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Turner Classic Movies, June 21, 5:15 a.m.
One of the better Oscar trivia questions is, “Who won the Best Actress Oscar over Bette David in All About Eve and Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard?” The answer is Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday, one of the few times a brilliant comic performance was rewarded as such.
Holliday plays a gangster’s moll – blonde, dizzy and hilarious – who needs some lessons in couth, and the gangster (Broderick Crawford) hires a pushy reporter (William Holden) to tutor her.
Not so shockingly, the reporter falls in the love with the moll, and hilarity ensues. Holliday is so open and brave and sweet in her performance that it’s not hard to imagine why she beat out the camp cruelty of Davis and Swanson.
And Cukor’s direction of both the screwball comedy and love story are impeccable.
