Comedic Performances That Were So Good They Even Won an Oscar

Eight-time Oscar nominee Jack Lemmon won the first of his two Academy Awards as Ensign Pulver in the star-studded naval farce “Mister Roberts.” Directed by John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy, the comedy starred James Cagney, Henry Fonda, and William Powell.

Judy Holliday was the first woman to win an Academy Award in a comedic role. Holliday played Billie Dawn, the unsophisticated girlfriend of an ambitious Washington-bound tycoon (Broderick Crawford) who hires a tutor (William Holden) to teach her proper manners. Garson Kanin wrote the screenplay for the film directed by the accomplished George Cukor.

Some movie fans think Stewart’s Best Actor Oscar for “The Philadelphia Story” was payback for him not winning the prior year for “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” George Cukor directed the screwball comedy, which also starred Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Stewart would be nominated for five competitive Academy Awards (he won an honorary Oscar in 1985), but his triumph for “The Philadelphia Story” would be his only golden statue.