Showing posts with label Walter Huston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walter Huston. Show all posts

Best Supporting Actor, 1948

Awards presented March 24, 1949

And the nominees were ... 

... when they should have been ... 

Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Walter and John Huston with their Oscars. John won two: for directing
and for the screenplay of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Huston finally won an Oscar on his fourth nomination, though he should have been honored for Dodsworth, which earned him his first nomination. The reason he was a regular nominee but not a winner may have been that he was a determined and successful underplayer, never willing to sacrifice the integrity of the character for a showy moment. But the cantankerous old coot he plays in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre demanded showy moments -- it was the kind of role on which Walter Brennan built a career that won him three Oscars. It also made him the first (and so far the only) person to be directed to an Oscar by his own son. He had also appeared, in a small, unbilled role, in John Huston's first film as director, The Maltese Falcon.) 
 

Best Actor, 1936

Awards presented March 4, 1937

The nominees were ... 

... when they should have been ... 
And the Oscar went to ... 
Paul Muni in The Story of Louis Pasteur. Muni could be very effective in contemporary roles, as in Scarface and I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, but all of a sudden in the mid-'30s, Warner Bros. decided it wanted him to be George Arliss. He was cast in a series of biopics about historic figures: The Story of Louis Pasteur, The Life of Emile Zola, and Juarez. They brought out the worst of his tendency to overact, as did his portrayal of the Chinese hero of The Good Earth. But by the end of the 1930s, Muni was tired of movies and decided to return to the stage, and made only occasional film appearances thereafter. 

... when it should have gone to ... 
Ruth Chatterton and Walter Huston in Dodsworth
Walter Huston and Mary Astor in Dodsworth
Huston was never quite a movie star because he was an "actor's actor," meaning one whose refusal to overplay his roles won the admiration of his peers and the more discerning critics, but whose lack of a distinctive handsomeness didn't inspire people to line up at the box office. His first love was the stage, which he never abandoned for Hollywood, and his performance as the decent, intelligent Sam Dodsworth was first created for Broadway in 1934. It was by no means a flashy role, but it demanded what Huston gave it: a quiet, authoritative performance. Today, Huston may be best-known for founding an acting dynasty. His son, John Huston, directed him to an Oscar for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and fathered Pablo, Anjelica, Danny, and Tony Huston. Tony's son, and Walter's great-grandson, is the actor Jack Huston.