Awards and Honors
1947 Academy Awards
The film received seven Academy Awards. Fredric March won his second Best Actor award (after winning in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). (Dana Andrews' brilliant performance turned out to be overshadowed by the acclaim Fredric March and Harold Russell received.)
Despite his Oscar-nominated performance, Harold Russell was not a professional actor. As the Academy Board of Governors considered him a long shot to win, they gave him an honorary award "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance". When Russell won Best Supporting Actor, there was an enthusiastic response. He is the only actor to have received two Academy Awards for the same performance. He later sold one of the awards at auction for $60,000, to pay his wife's medical bills.
| Award | Result | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Won | Samuel Goldwyn Productions (Samuel Goldwyn, Producer) | |
| Won | William Wyler | |
| Won | Fredric March | |
| Won | Robert E. Sherwood | |
| Won | Harold Russell | |
| Won | Daniel Mandell | |
| Won | Hugo Friedhofer | |
| Nominated | Gordon E. Sawyer |
|
| Won | To Harold Russell |
1947 Golden Globe Awards
- Won: Best Dramatic Motion Picture
- Won: Special Award for Best Non-Professional Acting - Harold Russell
1948 BAFTA Awards
- Won: BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source
Other wins
- National Board of Review: NBR Award Best Director, William Wyler; 1946.
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards: NYFCC Award Best Director, William Wyler; Best Film; 1946.
- Bodil Awards: Bodil; Best American Film, William Wyler; 1948.
- Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain: CEC Award; Best Foreign Film, USA; 1948.
In 1989, the National Film Registry selected it for preservation in the United States Library of Congress as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
American Film Institute recognition
- 1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #37
- 2006 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers #11
- 2007 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #37
Read more about this topic: The Best Years Of Our Lives
Famous quotes containing the word honors:
“He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)