The nominees were ...
- Jeanne Crain in Pinky
- Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress
- Susan Hayward in My Foolish Heart
- Deborah Kerr in Edward, My Son
- Loretta Young in Come to the Stable
... when they should have been ...
- Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress
- Jane Greer in The Big Steal
- Susan Hayward in My Foolish Heart
- Deborah Kerr in Edward, My Son
- Cathy O'Donnell in They Live by Night
And the Oscar went to ...
Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress.
 |
| De Havilland and her Oscars |
De Havilland had seen Wendy Hiller in the Broadway production of the adaptation of Henry James's novella, Washington Square, by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, and persuaded producer-director William Wyler to obtain the rights to the play and to cast her as the plain, shy Catherine Sloper. It won her a second Oscar in the last of her five nominations, but it also marked the end of the major phase of her Hollywood career. She was only thirty-three when she won for The Heiress, but she would be absent from the screen for three years, returning in 1952 to star opposite Richard Burton in My Cousin Rachel. She then made sporadic appearances in mostly forgettable films through the 1950s and early '60s. In 1964 she appeared in Robert Aldrich's Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, on which he had hoped to reteam Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, the stars of his hit What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? But after filming for a week, Crawford quit, claiming she was ill, but admitting to friends that she couldn't stand working with Davis again. De Havilland agreed to replace her. It was her last major film: Her later career consisted of guest appearances on TV series and cameo roles in such disaster movies as Airport '77 and The Swarm.
 |
| Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift in The Heiress |
 |
| De Havilland's Catherine climbs the stairs at the film's end |
