The Academy Awards: 1939

It's that time again! With the Academy Awards soon approaching, I'll be starting where I left off with our previous Oscars, 1939.  Also known as the 12th Annual Academy Awards.

Let's have a look at the winners, the losers, the snubs and a bit of trivia for that year.  The year that will forever be known as the year of the blockbuster, best films of the decade. I also wonder just how many actors, directors said to themselves, "Damn you, MGM!"

Best Picture:
Gone With the Wind (Winner), Dark Victory, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Stagecoach, Love Affair, Of Mice and Men, The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights

Best Actor:
Robert Donat (Winner) for "Goodbye Mr. Chips", Clark Gable for "Gone With the Wind", Laurence Olivier for "Wuthering Heights", Mickey Rooney for "Babes in Arms", James Stewart for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

Best Actress:
Vivien Leigh (Winner) for "Gone With the Wind", Bette Davis for "Dark Victory",  Irene Dunne for "Love Affair", Greta Garbo for "Ninotchka", Greer Garson for "Goodbye Mr. Chips"

Supporting Actor:
Thomas Mitchell (Winner) for "Stagecoach", Brian Aherne for "Juarez", Harry Carey for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", Brian Donlevy for "Beau Geste", Claude Rains for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

Supporting Actress:
Hattie McDaniel (Winner) for "Gone With the Wind", Olivia de Havilland for "Gone With the Wind", Geraldine Fitzgerald for "Wuthering Heights", Edna May Oliver for "Drums Along the Mohawk", Maria Ouspenskaya for "Love Affair"

Best Director:
Victor Fleming (Winner) for "Gone With the Wind", Frank Capra for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", John Ford for "Stagecoach", Sam Wood for "Goodbye Mr. Chips", William Wyler for "Wuthering Heights"

Director, Victor Fleming with Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh on the set of "Gone With the Wind" 1938

Oscar Snubs and Omissions:

Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara for their performances in
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 
William Holden for "Golden Boy" 
Ingrid Bergman and Leslie Howard for "Intermezzo" 
Leslie Howard for "Gone With the Wind"
Billy Wilder for direction, Claudette Colbert for Best Actress for "Midnight" also snubbed for Best Screenplay
Merle Oberon for "Wuthering Heights"
Ernst Lubitsch, Best Director for "Ninotchka"
Henry Fonda for "Young Mr. Lincoln" and John Ford for Director
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce for "The Hound of the Baskervilles"
"Gunga Din"
Michael Curtiz for direction for "The Private Lives of Elizabeth of Essex"
Jean Arthur for her performance in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"
"Only Angels Have Wings"
Tyrone Power for "The Rains Came"

Billie Burke, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger and  Margaret Hamilton for their performances in "The Wizard of Oz"

My Honorable Mentions Goes To:
Lon Chaney Jr for his outstanding performance in "Of Mice and Men", "The Women" with it's amazing cast and of course, the entire cast of "The Wizard of Oz. 

Lon Chaney Jr for his performance as Lennie

The cast of "The Women".  One of the Best Comedies of the decade!

The supporting cast of "The Wizard of Oz"

Oscar Trivia:

The 12th Annual Academy Awards were held at the Ambassador Hotel (Coconut Grove) in Los Angeles and hosted by Bob Hope for the first of nineteen times.


With Frank Capra as the Academy President the television rights were sold to Warner Bros. for $30,000.  The first year that they were televised for our viewing pleasure.  (The stars were all too conscious of this fact, arriving in their finest tuxes, jewels and furs.)


Judy Garland would win a Juvenile Oscar for her performance in "The Wizard of Oz" Over the Rainbow would also win Best Song. Judy would be presented her award by her frequent co-star, Mickey Rooney. After accepting her award she would give a beautiful performance of her award winning number from the film.


Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award.  It would be another 24 years before Sidney Poitier would take home the Oscar for his performance in "Lilies of the Field"

This was the first year that an award for Visual Effects was given. Going to "The Rains Came". This would also be the year that Best Cinematography would be split up into two categories, black and white and color.

The first year that British performers would sweep the Best Actor/Actress categories.

Walt Disney would win his eighth consecutive Oscar this year for his Cartoon Short, The Ugly Duckling

Honorary Oscars would go to Douglas Fairbanks, William Cameron Menzies and to the Technicolor Company.


The Irving Thalberg G. Memorial Award would go to David O. Selznick.

"Gone With the Wind" was nominated for a record 13 Awards that year with "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" a close second with 11 nominations. "Wuthering Heights" would come in with a well deserved, 8 nods.

Robert Donat was not present to accept his Best Actor Oscar which was accepted in his honor by Spencer Tracey. Also not present, Greer Garson and Irene Dunne who were also nominated but most likely certain that the Best Actress statuette would go to Vivien Leigh. None of the winners were a surprise that year with the Los Angeles Times printing the winners before the ceremony began.  (Jerks!) They would also print how close the votes were which caused a lot of arguing, frustration post Awards, prompting the Academy to tighten security on the vote tallies, winners going forward. (James Stewart lost out to Donat by a very small margin with Bette losing to Viv by just a few votes as well.)

Clark Gable was the most visibly disappointed with his loss this year, as he felt it was his best, last chance at the golden statuette.

I hope you enjoyed this look back at the Oscars: 1939 and please leave a comment on anyone I might have missed that you feel deserved a nod or even who you feel should have won, not won.  

This is going to be another great year for the Oscars, with so many stellar films, performances this past year.  I'm really looking forward to seeing who won, if my predictions are correct.

*If you missed any of my previous Oscar posts from the 1938 ceremony back to the beginning, they can be found in the archives on the sidebar.

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