Golden Globes 2014: And the winners are...

Here are this year's big winners at the 71st Golden Globe Awards.

Motion Picture (Drama and Comedy)

Best Picture (Drama) - 12 Years a Slave

 

Best Picture (Comedy/Musical) - American Hustle

Best Actor (Drama) - Matthew McConauhey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress (Drama) - Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Actor (Comedy/Musical) - Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Best Actress (Musical/Comedy) - Amy Adams (American Hustle)

Best Supporting Actor - Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle.

 Television

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When Icons Bid Adieu: Screen Legends Who Died in 2013

The passing of 2013 also meant good-byes to a number of the already-handful screen legends we have today. 

Deanna Durbin (December 4, 1921 – c. April 20, 2013) 

Deanna Durbin

Deanna Durbin wowed Depression- and World War II-era moviegoers with her “sweet, soprano voice” and for her depiction of the ideal teenage daughter in films such as Three Smart Girls (1936). In 1938, together with Mickey Rooney, she was honored with a Juvenile performer Academy Award for her “significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth …” Deanna walked out from Hollywood by 1950, still at the height of her career. She remained a recluse until her death. 

Esther Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) 

Esther Williams

Dubbed as the “Million-Dollar Mermaid,” Esther Williams wasn’t just a popular star of the 1940s, she was also an accomplished swimmer. She was one of the biggest box-office stars of the 1940s, appearing watery MGM extravaganzas, such as Bathing Beauty (1944), Neptune’s Daughter (1949), Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) and Jupiter’s Darling (1955). 

Elliott Reid (January 16, 1920 – June 21, 2013) 

Elliott Reid (with Pat Conway)

Character actor Elliott Reid had his share of fame after playing the role of Ernie Malone, private detective who spied on Marilyn Monroe's character only to fall in love with Jane Russell’s role in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). 

Barbara Lawrence (February 24, 1930 – November 13, 2013) 

Barbara Lawrence

Barbara Lawrence is perhaps best-remembered for portraying the role of Gertie Cummins in Oklahoma! (1953) in which she got into a catfight with Gloria Grahame’s role. 

Eleanor Parker (June 26, 1922 – December 9, 2013) 

Eleanor Parker

Dubbed as the “Woman with the Thousand Faces” for her versatility, Eleanor Parker was hugely praised for her ease in portraying various characters in drama, comedy, or horror. She earned the raves of critics for her Oscar-nominated performances as a prison inmate in Caged (1950), a detective’s wife in Detective Story (1951), and Marjorie Lawrence in the biopic Interrupted Melody (1955). However, her most unforgettable role was a supporting one, as the marriage-minded baroness in The Sound of Music (1965). 

Peter O'Toole (August 2, 1932 –December 14, 2013) 

Peter O'Toole

Considered one of the best English actors of his generation, Peter O’Toole earned overnight fame with, in the words of New York Times, “a hell-raising streak” of a performance in Lawrence of Arabia. The performance earned him his first Oscar nomination and he continued his career with seven more nominations for the following films: Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982) and Venus (2006). Together with Richard Burton, he held the record of having the most Oscar nomination for best actor without a single win, although he was honored with an Honorary Oscar in 2003. 

Joan Fontaine (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013) 

Joane Fontaine

Throughout the 30s, Joan Fontaine managed to play lackluster parts until her performance in The Women and Gunga Din (both 1939) gave her to opportunity to somewhat showcase her acting prowess. However, her most stellar—and near Oscar-winning moment—came when she played as the haunted second wife in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940). She won the Oscar for another Hitchcock vehicle, Suspicion (1941), and saw her career thrive in Jane Eyre (1944), The Constant Nymph (1943), for which she earned her third Oscar nomination, A Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948), Ivanhoe (1952); and Island in the Sun (1957). Fontaine’s personal spat with her sister, Olivia de Havilland was also the talk of Hollywood to this day.  The two never fully reconciled.

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Alicia Rhett, Oldest Surviving Gone with the Wind Actress, Diest at 98

Alicia Rhett. Image: Wikimedia

While a lot of damsels-in-distress would go heed to the call of stardom, Alicia Rhett was an exception. Instead, she chose to follow what she wanted most in life: pursue a life in arts and become Charleston's most avid lover. She did not lack the beauty, said Bill Trawick, CEO of the Bishop Gadsden Episcopal Retirement Community in Charleston, where she has lived since 2002, until she died January 3, 2014. But she had innate passion for privacy, one thing that she could not have had had she become a Hollywood celebrity.

Rhett was born in Savannah, Georgia, on February 1, 1915. Her mother was Isabelle Murdoch, who moved South from Liverpool, England. Her father was Edmund M. Rhett, an American army officer and engineer based in Savannah. Her father died during World War I, prompting Alicia and her mother to move to Charleston, South Carolina, where she worked as a theater actress.

While performing in The Recruiting Officer in 1936, Hollywood director, George Cukor spotted her while scouting for actresses to portray Scarlett O'Hara for the film Gone Wind the Wind. Margaret Mitchell wrote the best-selling novel, but David Selznick bough the film rights. Rhett's beauty and charm was noticed by Cukor. While she failed to grab the role of Melanie, which she auditioned for, she was eventually offered to play the role of India, sister of Ashley Wilkes. This was the first and only motion picture role that Rhett ever played. After Gone with the Wind, she left Hollywood and forevermore turned her back from the movie world.

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