Best Actor 1936: William Powell in My Man Godfrey

William Powell received his second Oscar nominations out of three for playing Godfrey Smith, a hobo who becomes a butler for a very odd family.

My Man Godfrey is a enjoyable enough screw ball comedy. It has all of its characters with their strange quirks, and bizarre mannerisms.

William Powell plays Godfrey in his usual way, of slightly being sarcastic when he says every single line. I always like his delivery, and I find joy out of his performance just because of his normal way of speaking. Powell gives a very enjoyable lightly comic performance here. He is the least wacky character in this crazy character feast, and he does a nice job reacting to the other over the top characters. I liked the more down to earth but still sarcastic approach he takes. Powell does a fine job hiding the hidden aspects of the character but making them believable all the same. Powell never overacts in the sea of purposeful overacting and his difference works very well. Powell does not braze his soul or anything like that but he gives a nice performance, and his chemistry with Carole Lombard is perfect. Powell is perfectly cast in this romantic screwball comedy, and just gives a nice leading man star performance.He does not really change a lot in terms of personality in this performance, even though the character changes in terms of status constantly. That does not matter though because his performance is purely for enjoyment.  For this Powell gets: