Best Actress: Ginger Rogers

Ginger didn't dance backwards and in high heels to win this Oscar!

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Here's my confession: when I first started watching the films that won Best Actress, over a decade ago when I just knew the surface level of Old Hollywood, I was downright shocked to learn that Ginger Rogers had won an Oscar.

Convinced that she'd won for a dancing flick, I was downright double shocked to learn that after a decade of fluffy light dance flicks and romcoms that Ginger actually won for a dramatic role: Kitty Foyle. I remember being impressed, yet slightly baffled that Ginger was amongst the list of actresses with Oscar hardware on her shelves, and it wasn't until I really started appreciating Old Hollywood in more depth that I gained an appreciation for Ginger and this win.

Now, it's one of my favourites from the 1940s.

Kitty Foyle is what you call a women's picture, one that Hollywood would soon decide had no more merit in making, and it's the complete portrait of a young woman who lives and loves in Philadelphia, though she grows up in regular society and her love (Joseph Cotton) is a sixth generation Main Line scion who can never love her out in the open without repercussions. 

What you can count on Ginger Rogers for is this: she's going to convincingly play a woman at all ages. You need teenage Kitty Foyle, with a layer of dirt on her face? Ginger's going to convince you she's the most naive teenager on the planet. You need a battleworn woman several years into heartbreak holding out hope that maybe this time Wyn will pick her? Ginger's going to convince you that this time Wyn is serious, that all those other times he was just pretending. 

As Kitty, she's in love and heartbroken, a teenager and a young woman, a new mother—however briefly, since the Production Code's still in effect—and a grieving mother. She believes in love, in Wyn, in Mark, but ultimately, in herself. And by the end of the picture, you may or may not agree with any of her life choices, but you believe that Kitty's going to land on her feet. (But maybe you breathe a sigh of relief over that final choice she makes.)

I think Ginger was more than deserving of this win. For nearly a decade she had been defined by being Fred Astaire's dance partner, and when they decided to take a break, Ginger pivoted to more dramatic fare, eager to prove her chops while Fred stuck with musicals. 

This isn't to take away from Fred's output post-Ginger, because let's face it, most of his films from this point on are also classics, but there's something admirable about Ginger sticking her neck out, deciding that she's willing to try something new and make audiences see her in a different way and receiving the ultimate award for it. 

Ginger is one of my favourite actresses: she's equally adept at comedy (The Major and the Minor, Bachelor Mother, Vivacious Lady) and drama (I'll Be Seeing You, Tender Comrade, Lady in the Dark), and with her vaudeville and dance background, she had a fertile training ground for whatever script came her way. With Kitty Foyle, she gets to do a bit of everything. I think she's magnificent in this and if you haven't seen this film, it's definitely worth a watch.

And okay, let's get it out of the way: the Best Actress category was stacked in 1940: Bette Davis (The Letter), Joan Fontaine (Rebecca), Katharine Hepburn (The Philadelphia Story) and Martha Scott (Our Town) rounded out the nominations, and every single one of these performances—Ginger's included—has become iconic. How'd they arrive at Ginger? It doesn't matter, in my opinion, because she holds her own amongst the rest. 

Though if I were a voter and I didn't absolutely adore Ginger, I'd have wanted Joan Fontaine to win, but we'll get to her very shortly. 

DID I LIKE KITTY FOYLE? Yes. I loved Kitty Foyle. 
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Did you like Kitty Foyle? What are your thoughts on Ginger Rogers's Oscar win?

Keep up with all my Rewatching the Best Actresses posts here!