Presenting the 17th Academy Awards' nominees for Best Actor in a Leading Role:
Charles Boyer, Gaslight
Bing Crosby, Going My Way
Barry Fitzgerald, Going My Way
Cary Grant, None But the Lonely Heart
Alexander Knox, Wilson
Boyer is a villain, mentally torturing his wife for reasons to be revealed. Crosby is a chill, hands-in-pockets priest come to shake things up at a crumbling parish. Fitzgerald is the old and old-fashioned priest who runs that parish, and has done so for a long time, perhaps too long. Grant is a Cockney who can't help getting into trouble. And Knox is the President of the United States who spearheaded the establishment of the League of Nations.
There were fewer "precursors" at this time, and the ones from that period that still remain were not as we know them. Knox and Fitzgerald won the Golden Globes for Lead and Supporting Actor, respectively, but at that time, there were no nominees, only winners - and no distinction between Drama and Musical/Comedy. Fitzgerald was named Best Actor by the New York Film Critics Circle, but that organization did not even introduce Supporting prizes until 1969. And Crosby's performance was cited by the National Board of Review for Best Acting...alongside eight others, male and female, lead and supporting (among the names: Eddie Bracken in Hail the Conquering Hero and Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not, which was eligible for the next year's Oscars).
Crosby himself claimed he did not expect to win, that Knox would be unbeatable. Indeed, he had to coaxed off the golf course by studio publicity people and his mother just two hours before the ceremony started - which explains the hat in photos from that night, hiding his toupee-less scalp. It's a good thing he went, because it meant Gary Cooper didn't have to present the Oscar to nobody.
Yes, despite his own doubts (or insecurities?), Crosby won, and he'd even be back the very next year for the very same role. Would he get my vote? Read on:
