(Films released from August 1, 1929 through July 31, 1930 were eligible.)
The nominees were ...
- George Arliss in Disraeli
- George Arliss in The Green Goddess
- Wallace Beery in The Big House
- Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond
- Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade
- Ronald Colman in Bulldog Drummond
- Ronald Colman in Condemned
- Laurence Tibbett in The Rogue Song
... when they should have been ...
- Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade
- Gary Cooper in The Virginian
- Daniel L. Haynes in Hallelujah
- Walter Huston in The Virginian
- Groucho Marx in The Cocoanuts
And the Oscar went to ...
George Arliss in Disraeli. Billed as "Mr. George Arliss," to show proper reverence, this stagey old British character actor had come to the States with an English touring company in 1902 and stayed. With his long horse face he was an unlikely star, but he made a specialty of playing playing historical figures (the Charlton Heston of his day): Alexander Hamilton, Voltaire, the Duke of Wellington, Richelieu, and Disraeli. He made a few silent films, including the first versions of Disraeli and The Green Goddess, in the early 1920s, but concentrated on the stage until the arrival of sound, when the studios came a-courting anyone with a voice that would record well. He helped establish the film career of Bette Davis, who had attracted little attention until Arliss insisted on her for a role in his 1932 film, The Man Who Played God. His wife, Florence, usually acted alongside him in his films, and he decided to retire in 1937 when she began going blind. And here's a chance for me to correct an error in my book: The Arlisses were childless; the screenwriter and director Leslie Arliss is not related to them.
... when it should have gone to ...
 |
| Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade |
With the teaming of Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, and director Ernst Lubitsch, the film musical comes to life and the embarrassment of the Oscar-winning The Broadway Melody begins to fade. Chevalier was already a legendary entertainer who had begun his career at the Folies Bergère. During World War I he was wounded and taken prisoner, and returned to the music hall stage a decorated hero. His films of the early '30s were box office hits, but he left Hollywood in a huff in 1935 after a dispute with MGM producer Irving Thalberg over screen billing. His later career was dogged with controversy because of charges that he collaborated with the Nazis during the occupation of France in World War II. The charges were unfounded and he made a successful return to American films in the late '50s, particularly in Gigi, and was given an honorary award by the Academy in 1958.
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