The nominees were ...
- Charles Bickford in The Farmer's Daughter
- Thomas Gomez in Ride the Pink Horse
- Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street
- Robert Ryan in Crossfire
- Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death
... when they should have been ...
- David Farrar in Black Narcissus
- John Garfield in Gentleman's Agreement
- Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street
- Robert Ryan in Crossfire
- Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death
And the Oscar went to ...
This happens to be one of the few Christmas movies I can watch without feeling like I've OD'ed on plum pudding, and Gwenn's lovely performance as Kris Kringle is one of the reasons. I'm not sure that it's really a supporting performance, but I suppose that John Payne, who gives a charming performance in one of his few memorable films, is nominally the lead actor. In fact, this is a movie with an abundance of wonderful character performances: Porter Hall as the Macy's in-house psychologist, who goes nuts himself trying to deal with Gwenn's claim to be who he says he is; Gene Lockhart as the judge who finds his re-election bid threatened by having to put Santa Claus on trial; William Frawley as the judge's cigar-puffing campaign manager; Jerome Cowan as the reluctant prosecuting attorney; Thelma Ritter in her film debut as a Macy's customer; and even Jack Albertson in a bit part as a postal worker. And, of course, nine-year-old Natalie Wood. But the whole thing would fall apart with Gwenn's skillful knowledge of when to turn the twinkle on and off, a skill that Richard Attenborough lacks in the unfortunate 1994 remake.
... when it should have gone to ...
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| Richard Widmark |
This was Widmark's debut film, and it landed him not only an Oscar nomination but also a contract with 20th Century-Fox. It was also, in his own view, almost a kiss of death for his career: He believed that it handicapped him by typing him as a giggling psychotic who pushes old ladies downstairs, and he spent the rest of a career that lasted more than forty years avoiding roles that would have him playing the heavy. Still, he never got another role quite so memorable, but became a reliable second-tier star, one of those welcome presences like Sam Neill or Tom Skerritt or Scott Glenn, who can always be trusted to give a solid performance without stealing the thunder from the top-tier stars. On the other hand, who remembers that the nominal stars of Kiss of Death were Victor Mature and Brian Donlevy?
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| Mildred Dunnock and Widmark in Kiss of Death |
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