Jane Wyman movies on TCM: From B fare to her Oscar-winning performance in Johnny Belinda
Jane Wyman, unfairly known by many merely as Ronald Reagan’s first wife, is the “star of the day” on Turner Classic Movies on Tuesday, Jan. 4. TCM will be presenting eight Wyman vehicles beginning at 3 a.m. Pacific Time. Those range from the B comedy He Couldn’t Say No (1938) to Wyman’s most famous film, Johnny Belinda (1948), which earned her a Best Actress Oscar.
Some find Wyman a lesser talent, but she whether as a blonde or a brunette, whether in dramas or comedies, she has almost invariably been an effective screen presence. In Johnny Belinda, for instance, she showed what a sensational dramatic actress she could be when given the chance. In addition to Wyman’s Academy Award win, this drama about a kind doctor (Lew Ayres) and a young deaf-mute (Wyman) who becomes a rape victim, received eleven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Jean Negulesco), and Best Actor.
Wyman is also fine in Alfred Hitchcock’s British-made Stage Fright (1950), though Alastair Sim steals the show in that mystery thriller. She is also much better than her material in the musicalized – and ill-advised – The Awful Truth remake Let’s Do It Again (1953), co-starring Ray Milland. Alexander Hall, the director of several entertaining comedies and romances of the 1940s, (mis)handled the proceedings.
And finally, Wyman acquits herself well in Robert Wise’s So Big (1953), a remake of a 1932 Barbara Stanwyck melodrama. For decades, only Wyman’s version was available for viewing. TCM has since shown the Stanwyck movie a few times.
Jane Wyman movies: TCM schedule (PST)
3:00 am He Couldn’t Say No (1938)
Cast: Frank McHugh, Jane Wyman, Cora Witherspoon, Diana Lewis.
Director: Lew Seiler.
B&W. 57 min.4:00 am My Favorite Spy (1942)
Cast: Kay Kyser, Ellen Drew, Jane Wyman, Robert Armstrong.
Director: Tay Garnett.
B&W. 86 min.5:30 am Three Guys Named Mike (1951)
Cast: Jane Wyman, Van Johnson, Howard Keel, Barry Sullivan.
Director: Charles Walters.
B&W. 90 min.7:15 am Johnny Belinda (1948)
Cast: Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford, Agnes Moorehead.
Director: Jean Negulesco.
B&W. 102 min.9:00 am Stage Fright (1950)
Cast: Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding, Richard Todd, Alastair Sim.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock.
B&W. 110 min.11:00 am So Big (1953)
Cast: Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden, Nancy Olson, Steve Forrest, Martha Hyer, Elisabeth Fraser, Richard Beymer, Roland Winters, Tommy Rettig.
Director: Robert Wise.
B&W. 102 min.1:00 pm Miracle in the Rain (1956)
Cast: Jane Wyman, Van Johnson, Peggie Castle, Fred Clark.
Director: Rudolph Maté.
B&W. 107 min.3:00 pm Let’s Do It Again (1953)
Cast: Jane Wyman, Ray Milland, Aldo Ray, Leon Ames.
Director: Alexander Hall.
Color. 94 min.