The nominees were ...
- Jean Arthur in The More the Merrier
- Ingrid Bergman in For Whom the Bell Tolls
- Joan Fontaine in The Constant Nymph
- Greer Garson in Madame Curie
- Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette
... when they should have been ...
- Jean Arthur in The More the Merrier
- Claudette Colbert in So Proudly We Hail
- Olivia de Havilland in Princess O'Rourke
- Ethel Waters in Cabin in the Sky
- Teresa Wright in Shadow of a Doubt
And the Oscar went to ...
Born Phylis Isley in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Jones married actor Robert Walker while studying acting in New York, and came with him to Hollywood, where she played small roles in B-pictures and the serial Dick Tracy's G-Men. She and Walker returned to New York where he found radio work while she interrupted her career to have two children. One day she went to producer David O. Selznick's New York office to read for a part. Selznick was smitten, signed her to a contract, renamed her Jennifer Jones, and started a publicity campaign for his new discovery. Unable to find the right property for her, he agreed to loan her to 20th Century-Fox for The Song of Bernadette. She won the Oscar and became Selznick's mistress, marrying him in 1949 after divorcing Walker. Selznick continued to manage her career obsessively until his death in 1965, after which she found few suitable roles. She married multimillionaire art collector Norton Simon in 1971, came out of semiretirement for a role in The Towering Inferno, and campaigned for the role of Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment, but after losing the part to Shirley MacLaine decided to quit films for good.
... when it should have gone to ...
This was, remarkably, the only nomination for Arthur, even though she starred in a number of classics, including Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Easy Living, You Can't Take It With You, Only Angels Have Wings, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. She had been in movies since 1923, and survived the transition to sound because of her distinctive squeaky-husky voice. She had signed a long-term contract with Columbia, and when it expired in 1944 she withdrew from movies, with two notable exceptions: Billy Wilder's A Foreign Affair and George Stevens's Shane. Arthur was a favorite of both Stevens and Frank Capra. She attempted to move into theater, but was prone to crippling bouts of stage fright. She was set to play Billie Dawn in the original production of Born Yesterday, but quit the play before it opened on Broadway, presenting Judy Holliday with her breakthrough role. She did, however, have an extended run on Broadway in 1950 as Peter Pan. Her attempt at a TV sitcom, "The Jean Arthur Show," was canceled in mid-season in 1966. She did have some success as a drama teacher: One of her students at Vassar College was Meryl Streep.
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| Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and Charles Coburn in The More the Merrier |
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