Alternate Best Actor 1946: Results

5. David Niven in A Matter of Life and Death - Niven, despite a strong start, gives an adequate performance but one that is overshadowed both by the supporting players and the film's direction.

Best Scene: Peter's "goodbye".

4. Henry Fonda in My Darling Clementine - The film doesn't really do much with Wyatt Earp as a character but Fonda still manages to gives a solid leading turn befitting the film.

Best Scene: The O.K. Corral

3. Van Heflin in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers - Van Heflin gives a surprisingly charming performance that carefully maneuvers around the film's intensely melodramatic story. 

Best Scene: Sam leaves the house as well as his past.

2. Jean Marais in Beauty and the Beast - He makes for an appropriately jerky villain but as well brings the right humanity and animal into his earnest depiction of the beast.

Best Scene: Just before the transformation.

1. Dana Andrews in The Best Years of Our Lives - Good Prediction RatedRStar, mcofra7, and Luke. Andrews gives a powerful understated portrayal of man repressing his anguish of the war as he faces civilian life once again.

Best Scene: Fred visits an old bomber.

Overall Rank:

1. James Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life
2. Charles Boyer in Cluny Brown 
3. Fredric March in The Best Years of Our Lives
4. Dana Andrews in The Best Years of Our Lives
5. Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep
6. Jean Marais in Beauty and the Beast 
7. Franco Interlenghi in Shoeshine
8. Dan Duryea in Black Angel 
9. Boris Karloff in Bedlam 
10. Michel Simon in Panique   
11. Van Heflin in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
12. Trevor Howard in I See a Dark Stranger 
13. Louis Jouvet in A Lover's Return 
14. Paul Muni in Angel on My Shoulder
15. Cary Grant in Notorious
16. Burt Lancaster in The Killers
17. John Mills in Great Expectations 
18. Ray Milland in Kitty 
19. Pierre Blanchar in The Pastoral Symphony
20. Paul Bernard in Panique  
21. Orson Welles in Tomorrow is Forever 
22. William Borchert in The Murderers Are Among Us
23. Henry Fonda in My Darling Clementine
24. Peter Lorre in Three Strangers  
25. Yves Montand in Gates of the Night 
26. Gérard Philipe in L'Idiot 
27. Edmond O'Brien in The Killers  
28. Edward G. Robinson in The Stranger
29. Basil Rathbone in Terror By Night  
30. David Niven in A Matter of Life and Death
31. Claude Jarman Jr. in The Yearling 
32. Carl Radditz in Unter den Brücken
33. Gustav Knuth in Unter den Brücken
34. Dana Andrews in Canyon Passage 
35. John Garfield in Humoresque 
36. Rinaldo Simordoni in Shoeshine 
37. Peter Lorre in The Verdict 
38. Sydney Greenstreet in The Verdict 
39. Vincent Price in Dragonwyck 
40. Lew Ayres in The Dark Mirror 
41. Sydney Greenstreet in Three Strangers 
42. Orson Welles in The Stranger
43. Glenn Ford in Gilda 
44. Paul Henreid in Deception 
45. John Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice
46. Dean Stockwell in The Green Years
47. Alan Ladd in The Blue Dahlia
48. Tom Drake in The Green Years
49. Gregory Peck in The Yearling
50. Bud Abbott in The Time of Their Lives
51. Lou Costello in The Time of Their Lives
52. Fred Astaire in Blue Skies 
53. Bob Hope in The Road to Utopia
54. Bing Crosby in The Road to Utopia
55. Joseph Cotten in Duel in the Sun 
56. Philip Dorn in I've Always Loved You 
57. Tyrone Power in The Razor's Edge
58. Cary Grant in Night and Day 
59. Gregory Peck in Duel in the Sun  
60. Bing Crosby in Blue Skies 
61. Larry Parks in The Jolson Story
62. Rex Harrison in Ann and The King of Siam 

Next Year: 1946 Supporting

Alternate Best Actor 1946: David Niven in A Matter of Life and Death

David Niven did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Squadron Leader Peter David Carter in A Matter of Life and Death.

A Matter of Life and Death is basically a better made and more interesting reversal of Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Instead of a man being taken too early to Heaven this one is about a man who is mistakenly left behind and forced to plead his case for being allowed to stay on earth.

