Category: Oscar Profile

Born in 1888, Beulah Bondi was a seasoned stage actress who made her film debut at 43, reprising her Broadway role as the neighborhood gossip in 1931’s Street Scene. After playing several other mean-spirited characters she moved up considerably on the likability scale as Rachel Jackson, Andrew Jackson’s pipe-smoking wife in 1936’s The Gorgeous Hussy,…

Born in 1879, Ethel Barrymore was generally considered the greatest actress of her generation. The second of three children of actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew, her mother was the daughter of actors John and Louisa Drew, who was known professionally as Mrs. Drew. Her uncles, John Drew Jr. and Sidney Drew, were matinee idols,…

James Whale was born in Dudley, England, a poor mining town, in 1889. He learned to direct as a prisoner of war in a German prison camp during World War I. That experience led to the London stage, Broadway and eventually a Hollywood contract with Universal, where he made most of his films. Although it…

Born in Rimini, Italy in 1920, Federico Fellini moved to Rome in 1939 where he became a screenwriter, most notably associated with neorealist director Roberto Rossellini. Working for Rossellini, he wrote the scripts for some of that director’s best films, including Open City, Paisan and The Flowers of St. Francis. Moving into directing in the…

Since four of the five films in last week’s profile of Maureen O’Hara were directed by John Ford, it seems fitting to profile the great director himself this week. When asked by a reporter to name the three greatest directors, Orson Welles famously said “John Ford, John Ford, John Ford.” Still today considered the great…

The now 90-year-old Irish-born red-headed icon, Maureen O’Hara, may well be the greatest living actress never to have been nominated for an Oscar. Discovered by Charles Laughton who mentored her in his films, Jamaica Inn and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, her first film without Laughton was a remake of her idol Katharine Hepburn’s film…

Today would have been Deborah Kerr’s 89th birthday. The ballet-trained dancer-turned-actress, made her screen debut in a supporting role in 1941’s Major Barbara, causing such a sensation that she was immediately cast in leading roles in major British films. With the dual success of Black Narcissus and I See a Dark Stranger (aka The Adventuress)…

Hollywood’s “boy next door”, James Stewart had a mercurial rise to the top in films of the late 1930s. Still in bit roles in 1936, by 1938 he was starring in that year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, You Can’t Take It With You. The following year he won his first Oscar nomination for Mr. Smith…

As I indicated at the outset, I intend to use these Oscar profiles to not only throw a spotlight on past winners and nominees, but performers and directors who should have had at least one nomination in their long careers, but didn’t. Who better to start with than the urbane, witty actor, gourmet and artist,…

Of all the great stars of the studio era, Irene Dunne is probably the least known to modern audiences. That’s largely because so many of her films were remade and the originals suppressed and, although somewhat available now, are still largely unseen by the majority of the public. Born in 1898, the operatically trained singer…

Today begins a new project for me – that of profiling major Oscar winners and losers and some who were never nominated but should have been. We begin with Katharine Hepburn, the all-time champion acting winner with twelve nominations and four wins.  Meryl Streep may have passed her in nominations, but no other performer has…