Poll Results: Mae West

It should've been a landslide, but Mae West edged out Bette Davis by just one vote as the winner of the poll question: "Who's the greatest wisecracking dame of them all?" The competition was fierce! This was one of the closest polls HD has ever done. Myrna Loy led the pack early but Bette and Mae had a fierce see-saw battle over first place. Rosalind Russell did quite well, and I won't shy away from saying how pleased I was. I hope that those who haven't seen or heard these dames in action will seek their films out and discover what a joy each and every one of them is--even Joan; poor, poor, one-vote Joan. Here's how the voting went, with a total of 112 votes cast:

Mae West 25 (22%)

Bette Davis 24 (21%)
Rosalind Russell 18 (16%)
Myrna Loy 17 (15%)
Jean Harlow 16 (14%)
Ginger Rogers 11 (9%)
Joan Crawford 1 (0%)

It's my view that Mae West deserved to win because her wisecrackery is her legacy. West isn't known for her tremendous acting chops or her immortal film roles. This is how we know Mae West. Even if you never heard of her, it's possible you can still hear her voice speaking these lines whether they're from her films or not:

"When I'm good I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better."

"It's not the men in my life that count, it's the life in my men."

"Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."

"I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it."

"I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it."

"I used to be Snow White, but I drifted."

"I've been in more laps than a napkin."

Pernell Roberts: Another Hero Gone

Actor, singer, and civil rights champion Pernell Roberts died on January 24, aged 81. Roberts is best known for his six-year run on the Bonanza TV show. In 1958, he co-starred alongside Randolph Scott in the 1958 Budd Boetticher film, Ride Lonesome. This is the kind of role that often comes just before an actor gains his or her breakthrough role. A year later, Roberts would begin his stint on Bonanza and forever be remembered as the cool, quiet, intellectual Adam Cartwright, Ponderosa patriarch Ben Cartwright's eldest son. Roberts quickly grew tired of the role, the show's writing, and the portrayal of Native Americans and African Americans. He left behind a fortune when he left that show, but his freedom was infinitely more important to him.

Pernell Roberts was a hero of mine since childhood. But back then it was because I was impressed by how cool he was. I appreciate him even more now as an adult because I learned how he was a champion of civil rights and a sturdy man of conviction in every endeavor, just like Adam Cartwright. He may have grown tired of the show and what he saw as its limitations, but Pernell himself embodied the very best qualities of his character.

After Bonanza, Roberts proceeded to guest star on virtually every program on network television. On any given week, the average viewer would see him on The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. to The Virginian to Hawaii Five-O. Roberts played all kinds of roles: tormented drifters, seedy gangsters, concerned fathers, fatcat businessman, and empty-headed cop. Roberts spent the years 1966-1979 wandering what I call his "Lost Road." He finally landed another starring role in a TV series when he played Dr. "Trapper" John McIntyre on the medical show, Trapper John, M.D. He admitted that he took the role for the security that a "nest egg" like that would provide, but Pernell Roberts paid his dues, did what he wanted and challenged himself more often than not with his inumerable acting gigs.

A public figure but intensely private man, Roberts disappeared from the show business scene in 1997 and retreated to quiet retirement. At the time of his departure from Bonanza, Roberts was often the butt of Johnny Carson's monologues, but Roberts is now seen by his many admirers as a man of principle and a singular talent who was on the right side of history with his progressive views on race and war and staying true to his beliefs.

Fighting the Good Fight: Pernell Roberts in a civil rights march, 1965

In Memoriam: Jean Simmons

Actress Jean Simmons died January 22, 2010. She was much younger than I belived her to be, but then as one gets older, everyone seems younger than you thought they were. Jean Simmons to me was a generous portion of Audrey Hepburn, for her demure nature, and a dash of Gene Tierney, for her beautifully awkward overbite. She was a stunning woman and a performer that flew under a lot of people's radar. She managed to appear in several classics but her lasting impression on me was when I first saw her, in Elmer Gantry (1960). Simmons had the thankless task of appearing opposite Burt Lancaster in his most famous role and how she managed that is testament to her ability. Simmons played evangelist "Sister" Sharon Falconer (she would play a similar role in 1955's Guys and Dolls, opposite Marlon Brando), whose sincere work is turned into a circus by Lancaster's scenery-chewing title character. She manages to be seduced by him, too, in a memorable and for-the-time, naughty, scene. Simmons' character was essentially a prop for Lancaster's ribald preacher, but her presence made me take note, and when I continued my journey into 1950s films, I saw how striking Jean Simmons was.

I associate her with two other movies, 1952's Noir alongside Robert Mitchum, Angel Face, where Jean got to play a femme fatale (and for which there's a typically great Robert Mitchum story), and especially 1953's The Actress, the biographical biopic of actress/screenwriter Ruth Gordon. Simmons played opposite Spencer Tracy in the latter. She's about as Audrey Hepburn as she ever got in this "ugly duckling" role. I'm sure Turner Classic Movies will do a tribute for her, and that these films will be included. Don't miss Jean Simmons in The Actress!

Simmons had a beautiful speaking voice, and as a narrator, she was an ideal choice to do voiceover work for a documentray series, Mysteries of The Bible, no doubt owing to all the biblical epics she appeared in during the 1950s. Simmons' chronicling of all those sinners with their sexual intrigue brings it all back full circle.

Blatantly Beautiful Vivien Leigh

Sometimes a post need be nothing more than a great photo of a wonderful-looking actor. So here's Vivien Leigh, as she appeared in Waterloo Bridge (1940). That's it; the picture is just staggeringly amazing. However, in looking over Vivien's film credits, I was surprised at how few films she actually did. The stage was her main showcase, so the fact that Leigh won Oscars for two of the greatest films of all time (Gone with the Wind and A Streecar Named Desire) is testament to her ability and the material itself. I've seen little of her work, but if her other movies are anywhere near the level of those two, in terms of what she brings to them, then Vivien and I are going to have a great "relationship."