"O'Hara beat Lauren Bacall to the role as she was busy with other engagements. Though the film was critically acclaimed, Crowther of ""The New York Times"" felt that the characters of O'Hara and the daughter could have been made ""more humorous and spirited than they are"". The following year, O'Hara appeared in the CBS television film, ""Mrs. Miniver"", but despite some critics approving her performance, most thought that the remake was ill-timed and that she could not top Greer Garson's performance in the 1942 Oscar-winning film. In 1961, O'Hara portrayed Kit Tilden in the western ""The Deadly Companions"", Sam Peckinpah's"
"1944, CBS Radio presented a Friday-night series named ""Mrs. Miniver"" starring Judith Evelyn and Karl Swenson. They were soon replaced by Gertrude Warner and John Moore. But the show only lasted 9 months. In 1960, CBS Television presented Mrs. Miniver starring Maureen O'Hara as Mrs Miniver, Leo Genn as Clem Miniver, Juliet Mills and Keir Dullea. The adaptation was by George Bart and was directed by Marc Daniels. Mrs. Miniver (character) Mrs. Miniver is a fictional character created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns for ""The Times"", later adapted into a film of the same"
"Greer Garson Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson, (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996) was a British-American actress popular during the Second World War, being listed by the ""Motion Picture Herald"" as one of America's top-ten box office draws from 1942 to 1946. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the 1940s, Garson received seven Academy Award nominations, including a record-tying five consecutive nominations for acting, all in the Best Actress category (1941–1945), winning the award for ""Mrs. Miniver"" (1942). Greer Garson was born on 29 September 1904 in Manor Park, East Ham, then in Essex, now part of London, the only"
"Teresa Wright Muriel Teresa Wright (October 27, 1918 – March 6, 2005) was an American actress. She was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress: in 1941 for her debut work in ""The Little Foxes"", and in 1942 for ""Mrs. Miniver"", winning for the latter. That same year, she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in ""The Pride of the Yankees"", opposite Gary Cooper. She is also known for her performances in Alfred Hitchcock's ""Shadow of a Doubt"" (1943) and William Wyler's ""The Best Years of Our Lives"" (1946). Wright"
"and sentimental American film, ""Mrs Miniver"", released in 1942, which won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. By 1942, Struther had herself gone to America as a lecturer. In the 1940s she was a frequent guest panelist on the popular American radio quiz show ""Information Please"", where she provided a warm and witty presence. She was one of the few women panelists to appear repeatedly on the program. An apocryphal story, attributed to fellow panelist Oscar Levant, tells that her appearances on the show stopped abruptly after she answered a question by referring to Agatha Christie's book ""Ten Little Niggers"","
"took a public position sided with the Roosevelt-Truman ticket. Walter Pidgeon Walter Davis Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian-American actor. He earned two Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his roles in ""Mrs. Miniver"" (1942) and ""Madame Curie"" (1943). Pidgeon also starred in many films such as ""How Green Was My Valley"" (1941), ""The Bad and the Beautiful"" (1952), ""Forbidden Planet"" (1956), ""Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"" (1961), ""Advise & Consent"" (1962), ""Funny Girl"" (1968), and ""Harry in Your Pocket"" (1973). He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in"
"the top box office hit of 1942. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill both loved the film, said historian Emily Yellin, and Roosevelt wanted prints rushed to theaters nationwide. The Voice of America radio network broadcast the minister's speech from the film, magazines reprinted it, and it was copied onto leaflets and dropped over German-occupied countries. Churchill sent Mayer a telegram claiming that """"Mrs. Miniver"" is propaganda worth 100 battleships."" Bosley Crowther (1960 biographer of Mayer, below), wrote in his ""New York Times"" review that ""Mrs. Miniver"" was the finest film yet made about the war,"
"that ""someone should salute England. And even if we lose $100,000, that'll be okay."" Mayer wanted British actress Greer Garson, his personal discovery, to star, but she refused to play a matronly role. Mayer implored her ""to have the same faith in me"" that he had in her. He read from the script, having her visualize the image she would present to the world, ""a woman who survives and endures. She was London. No, more than that, she was ... England!"" Garson accepted the role, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress. ""Mrs. Miniver"" won six Academy Awards and became"
"1973, she married English investment banker Kenneth Wagg. Clare Sandars Clare Sandars (born London, 1934) is an English former child screen actress. She was born Clare Rosemary Sandars, the daughter of John William Eric Graves Sandars and Margaret Mary Elwes, and grand-daughter of the singer Gervase Elwes. As a child actress, Clare Sandars notably appeared as Mrs. Miniver's daughter Judy in ""Mrs. Miniver"". There is a scene in ""Mrs Miniver"" where she plays Mendelssohn's ""Wedding March"" on the piano for the family. She was given uncredited parts in two other films. Clare Sandars married Sir James Napier Finnie McEwen, Bt."
