If it wasn't Meryl Streep or Daniel Day-Lewis or any of the other big-name Oscar favorites, who could possibly have won two awards for the same performance? Honestly, you'll probably never guess.
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00:00If it wasn't Meryl Streep or Daniel Day-Lewis or any of the other big-name Oscar favorites,
00:05who could possibly have won two awards for the same performance?
00:09Honestly, you'll probably never guess.
00:12If there's one thing people love about the Oscars, it's a big moment.
00:15The envelopes containing the winners of the most prestigious film awards in Hollywood
00:18may be sealed, but that doesn't stop the powers-that-be behind each year's Oscars
00:22telecast from setting the night up for maximum surprise, drama, and inspiration.
00:27However, it doesn't always work.
00:29For instance, at the 93rd Oscars, the categories were rearranged so the telecast could end
00:34with Chadwick Boseman's posthumous Best Actor win, or so many presumed, although producer
00:39Steven Soderbergh denied this.
00:41Except Boseman didn't win, and category winner Anthony Hopkins wasn't at the ceremony, so
00:45the seemingly pre-planned big finish turned out to be an especially awkward dud.
00:50Now and again, though, the Academy's penchant for trying to plan around potential wins results
00:54in some happy accidents.
00:56Such was the case in 1947, when Harold Russell made history as the first non-professional
01:00actor to win two different Oscars for his turn in The Best Years of Our Lives.
01:04Say, how about the three of us going back to Butch's place?
01:08We'll have a couple of drinks and then we can go home.
01:11You're home now, kid.
01:13Russell's casting in William Wyler's post-war drama, itself that year's Best Picture Oscar
01:17winner, was an early case of a disabled actor playing a disabled role.
01:21As a young soldier in World War II, he lost both hands during a training accident.
01:26His on-screen character, Homer Parrish, was a star athlete who had also had both hands
01:30amputated during the war, and who feared his relationship with his fiancée would be ruined
01:34by the metal hooks he'd been given in their place.
01:36I'll be alright.
01:37I've just got to work it out myself.
01:38I could help you, Homer, if you'd let me.
01:42I've got to work it out myself.
01:44The Best Years of Our Lives is often regarded as one of the most sensitively told on-screen
01:49portrayals of PTSD and the after-effects of war in America.
01:53Get off me!
01:54She's burning up!
01:55Get out!
01:56Get out!
01:57Stan!
01:58Stan!
01:59Wake up!
02:00Wake up!
02:01It earned a then-staggering amount of money at the box office and nearly swept the Oscars,
02:02winning seven of the eight categories for which it was nominated.
02:05Journalist Kristen Lopez, whose work focuses on disability on-screen, once called the movie
02:10one of the best portrayals of disability I can recommend.
02:13When the Library of Congress began adding the most culturally and historically important
02:17American movies ever made to its archive in the late 80s, The Best Years of Our Lives
02:21was one of the very first batch chosen.
02:24Despite all this, it seems like Russell wasn't expected to win his Best Supporting Actor
02:28category.
02:29He wasn't a professional actor, but had been scouted for the film by Weiler after appearing
02:33in a short government-made documentary titled Diary of a Sergeant.
02:36As a first-time actor, it seemed likely that Russell wouldn't beat out industry veterans
02:40like Claude Rains, Clifton Webb, and Charles Coburn, all of whom had been nominated for
02:44Oscars before 1946.
02:46Still, his turn in the movie was remarkable, and the Academy obviously wanted to recognize
02:51it somehow.
02:52Thus, they gave Russell an honorary Oscar, presented to him by Shirley Temple for,
02:56"...bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans."
02:59That was touching in and of itself.
03:01But later that night, Russell defied expectations by winning Best Supporting Actor after all,
03:06making history at the 19th Academy Awards for his unprecedented double win.
03:10Unfortunately, the exposure didn't lead to a Hollywood career for Russell.
03:14As noted by The Guardian, Weiler told him to return to college instead of pursuing acting
03:18because, quote, "...there wasn't much call for a guy with no hands in the motion picture
03:22industry."
03:23The Oscar winner fought ableism in other ways, serving on a committee for the employment
03:27of disabled people under several different presidential administrations.
03:31He passed away in 2002, but his memory lives on in the best years of our lives, in his
03:36historic Oscar moment, and in his work on behalf of disabled people everywhere.