Awards
| “ | Take, for example, The Ten Commandments. Original story by Moses. The producers were forced to keep Moses' name off the writing credits because they found out he had once crossed the Red Sea. | ” |
|
—Groucho Marx, at the WGA 1957 Awards, in a thinly veiled reference to what happened to Wilson's screen credit. |
Only a week before the year's Oscar nominations were announced, the AMPAS Board of Governors introduced a rule denying an Oscar to anyone who refused to talk to a United States congressional committee; after the Writers Guild of America protested the new rule to no avail, they gave Wilson a Writers Guild of America Award for "Best Written American Drama."
At the 29th Academy Awards, Friendly Persuasion was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Anthony Perkins), Best Music – Song (Dimitri Tiomkin and Paul Francis Webster for "Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)"), Best Writing – Screenplay (Adapted) (unnamed), and Best Sound Recording (Gordon R. Glennan and Gordon E. Sawyer). Wilson's name could not appear on the Oscar ballot because he was blacklisted. Wyler also had wanted his brother Robert and West to receive credit for rewriting the script, also including Wilson, but the WGA ruled Michael Wilson deserved sole credit for his screenplay.
It was among the "Top Ten Films" at that year's National Board of Review Awards, where Dorothy McGuire was also awarded "Best Actress." The film won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival.
Read more about this topic: Friendly Persuasion (film)