Who Are Your Favorite Actresses and Actors?

For seven years now the great American women's magazine, the Woman's Home Companion, has been conducting polls among all its readers, men and women alike, on their favorite actresses and actors. Following is the result of this year's poll:

1) Clark Gable scored a great victory, for he dislodged Bing Crosby from first place after the latter had held it five years running. This is the first time Clark has climbed past third place — last year he was fourth.

Most of the young people voted for the actor John Dean, who took fifth place.

2) If Bing Crosby was pushed out of first place, he dropped no further than second. In fact, the total of the votes he received falls short of Clark's by only a small margin. He won his many votes owing to his popularity as actor and musician at once.

3) This is not the first time James Stewart has appeared on the list of twenty, but it is the first time he has leapt into the list of the first four. Last year he was fifth, and this year he took the place formerly held by Cary Grant, who dropped to tenth.

4) Spencer Tracy fell to fourth place; last year he was second.

As for the other winning actors, they are: Gregory Peck (sixth), Gary Cooper (seventh), Alan Ladd (eighth), and Walter Pidgeon (ninth).

1) Bette Davis won first place among all the actresses, outstripping the great number of her colleagues and leaping to this rank from the seventh place she held in last year's contest. Perhaps among the chief reasons that helped this rapid advance was her performance in the film "All About Eve," which is considered the greatest film of the year. Claudette Colbert headed the list last year, and she is now in fifth place.

2) Next comes June Allyson — and, amusingly, she has kept the very rank she had last year. The poll showed that June is the favorite actress in the hearts of young people under twenty-five, and that Esther Williams, who took ninth place, is likewise one of the young people's favorite actresses.

3) Irene Dunne jumped from sixth place to third. And as chance would have it, Irene held this very rank when the magazine conducted this poll for the first time, seven years ago. Last year this rank was held by Loretta Young, who has now come down to eighth.

4) Greer Garson advanced from fifth place to fourth. In two earlier polls she had taken first place. Last year Olivia de Havilland held the place Greer now holds, but she has fallen back this year so far that she is no longer among the first ten actresses.

As for the other actresses who complete the list of the ten, they are Joan Crawford (sixth), Barbara Stanwyck (seventh), and Jane Wyman (tenth).