Today in Oscar History: Mrs Miniver, Shape of Water, John Garfield
Thursday, March 4, 2021 at 8:00AM On this day, March 4th, in Oscar history only...
1937 The 9th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1936. Historical epic Anthony Adverse wins the most Oscars (4) but showbiz biopic The Great Ziegfeld takes Best Picture. Some interesting things about this Oscar year: This was the first ceremony with the Supporting acting categories; My Man Godfrey became the first film nominated in all four acting categories and it remains the only film to achieve that without a parallel Best Picture nomination; The Story of Louis Pasteur earned the very weird now impossible distinction of being named both "Best Original Story" AND "Best Adaptation"... the "Best Original Screenplay" category was not yet invented and it did not technically replace "Best Story" as they ran parallel for the first 16 years of Best Original Screenplay...
42's acting quartet: Van Heflin, Greer Garson, James Cagney, Teresa Wright
1943 The 15th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1942. The nomination leader, homefront war drama Mrs Miniver, takes Best Picture and five other Oscars. Other Oscar-winning films included Yankee Doodle Dandy, Johnny Eager, Woman of the Year, Black Swan (Cinematography), and My Gal Sal (Art Direction).
1966 The infamous Hollywood-on-Hollywood movie The Oscar starring Stephen Boyd his movie theaters. Despite savage reviews it's nominatd for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction --we covered in our Production Design column The Furniture.
1983 Bruce Beresford's Tender Mercies opens in movie theaters with little promotion. Despite the early release and financial failure, it later snags 5 surprise Oscar nominations including Best Picture and wins Robert Duvall his only Oscar. (The Oscar race was much different back then!)
2018 The 90th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 2017. Shape of Water takes Best Picture but it really should've been Lady Bird which goes home empty-handed.
Today's Birthday Suits, Oscar-only edition
The always riveting two time nominee John Garfield (Four Daughters, Body and Soul, Gentleman's Agreement)
And happy 80th birthday to Best Director nominee Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction) who excels at erotic dramas (see also: Flashdance, 9 1/2 weeks, Indecent Proposal, Unfaithful). Next up for Lyne is the thriller Deep Water with Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, due this August in movie theaters. It's his first feature in almost 20 years so we're hoping for the best.
Also: Oscar nominated writer/director Scott Hicks (Shine), Oscar winning producer/writer David Franzoni (Gladiator), Oscar nominated animator Ward Kimball (It's Tough To Be a Bird), Oscar winning cinematographer Jean Bourgoin (The Longest Day)
Reader Comments (19)
The acting winners from the 90th really weren't great... Laurie Metcalf should've won Supporting Actress in a landslide, as Willem Dafoe should've. I understand why they chose Gary Oldman, even though it's a rather uninspired choice.
Frances McDormand really didn't need a second Oscar for that movie...felt like such a random choice. Saoirse was so deserving for Lady Bird, even Sally Hawkins would've been a good choice. Plus, Nomadland happened so soon after and she could've deservedly won her second for that.
I'll be really excited to see the new film directed by Adrian Lyne. I think he's an underrated director.
That photo of 1942's acting quarter shows the plaques that supporting players received in the first years of the award. The next year, they started to receive Oscar statuettes.
Just a minor correction re: John Garfield: one of his nominations was for Best Supporting Actor (Four Daughters) but the other was for Best Actor (Body and Soul).
As well as its four acting nominations, My Man Godfrey got nominated for Directing and Screenplay - and still wasn't one of the ten Best Picture nominees that year. So bizarre!
A friend organized a 1940s movie club at the beginning of the pandemic, which has recently turned into a 1930s movie club, so we saw two of these. I LOVED Mrs. Miniver so much more than I expected to, and it turned me into a Greer Garson fan.
My Man Godfrey surprised me (thought I would love it) - William Powell was fantastic, but I was surprised how annoying Carole Lombard was allowed to be. She's pretty wild.
What is the word we use when you're a lifelong fan of an actor who ends up winning for a performance you don't like?
I wonder how Lyne feels about Glenn Close being Oscar-less?
Peggy Sue -- good Q. We need one.
Peggy - glenncloser, probably.
Mike in Canada, if you became a fan like me - and so many others - don't miss Greer Garson in Madame Curie(1943), (more a tribute than a biography of the great scientist); what is considered her best film, the magnificent Random Harvest(1942), great romantic melodrama with an unbelievable story; the beautiful technicolored Blossoms in the Dust(1941); her fun version of Pride & Prejudice with Laurence Olivier
as her Mr. Darcy - based on a play based on the book. Just to begin with. Welcome to the club!
