Battle Royale #6: Battle of the Bitter Sisters (The Results)

Another Battle Royale and another tight race from beginning to end.  This time we pitted a pair of long-estranged Hollywood sisters against each other in an all-out death cage match.  Okay, at 96 and 94 respectively, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine may be a bit past the cage match age (because, as I am sure you are well aware of, these two were once very adroit cage match fighters), but here they are anyway.  In fact this is the first of our Battle Royales where we have living opponents.  But I digress.  The question here is not who is battling, but who came out the victor once all the proverbial smoke did all its equally proverbial clearing.  Was it Olivia, the woman who shared the screen multiple times with Errol Flynn and who put Clark Gable in his place, or was it Joan, the woman who would woo Charles Boyer and Orson Welles with her feminine wiles, and who gave Hitchcock his first great leading lady?  Well, oh curious readers, with 28 votes cast, our winner, by a score of 15 to 13, or 51% to 49% for the statistical-minded among you, is baby sis Joan Fontaine.  Even though she won my vote as well (but only by a narrow margin), it did kind of surprise me to see Fontaine take down her sister.  De Havilland may have won two Oscars to Fontaine's one, but here, in what is obviously the ultimate battle, the poor little girl who was forced to change her last name (by their mother's request/demand), brings it all home.  There it is folks.  So be it.

And speaking of voting, I would like to thank everyone who came out to vote in our latest Battle Royale (voting is good, you should try it in other walks of life too - like maybe this November my American friends) but the numbers could definitely be better kids.   Lets look at the numbers.   Our first five Battle Royale's had voter turnouts of 50, 66, 40, 41 & 38 respectively, most of them tight races throughout (four won by just two votes, one a tie, and one with a final spread of five votes), so it does not take a genius to figure out that this most recent battle was the low turnout on the ole totem pole - though still a tight race (again by just two).  I guess what I am trying to say here is that we need to get the word out and up these numbers.  Let's not even bother with the baby steps here, let's make a goal of 100+ votes cast with the next Battle Royale.  And speaking of that next Battle Royale, the combatants will be announced sometime this week-end - and this one is going to be slightly updated from the classic era where the past battles came from.  A newer wave of opponents if you will.  Congrats again to the lovely Miss Fontaine, and see ya in a few.  I have included a couple of my fave pics of our Battle Royale champ.  They are not the typical Hollywoody glamour shots, but I just love her look in these.  I know, I am weird - get over it. See you in a few days with Battle Royale #7.

Battle Royale #6: Battle of the Bitter Sisters

Olivia de Havilland was the first of the sisters to take up acting and make it in show biz, but younger sister Joan Fontaine (legend has it that the mother favoured Olivia and made Joan take a different name) soon would follow.  Apparently, from the very start, these two siblings were rivals.  Stories about Olivia ripping her hand-me-downs so little sis could not wear them are part of this legendary rivalry.  The two sisters were both nominated for an Oscar in 1941, and Joan ended up winning (the only actor in any Hitchcock film to ever take home the award) and legend (again) has it that de Havilland's congratulatory gesture was brushed off by Fontaine as she made her way to the stage.  This action would be repeated in the opposite direction when de Havilland won the first of her two Academy Awards.   Now as far as I know, this rivalry never stooped to any sort of Baby Jane-esque level, but it has lasted until this very day, as Olivia in Paris and Joan in Carmel-by-the-Sea California, 96 and 94 respectively, have reportedly not spoken with each other since 1975 - apparently due to a final riff over their mother's death.  Supposedly Fontaine has an estranged relationship with her children as well, apparently over them keeping in contact with their aunt.  Of course this could all be just tall tales - both ladies have alluded to it originally being a publicity stunt that just went awry - but I believe it to be true - at least at this point.  What may have started as a funny romp, has certainly become a living breathing feud lo these many decades.

But none of this is neither here nor there, because we are not here to debate the facts and figures of such a near-century long rivalry.  No ladies and gentlemen, we are here to vote for which of these battling bitter sisters was the greater actor and/or person. Which one curdled our loins more than the other.  Both are legends of the silver screen with some of the finest performances of the Golden Age of Hollywood under their respective belts.  Both are remarkable actors with accolades out the proverbial wazoos.  Both hold an ideal for physical beauty and both could have easily launched a thousand plus ships in their day.  But which one is the greater, the more talented, the most beautiful?  Which one do you choose oh faithful readers and true believers?  Do you favour the charming de Havilland in all her smouldering swashbuckling goodness, or perhaps it is the brilliant Fontaine and her stunning melodramatic bent that gets your suds all in an uproar.  Whichever the case may be, here is your chance to let everyone know just where you stand on the issue.  Here and now it is your turn to make the decision.  So all you Olivia fans and Fontaine fans get out the vote.  I think this one is bound to be another tight race.  Just go on over to the sidebar poll and choose the classic Hollywood sister that you like the best.  The poll will go on for two weeks before we announce a victor.  And please remember that you can make as many comments here as you wish (and please do - we loooove comments around these parts) but in order for your vote to count, you must vote in the actual poll in the sidebar.  So get over there and vote people.  This may very well be the most important vote you cast this year.  There isn't some other important vote coming around later this year, is there?  Of course not!  Vote vote vote!