If you were paying attention and betting against Ray Milland for 1945's Best Actor Oscar, you deserved to lose your money.
The versatile Canadian actor had done light comedy, musicals, horror, spy thrillers - and that was just his 1944 slate! With Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend, he took on the role of a writer who spends his days and nights getting boozed up, and when he isn't, he's scheming how to score the next drink. Not exactly the most commercial of plotlines, Paramount had insisted Wilder cast the reliable Milland to at least guarantee some butts in seats. From its first screenings in London, the seats were filled and the critical praise effusive; by the time it reached the United States, trade columns were already calling him the favorite for the Academy Award. And the year seemed to bear that out, as he won plaudits from the New York Critics, the National Board of Review, and the Hollywood Foreign Press. And yes, eventually, finally, the Oscar itself:
That wasn't even the end of his run, by the way. Six months later, The Lost Weekend was one of 44 films selected to compete at the 1st Cannes Film Festival. Not only was the film one of 11 to share the Grand Prix (this was before Palme d'Or), but Milland was named Best Actor - and didn't have to share at all.
But back to matters Oscar. These were the nominees for Best Actor:
Bing Crosby, The Bells of St. Mary's
Gene Kelly, Anchors Aweigh
Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend
Gregory Peck, The Keys of the Kingdom
Cornel Wilde, A Song to Remember
Bing Crosby was back in his Oscar-winning role of Father O'Malley in The Bells of St. Mary's, which, like its predecessor, was the highest-grossing film of the year. Gene Kelly made a surprise splash, and his only nomination, for Anchors Aweigh, a musical comedy about horny Navy men getting domesticated. There's Milland. Gregory Peck was only 28 when he played the Catholic missionary priest in The Keys of the Kingdom, which takes place over 50 years. And, finally, because Oscar law states someone has to be nominated for a biopic, there's Cornel Wilde as Chopin in A Song to Remember.
My rankings, from fifth to first:
5. Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O'Malley
The Bell of St. Mary's
past winner, second of three nominations
The Bells of St. Mary's is in many ways a stronger film than Going My Way, and Bing Crosby gives a more subdued, considered performance. Is Father O'Malley humbled by his experiences in the previous film? Or did Crosby decide that owning an Oscar meant he actually had to take this seriously? Not that there's much more to it, he's the same hands-in-pockets, sometimes-singing, unconventional priest from the first film, but there is a subtle difference...maybe he has a better screen partner to work off of.
4. Gene Kelly as Joseph Brady
Anchors Aweigh
only nomination
Only #4? A surprise to myself, as well. I love Gene Kelly. He's super in this movie, foxy and funny, and you know he moves hypnotically. He's as sweet with the girls as he is with his friends as he is with the children, and all in varying degrees of wolf, buddy, and big brother, sometimes turning on a dime - and you know the man can turn. But I try to write these posts from memory, and he's the Best Actor nominee I keep having to look up. I wish he'd been nominated for Cover Girl the year before!
3. Cornel Wilde as Frédéric Chopin
A Song to Remember
only nomination
One reads about Cornel Wilde, sees what a bad rap he gets, and wonders who everyone else is watching. For the purposes of this film - which, honestly, focuses on Chopin and his talent more as a symbol for Man in times of War, with representatives of Duty and Self battling for his soul - no more than a solid, unembarrassing performance is needed. But I love Wilde as Chopin, I understand why others are drawn to him even beyond his music, and I believe in his youthful passion for his art and his country. It's a credible, involving performance, just the thing to hang the rest of the movie on.
2. Ray Milland as Don Birnam
The Lost Weekend
only nomination; Golden Globe winner for Best Actor, National Board of Review's Best Actor of 1945, NYFCC Awards winner for Best Actor
Once again, a performance that makes the movie, it's difficult to imagine it working with anyone else. That's because Milland perfects the charm of Don the writer, perfects how his clipped wit slurs into Don the drunk, perfects the animal desperation in his eyes, the tragic downturn of the mouth; even his fingers become grasping, beastly claws as he makes his grab for the bottle or the glass...or the purse where he can find money to pay for more, more, more. What he also perfects is the self-hatred, he can see that he debases himself but can only watch, futilely. I don't think every bit of the script works, but Milland's performance is unassailable.
1. Gregory Peck as Father Francis Chisholm
Is this my favorite Gregory Peck performance? I've many more to see, I know, but I thought him extraordinary here, unfussy despite having to take this man from a pre-priestly youth all the way to a white-haired elder ready to go fishing. I saw in this performance a sincerity in faith that nevertheless recognizes that it takes much more than that to keep a church, a mission, a community going. We are party to his frustrations, his jealousies of other priests and their assignments; Peck, to his credit, does not even soften him up; as the years go by, he makes sure you know that this man wishes he could have done more, but he's tired. And yet...when the time finally comes to move on and he sees all the lives and generations he has touched...well, I'm glad I got to see him realize what he meant to that town.
Tomorrow, I finally take on the murderer's row of Best Supporting Actress: Eve Arden (Mildred Pierce), Ann Blyth (Mildred Pierce), Angela Lansbury (The Picture of Dorian Gray), Joan Lorring (The Corn is Green), and Anne Revere (National Velvet).
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