Mrs. Miniver is een Amerikaanse oorlogsdrama-romantische fil uit 1942 onder regie van William Wyler met in de hoofdrollen Greer Garson en Walter Pidgeon. De film is gebaseerd op het personage van de huisvrouw dat in 1937 door Jan Struther4 werd gecreëerd voor een krantenfeuilleton, en toont het leven van een bescheiden Britse huisvrouw op het platteland van Engeland dat getroffen wordt door de Tweede Wereldoorlog.
Geproduceerd en gedistribueerd door Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, had de film een cast die bestond uit Teresa Wright, May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney en Henry Wilcoxon.
Mrs. Miniver won zes Academy Awards, waaronder Outstanding Picture, Best Director voor Wyler, Best Actress voor Garson en Best Supporting Actress voor Wright. In 1950 werd een vervolg verfilmd onder de naam The Miniver Story, met Garson en Pidgeon in hun oorspronkelijke rol.
In 2006 stond de film op nummer 40 op de lijst van het American Film Institute van de meest inspirerende films aller tijden. In 2009 werd hij door de Library of Congress opgenomen in het National Film Registry omdat hij “cultureel, historisch of esthetisch” belangrijk is.
Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson (Manor Park (London), September 29, 1904 – Dallas, April 6, 1996) was a British-American Oscar-winning actress. She was known as a distinguished British woman with red hair who took on mostly roles of housewives or mothers. She grew into a phenomenon in the 1940s and was one of the most influential actresses in Hollywood during World War II. She became known for roles in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), Mrs. Miniver (1942) and Random Harvest (1942) and owed her image as an “unselfish supporter of society” to those films
James Francis Cagney, Jr. (New York, July 17, 1899-Stanford, March 30, 1986)1 was an American film actor and dancer. A major award-winning actor in a variety of roles, he is best remembered for his tough-guy roles. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth on its list of the top male stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Orson Welles described Cagney as “perhaps the greatest actor who ever appeared in front of a camera.”
He rose to prominence in the 1930s with the Warner Bros. film company and remained relevant throughout the 1940s and 1950s. He won the 1943 Academy Award for best leading actor for the film Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).
William Wyler, born Wilhelm Weiller, (Mülhausen, Germany (now Mulhouse, France), July 1, 1902 – Los Angeles (United States), July 27, 1981) was a German-Swiss film director, known for such films as The Best Years of Our Lives, Roman Holiday and Ben-Hur. He was known as one of the most perfectionist filmmakers of his time, demanding complete control over the making of the film and able to push his actors to their limits. Even the simplest scene had to be shot multiple times. From this he kept the nickname “90-Take Wyler.” William Wyler was nominated twelve times for the Oscar for Best Director. He would win this Oscar three times; only John Ford won this award more often.
Teresa Wright (New York, October 27, 1918-New Haven, Connecticut, March 6, 2005) was a renowned American actress.
She studied dramatic arts and began her acting career in the theater. She debuted on Broadway with a play by Thornton Wilder with which the company would later tour. On that occasion, producer Samuel Goldwyn saw Teresa Wright’s performance, and hired her immediately.
She achieved something extraordinary in the movies. For her performance in her first three films, she was nominated three times for the Oscar, and one of them won in the category of best supporting actress. She was not a Hollywood star, probably due to her sweet and sensitive appearance, but she did become a good actress. She worked in numerous films, by important directors and with famous actors, such as in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), a film by William Wyler in which she played the role of the daughter of a war veteran who returns home, and falls in love with another serviceman returned from the front, Dana Andrews.
Over the next ten years, she still appeared in several films. However, she soon began to be typecast in roles of homely women with few resources, which displeased her to the point that in 1959 she left the cinema. From then on, and with a few exceptions, she devoted herself entirely to the small screen, where she reaped notable audience successes, and was nominated several times for Emmy awards.
She was married twice. Her first marriage lasted ten years, after which she divorced. From that marriage she has two children. In 1959 she married for the second time.
Van Heflin, born Emmett Evan Heflin (Walters (Oklahoma), December 13, 1910 – Hollywood, July 23, 1971), was an American actor.
Van Heflin moved to Broadway in the early 1930s and starred in his first film in 1936. His acting skills were immediately viewed favorably and he received a contract with MGM. He performed both supporting and leading roles, often in films noirs. In 1942, he was coined with the Oscar for best male supporting actor in the film noir Johnny Eager (Mervyn LeRoy). He also starred in some notable westerns. He continued acting until he died of a heart attack in 1971 at the age of 60.
Van Heflin received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, both for his commitment to the motion picture and for his achievements in television.
