What was the best movie of the half-century? Who was the best actor, actress, producer, director? Hollywood's Daily Variety asked the opinions of some 200 men & women who have worked in the film industry for at least 25 years. Last week the results were in.
Best alltime film: 1939's Gone With the Wind (which was also one of the best at the box office with a $33 million gross). Best actor: Charlie Chaplin. Best actress: Greta Garbo.
Best director: the late David Wark Griffith.
Best producer: MGM's late Production Boss Irving Thalberg.
The industry's oldtimers, balloting separately for their silent-screen favorites, again picked Chaplin and Garbo, named Griffith as both director and producer, and his The Birth of a Nation as the best movie. In the sound-film category, G.W.T.W. won again hands down; Samuel Goldwyn and William Wyler, the makers of The Best Years of Our Lives, won the producers and director's laurels. Spencer Tracy nosed out Sir Laurence Olivier as the best actor. Best sound-film actress: Ingrid Bergman.