Wow what an era the 1940's were as we remember the super performances from women in films such as "Kitty Foyle" which earned Ginger Rogers best actress in 1940; Joan Fontaine in "Suspicion" earning her best actress in 1941; Greer Garson who earned best actress for her role in "Mrs. Miniver" in 1942; Jennifer Jones who received her best actress award in "The Song of Bernadette" in 1943; "Gaslight" in 1944 earned Ingrid Bergman a best actress award; "Mildred Pierce" in 1945 earned Joan Crawford a best actress award; how about "To Each His Own" in 1946 which earned Olivia De Havilland best actress; the beautiful Loretta Young who won best actress in the 1947 film "The Farmer's Daughter"; Jane Wyman earned best actress for her role in Johnny Belinda in 1948; Another win for Olivia De Havilland in 1949 for her role in "The Heiress".
There you have it - the actresses who took to the big screen in the 1940's and earned themselves an Oscar. What a time in the life of the film industry as women progressed to playing such strong roles proving their abilities far beyond imagination. But let us not stop there because there were so many other greats during this time.
I don't think we can say enough about the great Bette Davis. She starred in the 1940 movie "The Letter" by Warner Bros. and was nominated for best actress. Also in 1940, we saw Katharine Hepburn in her marvelous performance in "The Philadelphia Story" along side the great Jimmy Stewart. Bette Davis received another nomination in 1941 for her role in "The Little Foxes" in the company of other great actresses nominated that year such as Barbara Stanwyck for "Ball of Fire", and Olivida De Havilland for "Hold Back the Dawn".
Moving on to 1942, Bette Davis does it again with a best actress nomination for her role in "Now, Voyager" (one of my all time favorites). Also nominated was the great Katharine Hepburn for "Woman of the Year" and Teresa Wright for her role in "The Pride of the Yankees".
In 1943, Jean Arthur secured a nomination for her role in "The More the Merrier" along with Ingrid Bergman for "For Whom the Bell Tolls".
In 1944, we saw Claudette Colbert receive a nomination for her role in "Since You Went Away" and Greer Garson in "Mrs. Parkington" along with Barbara Stanwyck in "Double Indemnity". You'll never guess who was also nominated for best actress in 1944.........yes the great Bette Davis for her role in "Mr. Skeffington".
1945 brought us some more great performances by women such as Ingrid Bergman in "The Bells of St. Mary's" and Gene Tierney in "Leave Her to Heaven" along with Greer Garson in "The Valley of Decision".
Moving to 1946, and joining the beautiful Olivia De Havilland were nominating actresses such as Rosalind Russell for her role in "Sister Kenny" and Jane Wyman in "The Yearling".
In 1947 Joan Crawford was nominated for her role in "Possessed" along with Susan Hayward for "In Smash Up - The Story of a Woman"; Dorothy McGuire was also nominated for her role in "Gentleman's Agreement" and Rosalind Russell in "Mourning Becomes Electa". All these wonderful actresses were in the running for best actress losing out to Loretta Young in "The Farmer's Daughter".
1948 showed us great performances again by best actress nominees such as Ingrid Berman for "Joan of Arc"; Olivia De Havilland in "The Snake Pit"; Irene Dunne in "I Remember Mama" and Barbara Stanwyck in "Sorry Wrong Number".
In 1949, along with the winning Olivia De Havilland, others nominated were Jeanne Crain in "Pinky"; Susan Hayward for "My Foolish Heart"; Deborah Kerr for her role in "Edward, My Son"; and Loretta Young for her role in "Come to the Stable".
Such wonderful performances by beautiful and talented women. But it didn't start there. If we go back to the 30's who was around?
Well in 1931 -32 we had the great Helen Hayes who won for her role in "The Sin of Madelon Claudet". Helen Hayes also starred at that time with the great Gary Cooper in the 1932 film "A Farewell to Arms". During that same year, Katharine Hepburn won a best actress award for her role in "Morning Glory".
Claudette Colbert earned best actress for her role in "It Happened One Night" in 1934.
Here we go - the great Bette Davis earned a best actress award in 1935 for her role in "Dangerous".
Moving on in the 30's, we had Luise Rainer winning best actress in 1936 for her role in "The Great Ziegfeld"; and winning again in 1937 for her role in "The Good Earth" running against the beautiful Greta Garbo for her role in "Camille".
Bette Davis again came to the stage to take her Oscar for her role in "Jezebel" in 1938 but lost out in her role in "Dark Victory" in 1939 to Vivian Leigh in the great classic "Gone With the Wind".
Well there you have it. These women were performing well before I was born and I enjoy their work so much today. Some of these movies are in my favorite collection. These women have shown beauty and elegance, but their excellent performances have also shown us a determination to be strong. These women are inspiration to todays actresses.
Well that's it folks. But here is another piece of Oscar trivia. If we go back into the late 1920's, best actress takers were Norma Shearer in "The Divorcee" and running up against her was the great and beautiful Greta Garbo in "Anna Christie". Let's not forget about the great Marlene Dietrich who also was nominated in 1930-31 for her role in "Morocco".
Bette Davis has to be one of my favorites and has won so many oscars. Bob Hope once quoted in 1938 "All these Oscars! Looks like Bette Davis's garage".
As quoted by Marie Dressler in 1930 - "Your're only as good as your last picture".