeth Taylor) mother. If I had to guess her age in the lovely photo now, I'd venture to say--22. What a beauty!
Mrs. Banks???: Joan Bennett, early 1930s.
Joan (1911-90) is the one with whom I'm most familiar, as her role as Ellie Banks in Father of the Bride (on TCM tonight!) shows her low-key but effective sense of humor, but I'd like to see her earlier work from the 1930s and 40s. She's also well-known for her role on the Gothic TV soap opera Dark Shadows, which I just found out about! 
Glamour Every Night: Joan Bennett prepares for some fancy outing in the 1940s
Sizzle: Connie, early 1930s. 
Ravishing: Connie in her early-thirties prime.
Still a Knockout: Ginger Rogers poolside-- and in color.
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