The nominees were ...
- Ralph Bellamy in The Awful Truth
- Thomas Mitchell in The Hurricane
- Joseph Schildkraut in The Life of Emile Zola
- H.B. Warner in Lost Horizon
- Roland Young in Topper
... when they should have been ...
- Ralph Bellamy in The Awful Truth
- Humphrey Bogart in Dead End
- George Burns in A Damsel in Distress
- Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Prisoner of Zenda
- Roland Young in Topper
And the Oscar went to ...
Born in Vienna, Schildkraut studied acting under Albert Basserman in Germany and became a star in the company headed by Max Reinhardt before coming to America in 1920. He was a major Broadway star in the 1920s and made several important silent films, including D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm and Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings, in which he played Judas. His last major film appearance was as Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank, a role he had created on stage.
... when it should have gone to ...
Bellamy was the perfect stooge, the guy who, by his own admission, never got the girl. At least, he didn't in the two great comic films in which he lost out (as who wouldn't?) to Cary Grant, The Awful Truth and His Girl Friday. The genius of Bellamy in both movies is that he makes us believe that Irene Dunne and Rosalind Russell might fall for this nice, dull guy as a way of escaping from the volatility of life with Grant. It's worth comparing Bellamy to another actor who plays a stooge to Grant: John Howard in The Philadelphia Story. We remember Bellamy in his stooge roles, but who can even remember Howard, who loses not only to Grant but also for a while to James Stewart? Bellamy had a long, long career: He made his first movie in 1931 and his last, Pretty Woman, in 1990, a year before his death at the age of eighty-seven. In 1933 he was one of the founders of the Screen Actors Guild, but from 1945 until 1960 his career was spent largely on stage and TV. From 1952 to 1964 he served as president of Actors' Equity, the union that represents theatrical performers, and at the height of anti-communist hysteria was responsible for preventing the blacklist from imposing itself on the theater, which became a refuge for blacklisted film actors and screenwriters. He won a Tony award in 1958 for his performance as Franklin D. Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello, a role that he re-created for the 1960 film version. His film career had a late revival in a handful of memorable roles: as the sinister Dr. Sapirstein in Rosemary's Baby and as one of the Duke brothers in the Eddie Murphy movies Trading Places and Coming to America. He reportedly turned down the role of Noah Cross in Chinatown, leaving the part open for John Huston's memorable performance. He received an honorary award from the Academy in 1987 "for his unique artistry and his distinguished service to the profession of acting."
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| Ralph Bellamy, Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth |
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