1930-31 – Fredric March
The Royal Family of Broadway
This was a crazy movie, and Fredric March played the craziest of all the characters. He played Tony Cavendish, a man who was the son, brother, and uncle to three great actresses. The family is already chaotic, but he is even more over-the-top than all the rest of them put together. Every time he was on the screen it was like a hurricane. The film was a kind of screwball comedy, so his bombastic antics actually fit the bill, but I have never seen him in a role like the one he played here.
So aside from being a charming womanizer / playboy, he clearly loved his family. But he was, as one might imagine, a supreme narcissist. Everything was about him, and he was quite unapologetic about it. But when his mother’s health began to decline, he was the first to kneel at her bedside. He was an interesting character, but I think it is important to note that if the category of Best Supporting Actor had existed at the time, that’s where his nomination would have fallen. He was very much a supporting character in the narrative.
But the role also seemed to tell me something about March, himself. He was unafraid of being silly, wild, bombastic, and naked. Yes, that’s right, naked. In his first scene in the film, he says he is going to take a shower, and that his mother and sister should follow him so they could talk to him while he did. So as he goes up the stairs with his family in tow, he strips down. In the bedroom, he removes his shoes and socks. And before crossing to the bathroom, he unbuttons his boxers and begins to remove them. We very nearly got full-frontal before he went through the door. And then we get an entire scene of watching him under the water with his mom and sister sitting by the shower door.
That was a bit of a surprise, but it was tame enough. The truth is, he was a lot of fun to watch on the screen. He did a great job of drawing my attention every time he was in a scene, whether he was fencing, screaming about getting a passport so he could flee the country, or pining over his ailing mother. He was wild, irreverent, silly, and had an absolutely captivating presence. Incidentally, this was his first Oscar nomination of five over his long career. I’d say it was a good start.