Four For Friday - The Tiebreaker - Old Hollywood - Mr. X

In the history of the Academy Awards, there’s been only two instances where there were ties in the acting categories (Best Actor in 1932 and Best Actress in 1969), but I was surprised to learn through a trustworthy source that there was almost a third tie in the mid 1950s for Best Actress. It was because of a studio head’s vendetta against one of the front runners and her husband/manager that the tie was broken.

The two actresses, an actress turned royal (who was the actual winner) and a permanent A+ actress and singer who you all know (who was the projected winner) were probably unaware about the behind the scenes machinations, at least not from what I have been told. The singer/actress was convinced the actress/royal slept with someone to get her award. But that was her just trying to assign blame for something that was out of their control.

The singer/actress and her husband/manager/possible mob affiliate were hoping for a big success on her comeback film. It was a remake of a Hollywood set story that was done twice before. She had been off the screen for four years due to her personal problems and addictions plus her concert residency on Broadway which proved her staying power. The head of the studio was warned that she was going to pull the same stunts that eventually got her canned from her last studio. Yes she did pull those stunts: arriving to the set hours late and sometimes under the influence of uppers/booze, being a complete perfectionist in rehearsals so much so that she clashed with the scriptwriters on numerous occasions, etc. Yes her delays caused the budget to skyrocket but if you go back and read/listen to interviews with her director and leading man they have nothing but nice things to say about her. Her husband was another issue. 

To promote the film the studio agreed to lend some props and furniture for an Architectural Digest photoshoot for the singer’s newly bought Holmby Hills mansion. The husband knew a few guys in the prop department and money exchanged hands to let the couple hang on to the decor for good. When the mogul found out about this backhand deal he hit the ceiling. Nobody ever ever took props and scenery home, not on his watch. The prop department people were fired and he swore that the actress and her husband, who had a multi picture deal with the studio and their production company, would never work at that studio again.

To be continued…