David Niven plays the man who gets into the most bizarre set of circumstances that leaves him fighting for his life in a most atypical sort of way. Largely this performance is based on Niven's charm. Niven has a charm but I have to say that it doesn't always work, and sometimes can be more obnoxious than charming such as in The Pink Panther. This is not the case here though where Niven uses it rather well to establish Peter as a fairly likable guy. This is not Niven really trying anything overly different here but rather just giving a performance to make it easy enough to follow Peter through his most unusual journey. There technically isn't that much more to his character here than that except for the love story he has and the whole idea of his dealing with the other world that he is forced to visit from time to time.

The whole aspect of the other world is supposedly kept to be possibly all in Peter's mind, although it doesn't really try too hard in this respect, but nor does it really need to. Niven for the most part presents his interactions in a fairly matter of fact fashion, which certainly works well enough. The biggest challenge of Niven's is to present the way each visit seems to cause a slow deterioration of his physical state while he refuses to accept that he should die. Again Niven doesn't make too big a deal of this either, but again it works well enough of the film as he shows Peter slowly losing his physical resolve as the film progresses. Again there is not anything that special about what Niven does in this regard but what he does do works well enough for the film as a whole, and there is nothing to complain about unlike the final aspect of his performance.

That is the love story Peter has with an American woman June (Kim Hunter) who heard his "final words" over the radio before he jumped from his critically damaged plane failed to die.I have to say Hunter and Niven don't really have that much chemistry and I never felt anything special between them except for in the opening scene where they speak over the radio. In their opening scene Niven is quite good portraying Peter's excessively cheery and proper resolve even as he's basically indicating that's he's about to die. In turn Hunter's reactions are effective and together they connect simply in the sense of both feeling this loss of a human life together. It's a powerful moment but I'd say the only time where their relationship truly works. Interestingly enough the film has enough going on otherwise that he doesn't matter the central relationship isn't even anything special. Niven as well gives a suitable performance throughout, but he is very much overshadowed Powell and Pressburger's vision as well as the supporting cast.

Alternate Best Actor 1946

And the Nominees Were Not:

David Niven in A Matter of Life and Death

Jean Marais in Beauty and the Beast

Dana Andrews in The Best Years of Our Lives

Van Heflin in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Henry Fonda in My Darling Clementine

Best Actor 1958: The Results

5. Spencer Tracy in The Old Man and The Sea- Tracy fails to really make an actual character out of the old man, and always is clearly acting. His narration is better than his performance.

 

4. Paul Newman in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof- Paul Newman gives a good performance as Brick, and shows the characters pains and frustrations very well.

 3. David Niven in Separate Tables- The falseness of the character is well done, and then his later admittance of his actually nature is well handled by Niven.

2. Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones- Curtis is very good at showing the depth of his character, and never overdoes a single part of his performance. His character's transformation is earned and feels natural opposed to artificial.

1. Sidney Poitier in The Defiant Ones- Poitier uses his natural charisma and his abilities to create a powerful character. 

Deserving Performances:
Alec Guinness in A Horse's Mouth
James Stewart in Vertigo

Best Actor 1958: David Niven in Separate Tables

David Niven received an Oscar from his only Oscar nomination for playing Major Angus Pollock in Separate Tables.

Separate Tables is a fairly well done adaptation of a play, and weaves between the different stories well, but I did feel that the Kerr and Niven section was stronger than the Lancaster and Hayworth section, although the latter certainly still has its quality.

David Niven is one of those actors that seems like he must have been nominated for an Oscar more than once, but no, he was only ever nominated for this film alone. Luckily it was a deserving nomination, although I would say it certainly has supporting screen time, but his role does have the importance of a leading role.

Niven is superb in every scene he is in even if he is only in a few scenes. He carries himself perfectly in this film. He gives an interesting performance because he does these various mannerisms, in his voice and his posture that one would expect from a British officer, except they seem slightly false. But the interesting part is they are suppose to be false, and forced really. Niven does this false routine just right, so it is not obvious but is at the same time clearly off in some way.

David Niven stays very restrained with his short performance but creates a very powerful performance. Niven focuses mostly on his face, which Niven uses to great effect. He shows a history of the character with his face. Some of his expressions are especially effective such as when he looks at the newspaper that tells of his act, or when he find out that the others found out.  His scenes with Deborah Kerr are brilliant and both play off each other very well, well their doing these incredibly introverted characters. Niven is really perfect here showing the shy nature of the character impeccably well, along with his attempts to be a "normal" soldier. Niven is never off and makes the best use of all he has giving a very good performance.

Best Actor 1958

And The Nominees Were:

Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones

Sidney Poitier in The Defiant Ones

David Niven in Separate Tables 

Paul Newman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Spencer Tracy in The Old Man and the Sea

Who do you Pick? Who do you Predict?