"films that could be considered anti-Nazi were banned by the Hays Office. U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, Joseph Kennedy, told the studios to stop making pro-British and anti-German films. Kennedy felt that British defeat was imminent. But MGM producer Eddie Mannix disagreed, saying that ""someone should salute England. And even if we lose $100,000, that'll be okay."" ""Mrs. Miniver"" went on to win six Academy Awards, becoming the top box office hit of 1942. It was Wyler's first Academy Award for Best Director. President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill both loved the film, said historian Emily Yellin,"
"Clare Sandars Clare Sandars (born London, 1934) is an English former child screen actress. She was born Clare Rosemary Sandars, the daughter of John William Eric Graves Sandars and Margaret Mary Elwes, and grand-daughter of the singer Gervase Elwes. As a child actress, Clare Sandars notably appeared as Mrs. Miniver's daughter Judy in ""Mrs. Miniver"". There is a scene in ""Mrs Miniver"" where she plays Mendelssohn's ""Wedding March"" on the piano for the family. She was given uncredited parts in two other films. Clare Sandars married Sir James Napier Finnie McEwen, Bt. in 1958, and they had three daughters. In"
"Marie De Becker Marie Kathleen de Becker (13 June 1880 – 23 March 1946) was an English stage and screen actress. She was born in Islington, London, the daughter of Benevenuto Nicola de Becker, a shipping clerk, and his wife Catherine (or Kate) Elizabeth de Becker (""née"" Kerin). Two of her siblings were also actors: her sister Ernestine, known as Nesta (mother of actress Ernestine Barrier) and her brother Harold. Marie De Becker was best known for playing mature character parts, notably in the 1940s films ""Mrs. Miniver"", ""Random Harvest"" and ""Devotion"". De Becker's first stage acting roles were when"
"Mrs. Miniver (character) Mrs. Miniver is a fictional character created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns for ""The Times"", later adapted into a film of the same name. ""The Times"" columns were short reflections on everyday life, based in part on Struther's own family and experiences. While the columns started out as lighthearted domestic scenes where the outside world barely intruded, the approach of World War II slowly brought darker global concerns into Mrs. Miniver's world. One of the more memorable pieces appears near the middle of the series, where the Minivers get gas masks."
"Walter Pidgeon Walter Davis Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian-American actor. He earned two Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his roles in ""Mrs. Miniver"" (1942) and ""Madame Curie"" (1943). Pidgeon also starred in many films such as ""How Green Was My Valley"" (1941), ""The Bad and the Beautiful"" (1952), ""Forbidden Planet"" (1956), ""Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"" (1961), ""Advise & Consent"" (1962), ""Funny Girl"" (1968), and ""Harry in Your Pocket"" (1973). He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award"
"""Mrs. Miniver"". Aherne, Russell, and Blair reprised their parts on the ""Lux Radio Theater"" adaptation of ""My Sister Eileen"" on July 5, 1943 and again on ""The Screen Guild Theater"" adaptation on October 18, 1943. On May 18, 1946, ""My Sister Eileen"" was again adapted as a radio play on ""Academy Award Theater"", in recognition of Russell's Academy Award nomination. Russell and Blair reprised their parts. My Sister Eileen (1942 film) My Sister Eileen is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Alexander Hall and starring Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne and Janet Blair. The screenplay by Joseph A. Fields and"
"Germans threatened Mayer with a boycott of all MGM films. From September 1939, until January 1940, all films that could be considered anti-Nazi were banned by the Hays Office. The U.S. ambassador to England, Joseph Kennedy, told the studios to stop making pro-British and anti-German films. Kennedy felt that ""British defeat was imminent and there was no point in America holding out alone: 'With England licked, the party's over,' said Kennedy."" Defying those pleadings, MGM produced ""Mrs. Miniver"", a simple story about a British family trying to get by during the bombing blitz in London. Eddie Mannix, Mayer's assistant, agreed"
