Movie stars are not like us. Most people look perfectly banal when observed through camera lenses, but the stars are ravishing. When one appears, all eyes go to them, as if their mere presence is a gravitational hold. They are glamourous and awe-inspiring, terminally charming, and even more alluring. Idealized beyond humanity, those icons of the silver screen are the green light for which Jay Gatsby reached.
No matter the other sins of Old Hollywood, they were an exemplary movie star factory. The studios often knew just how to showcase the great stars to maximize their appeal. Or at least the finished product often suggests so. For a fascinating example of all of this look no further than Cary Grant in the 1947 Best Picture-nominee The Bishop's Wife…
The Christmas classic had a tumultuous production. At first, this adaptation of a Robert Nathan novel was a vehicle for Dana Andrews and Teresa Wright. However, some radical casting changes eventually had Cary Grant playing the titular bishop whose prayers for guidance are answered when an angel comes down to earth and starts interfering in his life. The man of faith is trying to arrange funds to build a cathedral, an obsession that has made him a neglectful husband and father, not to mention a distracted leader of the community. He cares more about the construction of a monument to his clerical pride than the needs of the dispossessed. David Niven was to play the angel and Loretta Young was Grant's devoted wife.
The shooting was chaotic by all accounts, with producers forcing a director change halfway through. Out went William Seiter and in came Henry Koster. It wasn't the last major change. For Grant was reportedly unhappy with his role and ended up switching with Niven. When The Bishop's Wife arrived at American theaters in December 1947, Grant was now the charming angel by the name of Dudley, whose part got expanded, making him more of a lead than the bishop or even his spouse. Looking at the final product, it's perplexing to imagine Grant in the role of the bishop, since his star persona is so perfectly suited for the angelic being. Even his voice, a British-tinged version of Hollywood's beloved Transatlantic accent, feels removed from earthly reality.
Instead of a sanctimonious creature of mystic detachment, Dudley is an angel made for the big screen, suave and charismatic, perpetually delighted and amused by the wonder of humanity. There's a serenity to his demeanor that suggests the celestial, but Grant mostly makes Dudley into a depuration of his usual character type and doesn't force any fantastical reading of the text. The unattainable perfection of Grant onscreen is thus crystallized in the angel, and the role plays off the performer as much as the performer plays off the role. Dudley is convincing as an angel because he's Cary Grant. Concurrently, the only reason the actor's overwhelming presence can exist within this trifle of a morality tale is that the narrative so cannily frames that quality as something from the heavens.
Overall, playing Dudley is a simple task for Cary Grant, especially when Gregg Toland is on hand to shoot every actor in glorious black-and-white. Still, The Bishop's Wife has some surprises in store, for the angel starts getting attached to the titular woman. During Grant's scenes with Young, the movie becomes a reticent romantic comedy where unfulfilled longing is as far as things are allowed to go. For his part, the actor plays that dynamic most earnestly, snipping in the bud any flower of impropriety. Another actor might have made the schemes of Dudley into a sly grift, but Cary Grant never allows us to doubt the angel's good intentions. He can be a trickster, but never malicious or cocky. No matter what happens, we're always on Dudley's side.
Considering that The Bishop's Wife was the second most nominated film of the 20th Academy Awards, Grant's absence from the Best Actor lineup can rightfully be seen as a snub. Instead of this pitch-perfect movie star performance, AMPAS chose to nominate Ronald Colman as a psychotic Shakespearean actor in Double Life, Gregory Peck's self-righteous journo in Gentleman's Agreement, John Garfield's calcinating work in Body and Soul, Michael Redgrave's doing twisted Greek tragedy in Mourning Becomes Electra and William Powell coasting through Life with Father as a grumpy patriarch. Colman won and Grant, who only ever got two nominations in his lifetime, had to content himself with the Academy's cold shoulder.
You can rent The Bishop's Wife from Amazon, Youtube, Google Play, Fandango Now, and the Microsoft Store.