What makes the My Man Godfrey situation even weirder is that there was a 10-film Best Picture lineup, and the acting, directing and screenplay categories were all just 5. Carole Lombard should have won in a landslide, and Mischa Auer and Alice Brady would have had my votes, too. Maybe even Gregory LaCava as director, too, although William Wyler and Dodsworth are outstanding achievements.
2017 was such a disappointment. The critics (and me, too) were practically unanimous choosing Dafoe and Metcalf, all the show-bizzy awards went to Rockwell (my glenncloser of the year) and Janney - who was acceptable, but Metcalf and Leslie Manville were LEAGUES better. I belong to the minuscule minority who liked The Post the best (with 2, count 'em, 2 nominations total) and Lady Bird and Phantom Thread the other deserving choices. The Shape of Water was dead last on my preferential ballot. My Leading favorites were Day Lewis and Streep, but 4th Oscars? Already? I would have voted instead for Oldman and Hawkins.
Is there a reason why My Man Godfrey missed the Best Picture list? Universal only had one other film in the game. Of all the Best Picture nominees that year, it feels like the one that's truly essential viewing for any film lover.
Whatever happened to Teresa Wright? She was just so popular and so present for about four or five years, and then she was gone, or so it seems. I know Oscar and Hollywood can be fickle, but it seems like an extreme example.
As I recall, Tender Mercies was fantastic. A real actors' showcase, not just for Robert Duvall. Tess Harper and Betty Buckley were vivid as well. I'm glad the Academy remembered the quality.
@Dave in Hollywood- I just read A biography about Teresa Wright. She had signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn and their relationship was bumpy. She said she wouldn't pose for glamour shots and wouldn't appear in a bathing suit unless the script called for it. She wanted more control over her career then the studio allowed and for a while Goldwyn put up with it since she was so talented. After Best Years... she became ill and then pregnant and couldn't work and he used that to suspend her for breach of contract. This feud became public and he fired her completely not long after. Wright then said she didn't care about the studio or money she just wanted to do good work. She later admitted this statement was a mistake since now she could be paid much less since she publicly said she didn't care. Most producers sided with Goldwyn and she stopped getting offers. Also she worked a lot with her husband who was an okay screenwriter of westerns. Most of her follow up movies were terrible but she needed to work. After a while she pretty much just moved to stage (her real passion) and sometimes TV work. She said when Hollywood found out she was working cheap they forgot about her. Somehow she and Goldwyn made up years later and became best friends.
Teresa Wright was very good in The Happy Ending 1969 one of those women who get wise and tough movies.
@TomG After hearing some stories of old Hollywood, it actually feels like nothing has changed for women in this business. Ugh.
Best Years of Our Lives was Teresa Wright's best movie.
I love "My Man Godfrey", such a classic. Yes, it's odd it missed a Best Picture nomination (how cool it would have been, if it swept?)
"The Shape of Water". Love the film, but I don't think it's del Toro's best ("The Devil's Backbone" should claim that title, with "Pan's Laybirinth" as close second. After those two almost perfect films, yeah, I think "The Shape of Water" could perfectly be a third in quality, but "Cronos" and "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army" could probably have a say about it. Still... Guillermo del Toro winning Best Director is a dream come true.
John Garfield, my favorite actor past or present, deserved so many more nominations than the two he received. He's dynamite in both of those films (he's an electric shock that bring the prosaic Four Daughters to life) but that he was bypassed for what should have been a winning performance in The Breaking Point is so wrong.
He never appeared in an outright bad picture (though there are some that come close-We Were Strangers & Flowing Gold to name two) and like all contract players was occasionally cast inappropriately (i.e. as a Mexican in Juarez) but his force of personality and talent always makes him watchable.
My list of his top 10 films:
1. The Breaking Point-this also contains award level performances by Patricia Neal and Phyllis Thaxter.
2. Under My Skin
3. Humoresque
4. Nobody Lives Forever
5. Body and Soul
6. Between Two Worlds
7. The Postman Always Rings Twice
8. The Sea Wolf
9. Dust Be My Destiny
10. They Made Me a Criminal
That's a great picture of the '42 winners though poor Van looks a bit shut out. All fine performers I just wish that outside of Greer they had won for different performances (Teresa Wright for Shadow of a Doubt, Cagney for White Heat and Heflin for 3:10 to Yuma) than they did.
Antônio -- We'll see. And I lke her performance.
Greer Garson is pure movie magic. She deserves her own renaissance so new generations can be wowed by her. Random Harvest is the perfect melodrama.
Second the amazing Teresa Wright performance (and terrific film overall) The Best Years of Our Lives. Every Golden Era cinephile should watch it.