"the part of Clara in the original production of Noël Coward's ""Hay Fever"" at the Ambassadors Theatre, London, in 1925. She also appeared in a series of Ivor Novello's plays and musicals in the West End: ""Symphony in Two Flats"" (1929), ""Glamorous Night"" (1935), ""Careless Rapture"" (1936), ""Crest of the Wave"" (1937), and ""The Dancing Years"" (1939). In 1930, she reprised her performance as Mabel in ""Symphony in Two Flats"" in the Broadway stage and British film versions. Minnie Rayner Minnie Rayner (2 May 1869 – 13 December 1941) was a British stage and film actress. A character actress she"
"Phyllis Calvert Phyllis Hannah Murray-Hill (née Bickle; 18 February 1915 – 8 October 2002), known professionally as Phyllis Calvert, was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s such as ""The Man in Grey"" (1943) and was one of the most popular movie stars in Britain in the 1940s. She continued acting until some 50 years later. In the words of one account: ""Most of the time she drew what looked like the short straw, playing the 'good girl' in films that revelled in the exploits of"
"Miss Froy, in Alfred Hitchcock's ""The Lady Vanishes"" (1938). She moved permanently to the USA (although she never became a US citizen) in 1939 and appeared both on stage and in Hollywood films, usually playing wealthy dowagers. It was one such part, as Lady Beldon in ""Mrs. Miniver"" (1942), that brought her a second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She continued to act for the remainder of her life and died on 29 May 1948 in Beverly Hills, California, from cancer at the age of 82; her husband had died the previous year during surgery. May Whitty Dame"
"expectations, grossing $5,358,000 in the US and Canada (the highest for any MGM film at the time) and $3,520,000 abroad. In the United Kingdom, it was named the top box office attraction of 1942. The initial theatrical release made MGM a profit of $4,831,000, their most profitable film of the year. Of the 592 film critics polled by American magazine ""Film Daily"", 555 named it the best film of 1942. ""Mrs. Miniver"" won six Academy Awards in 1943. Notes The fifth episode of season 1 of ""Downton Abbey"" copies the scene of Lady Beldon giving her award away at a"
"The Major and the Minor The Major and the Minor is a 1942 American comedy film starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland. It was the first American film directed by Billy Wilder, and launched his lengthy directing career. The screenplay by Wilder and Charles Brackett is based on the play ""Connie Goes Home"" by Edward Childs Carpenter. After her client Albert Osborne (Robert Benchley) makes a pass at her, Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers) quits her job as a scalp massager for the Revigorous System and decides to leave New York City and return home to Stevenson, Iowa. Upon arriving at"
"a middle-class English family adjusting to the war in Europe and the bombing blitz in London. It starred Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Pidgeon originally had doubts about taking on the role, until fellow actor Paul Lukas told him, ""You will find working with Wyler to be the most delightful experience you ever had, and that's the way it turned out."" Pidgeon recalls: ""One thing that would have been a terrific regret in my life is if I had succeeded in getting out of doing ""Mrs. Miniver"""" He received his first Oscar nomination for his role, while his co-star, Greer"
"Award for Best Supporting Actress as the daughter-in-law of Greer Garson's character in ""Mrs. Miniver"". Wright is one of only nine players who have been nominated in both categories in the same year. Her three Academy Award nominations and one Academy Award in her first three films is unique. She remains the only performer to have received Academy Award nominations for her first three films. In 1943, Wright appeared in the acclaimed Universal film ""Shadow of a Doubt"", directed by Alfred Hitchcock, playing an innocent young woman who discovers her beloved uncle (played by Joseph Cotten) is a serial murderer."
