Jake’s Sister

Maggie Gyllenhaal is finally making a mark in Hollywood. A great actress that has been overshadowed by her little brother until now.

 

Classic Women in Cinema: JOAN FONTAINE

Joan Fontaine: 1917

“I married first, won the oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she’ll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it!.”

 

Oscar Update: September

BEST PICTURE
Little Children

Babel

Last King Of Scotland

Flags of Our Fathers
Bobby

BEST DIRECTOR
CLINT EASTWOOD, Flags of Our Fathers
ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU, Babel
MARTIN SCORSESSE, The Departed
EMILIO ESTAVEZ, Bobby
BILL CONDON, Dreamgirls

BEST LEADING ACTOR
SEAN PENN, All the King’s Men
RYAN PHILLIPPE, Flags of Our Fathers
FOREST WHITAKER, The Last King of Scotland
MATT DAMON, The Departed
BRAD PITT, Babel

BEST LEADING ACTRESS
HELEN MIRREN, The Queen
SCARLETT JOHANSSEN, The Black Dahlia
ANNETTE BENING, Running with Scissors
MERYL STREEP. The Devil Wears Prada
NICOLE KIDMAN, Fur

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
MICHAEL CAINE, The Children of Men
JACK NICHOLSON, The Departed
BRIAN COX, Running with Scissors
MICHAEL PENA, World Trade Center
EDDIE MURPHY, Dreamgirls

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
JUDI DENCH, Notes on a Scandal
ABAGAIL BRESLIN, Little Miss Sunshine
ANGELINA JOLIE, The Good Shepherd
CATE BLANCHETT,Notes on a Scandal
JENNIFER HUDSON,

 

Up & Coming: Jessica Biel

From 7th Heaven to The Sexiest Woman Alive, Jessica Biel is a woman that is on the rise, and a talent that will be a force to reckon with.

 

Classic Women in Cinema: LUISE RAINER

Luise Ranier-1910

 

Best Actress Predictions

With the Oscar’s right around the corner, and other blogs already testing their prediction abilities I wanted to jump on the band wagon and give my predictions, at least in the Actress categories. So here are my mid year predictions for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role…

1. Meryl Streep / The Devil Wears Prada
Ms. Streep is by far one of the greatest actresses to have ever graced the big screen. With more nominations than almost any other actor or actress, save Jack and Katharine, she will once again make her move into cinematic history. Surely a living legend she will again be nominated this year for her portrayal of one of those bosses you love to hate.

2. Annette Bening / Running With Scissors

Does anyone else besides myself see a faint resemblance between Annette Bening and the Columbia Pictures woman?? But anyway, Annette has been here before, but this juicy role as a crazy, pill popping, bi-polar mother in Running With Scissors is one of her best. Hats off to the casting director as I could see no one but Annette pulling this role off as well s she does.

3. Helen Mirren / The Queen

Yet, another great actress who we have seen and heard a lot about lately, Helen is due a win. She deserves a win. She plays her roles to win. But will she win this year? Not likely, but a possibility. But she will be nominated, again.

4. Cate Blanchett / The Good German / Babel

I know she just won an award last year, but who is to say she can’t win two years in a row. Tom Hanks did. But last year was for the supporting actress award. I really feel Cate will be nominated this year, but with her in so many big name movies this year it is hard to pick which one will do the trick. Her role in Babel is not as big as her role in The Good German and it may be more of a supporting role. Cate is good, and she deserves the Oscar for best actress because she is one of the best.

5. Nicole Kidman / Fur

Nicole is and always will be one of my favorites. Even if she was married to Tom Crusie. However, I think the Academy likes her better than I, and she will be given the nod again this year. Maybe to make up for the Academy not giving her the Oscar for her role in Moulin Rouge. Plus I would like to see her win and forget to thank her new husband…

I also think there are some other actresses out there that may get the nod this year, so I am going to pick them as my contenders. Just three, but three very good roles played by very good actresses… 1. Beyonce Knowles in Dreamgirls , 2. Ashley Judd in Bug and 3. Kate Winslet in Little Children.

So there they are, my picks for Best Actress. I will give you my predictions in a few days for Supporting Actress, then when the nominations are announce on January 23, 2007 we will see how I did.

 

Classic Women in Cinema: GINGER ROGERS

GINGER ROGERS: July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995
In honor of the 95th Anniversary of her birth.

 

Whatever Happened To…?

Yvonne Craig

Best known for her role as Barbara Gordon?Batgirl in the 1960’s TV series, Yvonne Craig was born in Illinois in May of 1937, and raised in Ohio.

She started out as a ballet dancer then after coming to Hollywood she starred in her first film in 1957 (Eighteen and Anxious). She also appeared in two Elvis Presley films, It Happened at the World’s Fair (1963) and Kissin’ Cousins (1964), and even dated Presley for a brief period. She also starred in the cult favorites Ski Party (1965; with Frankie Avalon and Deborah Walley) and Mars Needs Women (1966; with Tommy Kirk).

But her fame would come with the cult Television series “Batman (1966)” in which she played Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, Barbara. Her secret identity was Batgirl and as the Commissioner’s daughter, she had access to all the calls of trouble that was taking place in Gotham. Her character, Batgirl, was part of the 67-68 season, which was the end of the run for the show. After “Batman (1966)”, she also appeared on other television programs such as “Star Trek (1966)” and “The Six Million Dollar Man (1974)”.

Married twice, first to actor Jimmy Boyd, and Kenneth Aldrich.
She published an autobiography in 2000, From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond.

Today Yvonne is retired from acting and works in Real Estate.

 

Classic Women in Cinema; EVA MARIE SAINT

EVA MARIE SAINT: JULY 4, 1924

America is 230 today.

Edie Doyle/Martha Kent (Eva Marie Saint) is 82 today

 

An Urban Legend in More Ways Than One

After an engagement at the Gus Stevens Supper Club in Biloxi, Mississippi, Actress Jayne Mansfield, her attorney Sam Brody, and their driver, Ronnie Harrison, along with the actress’s children Miklós, Zoltan, and Mariska, headed in Stevens’ 1966 Buick Electra 225 to New Orleans, where Mansfield was to appear in an early morning television interview. On June 29, 1967, at approximately 2:25 a.m., on U.S. Highway 90, the car, which was reportedly going 80 miles per hour, crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that had slowed down because of a truck spraying mosquito fogger. The children survived with minor injuries, but the adults were killed instantly.

Rumors that Mansfield was dacapitated have been proven untrue, though she did suffer severe head trauma. This urabn legend was possibly spawned by the appearance in police photographs of what resembles a blonde wig tangled in the car’s smashed windshield. It is believed that this was either a wig that Mansfield was wearing at the time, or was her actual hair and scalp and that she was scalped in the crash.