The nominees were ...
- Fay Bainter in White Banners
- Bette Davis in Jezebel
- Wendy Hiller in Pygmalion
- Norma Shearer in Marie Antoinette
- Margaret Sullavan in Three Comrades
... when they should have been ...
- Jean Arthur in You Can't Take It With You
- Bette Davis in Jezebel
- Katharine Hepburn in Holiday
- Wendy Hiller in Pygmalion
- Ginger Rogers in Vivacious Lady
And the Oscar went to ...
Bette Davis in Jezebel.
One of the many times that a Davis performance, abetted by Warner Bros. production values, triumphed over questionable material: a cornball melodrama. It's often said that Jezebel was a consolation prize for Davis's not getting the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind -- polls had been taken that showed she was a popular favorite for the role -- but David O. Selznick never really considered her for the part. It's more likely that Warners used the opportunity to cast her as a Southern belle as a way to get a jump on GWTW. Though she had previously won an Oscar for Dangerous, Jezebel was the film that made Davis a superstar. It was her first major role after an epic battle with the studio. Infuriated by the poor quality of the roles she had been cast in after her first Oscar, Davis tried to break her contract, sailing for England, intending to make films there. A court ruling in the studio's favor returned her to the fold, but she had apparently gotten the message across: The studio paid her court costs and offered her a series of superior scripts. The lead in Jezebel had been sought by Tallulah Bankhead and Miriam Hopkins. The latter had played the role on stage, and losing the part to Davis touched off a famous feud that would rage off-camera when both were cast in The Old Maid. Though her second Oscar was her last, Davis would accumulate ten nominations.
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| Bette Davis, Fay Bainter, and Henry Fonda in Jezebel |
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