"(starring Gary Cooper), ""The Women"" (Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell), ""Broadway Rhythm"", ""The Thin Man Goes Home"" (William Powell and Myrna Loy), ""Little Orphan Annie"", and ""The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"". Frequently seen in the same frame with Hollywood's top stars, her face often appears in movie stills from a number of famous feature films. In Billy Wilder's ""The Major and the Minor"", she was one of the wallflower girls doing Veronica Lake imitations, often called the funniest scene in this classic comedy. Jane Isbell Jane Isbell (May 1, 1927 – October 19, 1981) was a minor actress, bit"
"(1941), and ""The Devil Pays Off"" (1941). The latter film was released in November 1941 when she was pregnant with her second child. She did not return to the screen. Even before the United States entered the war, her husband was an outspoken advocate for the defense of Great Britain. His first Oscar-winning film, ""Mrs. Miniver"" (1942), was a sympathetic portrayal of an English family enduring the Battle of Britain. After completing that film, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps and flew in missions over Europe in order to make documentaries about them. At the 1943 Academy"
"Kay Linaker Mary Katherine Linaker (July 19, 1913 – April 18, 2008) was an American actress and screenwriter who appeared in many B movies during the 1930s and 1940s, most notably ""Kitty Foyle"" (1940) starring Ginger Rogers. Linaker used her married name, Kate Phillips, as a screenwriter, notably for the cult movie hit ""The Blob"" (1958). She is credited with coining the name ""The Blob"" for the movie, which was originally titled ""The Molten Meteor"". Linaker was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and graduated from a private school in Connecticut and from New York University. She went on to attend"
"Nuys, California at the age of 77. Kathryn was buried next to her husband at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in the Mission Hills community of Los Angeles, California. Kathryn Minner Kathryn Elizabeth Minner (January 3, 1892 – May 26, 1969), sometimes credited as Katherine Minner, was an elderly grandmother and character actress who specialized in playing ""little old ladies"" in movies, on various television shows, and in a series of television commercials for Southern California Dodge dealers. Born Kathryn Elizabeth White in New York City to William H. White and his wife Mary, she married Samuel Stephen Minner on"
"Kathryn Minner Kathryn Elizabeth Minner (January 3, 1892 – May 26, 1969), sometimes credited as Katherine Minner, was an elderly grandmother and character actress who specialized in playing ""little old ladies"" in movies, on various television shows, and in a series of television commercials for Southern California Dodge dealers. Born Kathryn Elizabeth White in New York City to William H. White and his wife Mary, she married Samuel Stephen Minner on June 17, 1914 in Newark, New Jersey. They initially settled in Kearny, New Jersey, where their first son, Samuel Raymond (known as ""Raymond""), was born on June 15, 1915."
"are known to exist today. A print of her 1919 movie, ""The Ghost of Rosy Taylor"" surfaced in New Zealand in the 1990s. Other known surviving movies include ""The Fairy and the Waif"" (1915), ""Youth's Endearing Charm"" (1916), ""A Dream or Two Ago"" (1916), ""The Innocence of Lizette"" (1916), ""The Eyes of Julia Deep"" (1918), ""Nurse Marjorie"" (1920), ""A Cumberland Romance"" (1920) and ""The Little Clown"" (1921). Mary Miles Minter Mary Miles Minter (born Juliet Reilly; April 25, 1902 – August 4, 1984) was an American actress. She appeared in 54 silent era motion pictures from 1912 to 1923. In"
"Henry Travers Travers John Heagerty (5 March 1874 – 18 October 1965), known by the stage name Henry Travers, was an English film and stage character actor. His most famous role was the guardian angel Clarence Odbody in the 1946 film classic ""It's a Wonderful Life"". He also received an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in ""Mrs. Miniver"" (1942). Travers specialized in portraying slightly bumbling but friendly and lovable old men. Travers was born in Prudhoe, Northumberland, and was the son of Daniel Heagerty, a doctor originally from Ireland, and Ellen Gillman Hornibrook Belcher. His mother was a"
"frolicsome ... Both script and direction swing the yarn along at a consistent pace, with the laughs developing naturally and without strain."" American Film Institute Lists The Major and the Minor The Major and the Minor is a 1942 American comedy film starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland. It was the first American film directed by Billy Wilder, and launched his lengthy directing career. The screenplay by Wilder and Charles Brackett is based on the play ""Connie Goes Home"" by Edward Childs Carpenter. After her client Albert Osborne (Robert Benchley) makes a pass at her, Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers) quits"
"then had a good role as Michael Redgrave's love interest in ""Kipps"" (1941), directed by Carol Reed. After a detective film ""Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It"" (1941) she had the co-lead in ""Uncensored"" (1942),a war movie with Eric Portman. Reed used her again in ""The Young Mr Pitt"" (1942), playing Eleanor Eden. In 1942, she had the lead role as Patricia Graham in the West End production of Terence Rattigan's play ""Flare Path"". Calvert was by now well established in British films. She did not become a star, however, until given one of the four leading roles in the Gainsborough"
"Story"" (1946). She followed this up with an enjoyable minor screwball comedy, ""The Mating of Millie"", with Glenn Ford. She was then in a 1949 role as Kathy Flannigan in ""Mrs. Mike"". Keyes' last major film role was a small part as Tom Ewell's vacationing wife in ""The Seven Year Itch"" (1955), which starred Marilyn Monroe. Keyes officially retired in 1956, but continued to act. She was married to Barton Oliver Bainbridge Sr. from 1938 until his death from suicide in 1940. Later, she married and divorced director Charles Vidor (1943–1945), actor/director John Huston (23 July 1946 – February 1950),"