madbeast.com - The Jon Mullich Site

Donald Crisp won the Best Supporting Actor for
his sensitive performance in How Green Was My Valley in 1941,
26 years after playing Ulysses S. Grant in Birth of a Nation.
Crisp was a stalwart member of Griffith's stock company, most
notably for his performance in Broken Blossoms (1919). He is best
remembered today for his performances in Wuthering Heights (1939) and
National Velvet (1945). He also had a successful directing career
in the silents, helming such classics as Buster Keaton's The Navigator (1924)
and Douglas Fairbanks' Don Q., Son of Zorro (1925).

The reputation of Birth of a Nation has diminshed considerably
in recent years because of its shockingly racist storyline, although
it is considered the first American feature film. The racism of the film did not go
unnoticed by its contemporary audience (the newly-formed NAACP
campaigned to have it banned, and was successful in some cities
including Los Angeles), but it was a financial blockbuster
that launched many succesful careers; most notably
directors John Ford (who appeared as a Klansman in the film) and
Raoul Walsh (who played John Wilkes Booth) and of course
Lillian Gish (who went on to become arguably the greatest
actress in the history of motion pictures).

By the time the Oscars were initiated, Griffith's career had petered out to the point he was never nominated (he was credited as the director on only four films that were eligible for Academy Awards, failing to receive a single nomination in any category; although his penultimate film, Abraham Lincoln, was named one of the ten best films of 1930 by the New York Times). Had the Oscars been awarded earlier, it seems inconceivable that he wouldn't have won for both Broken Blossoms (1919) and Way Down East (1920) and received nominations for Hearts of the World (1918) and Orphans of the Storm (1921). He did receive an Honorary Oscar in 1935, and earned the first standing ovation in Oscar history when he accepted it.

Lillian Gish received only one Academy Award nomination (for Duel in the Sun, 1946). Her greatest work was in the pre-Oscar period (Broken Blossoms, 1919; Way Down East, 1920; La Boheme, 1925; The Scarlet Letter, 1926), although her failure to be nominated for The Wind (1928) seems inexplicable today. After her film stardom had diminished, she continued to have a successful career on stage (Ophelia to John Gielgud's Hamlet in 1936) and as a character actress on film (Night of the Hunter, 1955) and on television (The Trip to Bountiful, 1953). She received an Honorary Oscar in 1970, and made her final starring performance in a motion picture at the age of 94.