Muriel Teresa Wright, the winner of the 1943 ‘Academy Award of Best Supporting Actress’ and thrice ‘Oscar’ and ‘Emmy’ nominee, began her acting career in theater, which helped her being cast in a supporting role in the drama film ‘The Little Foxes’ (1941). Her debut film appearance won her a nomination for ‘Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.’ She won that award the next year for her supporting role in the romantic war-drama film ‘Mrs. Miniver’ (1942). The same year her lead role opposite Gary Cooper in ‘The Pride of the Yankees’ (1942) fetched her nomination for ‘Academy Award for Best Actress.’ She is the only artist to earn ‘Academy Award’ nominations for first 3 films.
Next, Wright played lead in Alfred Hitchcock’s much-admired psychological thriller ‘Shadow of a Doubt’ (1943), followed by romantic-comedy opposite Gary Cooper ‘Casanova Brown’ (1944). Her performance in award-winning epic drama-film ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ (1946), earned her praise. In 1947 she starred in Western film-noir ‘Pursued’ written by her first husband, then as show-girl in drama-film ‘The Imperfect Lady,’ and comedy-film ‘The Trouble with Women,’ followed by romantic-film with David Niven ‘Enchanted’ (1948) again fetching acclaim.
In 1950 Wright starred in war-drama film ‘The Men’ alongside Marlon Brando in his debut film and also in failed film-noir ‘The Capture.’ Her further starrers, drama-film ‘Something to Live For’ (1952), Western ‘California Conquest’ (1952), film-noir ‘The Steel Trap’ (1952), crime film-noir ‘Count the Hours’ (1952), comedy-drama ‘The Actress’ (1953), Western ‘Track of the Cat’ (1954), were commercial disappointments but her work was appreciated.
Thereafter, Wright starred in remake of ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ (1955), drama-film based on life of Virginia Tighe ‘The Search for Bridey Murphy’ (1956), family-adventure ‘Escapade in Japan’ (1957) and crime-drama film-noir ‘The Restless Years’ (1958).
Wright earned Emmy nominations for ‘Playhouse 90’s’ ‘The Miracle Worker’ (1957), the Breck Sunday Showcase’s ‘The Margaret Bourke-White Story’ (1960), and drama-series ‘Dolphin Cove’ (1989). After earning accolades for theater work during early 1960s, she appeared on TV’s Western-series ‘Bonanza’ (1964), anthology-series ‘The Alfred Hitchcock Hour’ (1964), courtroom-drama ‘The Defenders’ (1964-1965) and anthology-series ‘CBS Playhouse’ (1969).
Further Wright appeared in drama-films ‘Hail, Hero!’ (1969), and ‘The Happy Ending’ (1969), anthology-film ‘Roseland’ (1977), romantic-fantasy film ‘Somewhere in Time’ (1980), drama-film ‘The Good Mother’ (1988) as grandmother. She also appeared in many TV-films. Her last film appearance was in Francis Ford Coppola’s legal-drama ‘The Rainmaker’ (1997).
The Best Years of Our Lives is an Oscar-winning American drama film which tells the story of three World War II veterans, who return home to a small town in America, only to find that they and their families have been changed irreparably.
Regina Hubbard is a beautiful and brilliant woman who aspires for wealth in a world where fathers only considered sons as legal heirs. She is financially dependent on her husband Horace, who is at a sanitarium for many years, due to his heart condition. However, when she needs him for her plans, she tries to manipulate her daughter into bringing him back.
Teenager Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Newton is thrilled when her namesake and favorite maternal uncle Charlie Oakley comes for a visit. But soon she notices some odd things, then two detectives come home as surveyors asking questions about Uncle Charlie. As she learns from them that he is suspected serial killer, ‘Merry Widow Murderer,’ she starts investigating, which could prove unsafe for her life.
Mrs. Miniver is a war drama film which revolves around a middle-class British family, as they try to survive during the beginning of the Second World War.
The Pride of the Yankees is a biographical film which revolves around the life and career of Lou Gehrig, famed baseball player, whose premature and tragic death had touched the entire nation. The film puts emphasis on his relationship with his parents, especially his mother, and also shows his friendships with players, journalists, as well as his romantic relationship with a woman.
During the Second World War, an American servicewoman puts up with her granduncle, Rollo Dane. The plot then turns backwards into Rollo’s childhood, when his father brings home a girl called Lark, who begins to live with them. Over the time, they fall in love; but cannot marry due to his sister’s scheme. Now that Lark’s nephew and his niece have fallen in love, can the old man sit idle?
The Rainmaker is a legal drama film, revolving around an inexperienced young lawyer, who agrees to fight for a helpless boy dying from leukemia, after the insurance company refuses to pay for his operation that would save his life.
When playwright Richard Collier sees a portrait of early 1900’s actress Elise McKenna in Grand Hotel at Mackinac Island, Michigan, he gets obsessed with her. Richard uses self-hypnosis to take himself back in time to 1912 to meet Elise, when both realize that they are meant for each other. But fearing for her career, Elise’s manager William Robinson tries to separate them.
Teenager Ruth Gordon Jones wants to drop out of school and move to New York City to pursue a career as a theater actress. However, her father, a former sailor working a menial job, who was once forced to leave school to seek work, wants her to become an instructor and marry handsome Harvard student Fred Whitmarsh.
A Broadway actress develops a drinking problem, and soon joins Alcoholics Anonymous after she becomes an alcoholic. She soon starts having an affair with one of the members, but things get complicated as it turns out that he is married.
A bored homemaker walks out of her husband of sixteen years in order to escape her dull and unhappy marriage and travels to Bahamas. There she meets a gigolo, who betrays her when he learns that she is not wealthy. Slowly, she realizes that she cannot buy happiness in this way and returns to find a job and new education opportunity.
Melinda is a sixteen year old girl who wishes to leave her hometown and explore the world some day. Although Melinda was born out of wedlock, her single mother Elizabeth insists that her father passed away when she was still an infant. However, when Melinda starts getting involved with a guy named Will, her mother thinks that she may have to reveal the truth after all.
Casanova Brown is about to marry Madge when he finds out his former wife Isabel has had their baby girl and wants to put her up for adoption. Brown steals the baby and marries motel maid Monica to prove that he has a stable home. Unfortunately, both Madge and Isabel turn up to confront him.
This 1977 anthology film features three connected short stories and follows their protagonists as they try to find the right dance partner at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.
After his plane goes down on its way to Tokyo, an American boy is separated from the rest of the passengers. He is rescued by a Japanese fisherman and his family. However, when they see the Japanese police, they feel worried that they have done something wrong, and they start their journey through the Japanese countryside, avoiding the police, who are only looking for the missing boy.
During the Vietnam War, a college student named Carl Dixon quits school and joins the Army. However, his intention of joining the Army to go to Vietnam is not to fight.
Teresa Wright Awards
| Mrs. Miniver | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | 1943 |
