Silence is Golden: Jane Wyman's Oscar-Winning Performance in "Johnny Belinda"

Jane Wyman paid her dues. When she arrived in Hollywood in the early 1930s, Wyman worked steadily, but no one knew her name. During this early period in her career, she appeared in dozens of films, some classics, including an uncredited part in My Man Godfrey (1936).

A Hollywood glamor shot early in Jane Wyman's career

In 1937, as a contract player at Warner Brothers, Wyman had her first credited part as “Dixie the hatcheck girl” in Smart Blonde starring Glenda Farrell as journalist Torchy Blane. From 1932 to 1936, Wyman appeared in 19 films. In 1939, she stepped into the role of Torchy Blane in Torchy Blane…Playing With Dynamite. But it would be six long years before Wyman would get a role she could sink her teeth into.

Ray Milland and Wyman in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend (1945)

In 1945 Wyman got what would prove to be her breakout performance. On loan to Paramount, she played Helen St. James, Ray Milland’s sympathetic girlfriend in The Lost Weekend. The film was a huge critical and commercial hit, winning Oscars for Milland and director Billy Wilder. It also won the award for Best Picture. Tough New York Times critic Bosley Crowther took notice of Wyman’s performance in Weekend. He said, “Jane Wyman assumes with quiet authority the difficult role of the loyal girl who loves and assists the central character—and finally helps regenerate him.” From a critic like Crowther, this was a rave.

Claude Jarman Jr., Gregory Peck, and Wyman in a publicity still from The Yearling (1946)

After her success in Weekend, Wyman’s home studio, Warner Bros. didn’t give her better scripts. Loaned out again in 1946, this time to M-G-M, Wyman costarred with Gregory Peck and Claude Jarman Jr. in the Clarence Brown production of The Yearling. The 10-month shoot was tough on Wyman and the rest of the cast. In spite of the production difficulties, Wyman received the first of her four Best Actress Academy Award nominations for her portrayal of Orry Baxter. She didn’t win, but Wyman was now a certified movie star.

Wyman as Belinda McDonald in Johnny Belinda (1948)

In 1948, Warner Bros. adapted the stage play Johnny Belinda and cast Wyman in the lead. Since the play was a modest success, the expectations for the film version weren’t too high. Under the steady direction of Jean Negulesco, Wyman gave the performance of a lifetime. As deaf mute Belinda, she never uttered a line of dialogue. Wyman managed to convey the frustration and longing of a young woman considered less than human by the local villagers in her Cape Brenton [Canada] home. She did this through her expressive eyes and physical gestures. Although by today’s standards, the movie is somewhat dated, Wyman’s performance is not. This is what Crowther said of Wyman's performance in his review of the film in The New York Times on October 2, 1948: “Miss Wyman brings superior insight and tenderness to the role. Not once does she speak throughout the picture. Her face is the mirror of her thoughts.”

Johnny Belinda lobby card

Johnny Belinda was nominated for a total of 11 Oscars. It lost in every category except Wyman’s surprise win for Best Actress of 1949 (Wyman expected Irene Dunne to win for I Remember Mama).

Jane Wyman would go on to further film successes, working with legendary directors like Frank Capra and Alfred Hitchcock, but her performance in Johnny Belinda is a master class in film acting technique, making Wyman a legend in her own right.  

A special midnight screening of Johnny Belinda will be held at Facets Film School on Saturday, February 26, 2011. Admission is $5.

"Theodora Goes Wild" Screening Introduction

Midnight Screening of Classic Screwball Comedy
This is the introduction I gave to Theodora Goes Wild starring Irene Dunne on June 19, 2010. Most of the folks in attendance had never heard nor seen this screwball comedy classic. Not only that, but many were unfamiliar with the work of Irene Dunne. It's amazing that an actress five-times-nominated for Best Actress Academy Awards isn't a household name, but that's part of the point of screening classics like Theodora. There was an interesting discussion afterward (this was a midnight showing, so it's pretty remarkable to get a discussion going).




The above is kind of what my film classes are like. There's an introduction to the films screened, followed by a break, and discussion afterwards. My next film class begins Wednesday July 28 at 7 p.m. It's "Down To Earth Sophistication: Claudette Colbert in Hollywood." For registration information, click here.

