Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen

Won: Academy Award - Best Actor

Humphrey Bogart's victory for The African Queen checks off two common tenets that come with rewarding Academy Awards - the first being that Bogie defeated performances which've become much more iconic or revered in time, and the second being that Bogie won for a performance not widely perceived as being as "good" as other works in his filmography. Needless to say, I was not expecting to have much of a reaction to this particular performance, but was surprised to have liked it as much as I did.

An American in Paris

Eleanor Parker, Detective Story

Consecutive Oscar nominations are indicative that one is in the Academy's good graces at a specific moment in time. And at first blush, it makes sense why Eleanor Parker would receive a nomination for Detective Story - hot off the success and recognition of Caged, she play Oscar's favorite archetype (the supportive, sort-of long-suffering wife) in a prestige Warner Brothers drama that made a lot of money at the box office. While I don't mean to discredit Parker's work in the role - I do think that this is an afterglow nomination. Had she not been nominated the year prior, I imagine it'd have been tougher for her to snatch up a nomination based on the merit alone of this specific role.

Fredric March, Death of a Salesman

Won: Golden Globe (Drama) - Best Actor

20 years after receiving his first Academy Award-nominated performance in the film adaptation of The Royal Family, it is apt that Fredric March would receive his last under similar circumstances. This time, he closes out his Oscar run leading a stage-to-film adaptation of one of the greatest American plays, taking on a part that any consummate, veteran actor would desire. It is interesting then that both actor and film have been forgotten over time; one does not usually think of March when they harken back to this era of film history, and, Salesman, like The Glass Menagerie, is one of those quintessential plays that did not - and likely will not ever - result in a de-facto screen translation.