Going
My Way pulled of a major coupe, earning nominations for Barry
Fitzgerald in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories.
The phenomenon was proof that Barry Fitzgerald was a popular character
actor, having already appeared in a host of memorable parts in such films
as Bringing Up Baby and How Green Was My
Valley. Furthermore, Going
My Way was a huge box office success; just the kind of warm hearted movie
that audiences were looking for during the most heated days of World War
II.
Fitzgerald's double nomination
also proved something far more telling. There was a great confusion,
that exists to this day, over the proper definition of a
'supporting actor', versus a 'lead' actor. The Academy had no
defined method of determining such, and it would probably be difficult to
do so anyway.
Despite the vagueness of the
issue, the Academy did jump into action to ensure that this kind of thing
could never happen again. They dumped the problem on the studios,
with a rule change that required them to take ownership of selecting which
categories their actors would fit into.
This indirectly posed a new
opportunity for studios when promoting their films, and only further
highlighted the confusion over the difference between a 'supporting' role
and a 'leading' role. Going forward, studios would promote their
actors in categories where they felt they had the best shot. This is
why Tatum O'Neal would win for Best Supporting Actress for Paper Moon,
even though she appears in practically every scene. And it would be
why Anthony Hopkins would win for Silence of the
Lambs, when his character
seemed like more of a supporting role.
In
the meantime, Fitzgerald duly accepted his trophy, carrying on the
tradition of double nominees by winning the Supporting award. In
1944, with the war in full swing, Oscars were made of plaster, as America
was preserving precious metals for the war effort. While practicing
his golf swing, Fitzgerald accidentally decapitated his statue. Paramount quickly forked over the $10 for a
replacement. This is a funny irony, considering one of his
characters most memorable lines in Going My Way, "A golf course is
nothing but a poolroom moved outdoors."