"Slightly Scarlet" Midnight Movie at Facets Tonight

Cult Classic
Check out this 1956 classic based on the James M. Cain novel. The movie stars John Payne, Arlene Dahl, and Rhonda Fleming. It's in Technicolor, but fits the film noir category very well. The screeing is at midnight at Facets Film School, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago IL.

Rare 35MM Print
The movie will be introduced by Julian Antos, assistant manager at Bank of America Cinema, a projectionist at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and a long time Facets volunteer. The 35mm print of Slightly Scarlet screened  is from his personal collection.

Check out the movie trailer below.

Claudette Colbert on TV's "What's My Line"

Class and Sophistication Personified


Want to learn more about this legendary actress? Sign up for "Down to Earth Sophistication: Claudette Colbert in Hollywood" by clicking here.

Go “Wild” with Theodora this Saturday at Facets Night School

Looking for something “wild” to do this Saturday? Look no further than this week’s midnight screening of the screwball comedy classic, Theodora Goes Wild (1936), starring Irene Dunne at Facets Film School, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL.

Drama Queen
Irene Dunne took a leap of faith by starring in a comedy after she was dubbed “Queen of the Weepies” by the film trade publications in the 1930s. Having made her mark in the western epic Cimarron (1931), Dunne carved out an enormously successful career as the heroine of a string of popular melodramas.

Comedy Rules
When she reluctantly accepted the role of Theodora Lynn in the film directed by Richard Boleslawski, Dunne was an instant comedy sensation. So popular was the film and Dunne’s performance, that she earned her second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress (Dunne’s first nomination was for her role in Cimarron). The year 1936 was a great year for the screwball comedy. That same year saw the release of Frank Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Gregory LaCava’s My Man Godfrey.

The Peyton Place of Lynnfield!
The plot surrounds Dunne, a small town woman who is the best-selling author of a scandalous romance novel. Writing under the name of Caroline Adams, her secret is safe. That is until she meets a New York illustrator played by Melvin Douglas. He decides Theodora needs to break out of her small-town existence, all the while he’s trapped in a loveless marriage to please his politically connected father. So who really needs to go wild?

Theodora Goes Wild is a highly entertaining comedy that borders on comic genius. It deserves to be in the same class as Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and LaCava’s My Man Godfrey. It fact, it's in a class all by itself.

Carole Lombard: The Divine Screwball at Facets Film School

Steve Reginald (Classic Movie Man) will be teaching "Carole Lombard: The Divine Screwball" at Facets Film School next month. The class will be a continuation of sorts to his last class at Facets: "The Screwball Comedy and the Feminine Mystique."

Where the other class looked at the screwball comedy careers of Claudette Colbert, Barbara Stanwyck, and Katherine Hepburn, this class focuses on Lombard and her unique contribution to the genre specifically and to film comedy in general.

The class will be held on Tuesdays, February 23-March 30, 7-10 p.m.

The screwball comedy and the feminine mystique at Facets Film School

The creator of the“Classic Movie Man” blog (Steve Reginald) will teach a class entitled “The Screwball Comedy and the Feminine Mystique” at Facets Film School at 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. Chicago, IL. The six-week course will be held on consecutive Wednesdays starting October 7 from 7-9 p.m.


With the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code in 1934, movie studios were restricted in their depicting of certain “unacceptable” activities on screen. Prior to the code, the studios produced a string of provocative films that, for the time, were quite sexually explicit. 

Once the self-censorship began, the major studios had to come up with clever ways to entertain audiences without going outside the boundaries of the code. Out of these new constraints came the screwball comedy. The use of snappy dialogue filled with double entendres substituted for more straightforward “sex talk,” with the female lead becoming the dominant sex talker if you will. Professor and film historian, Maria DiBattista calls these women “fast-talking dames.”  


This fast-talking by the female protagonist is used not only to get laughs, which it most certainly does, but also to transform the male into a new man of her own creation. This reverse Pygmalion scenario, as noted by DiBattista and others, is at the heart of the screwball comedy and places women in the primary role. This genre produced many of the our most noted and familiar female screen icons, including Irene Dunne, Katherine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, and Barbara Stanwyck. This class will examine the screwball comedy, in the context of the female protagonist and her very important place in the canon of American cinema.


Films screened and discussed:
My Man Godfrey (Gregory La Cava, 1936); Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938); Midnight (Mitchell Leisen, 1939); His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940); My Favorite Wife (Garson Kanin, 1940); and The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941).