AWARDS & HONORS

Born Yesterday placed tenth on the New York Times' ten-best list for 1950. The top slot went to the documentary The Titan -- Story of Michelangelo.

Kicking off the Hollywood awards season, Judy Holliday picked up the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.

Born Yesterday won a Writer's Guild Award nomination for Best Written American Comedy.

Born Yesterday picked up five Oscar® nominations: Best Picture, Best Actress (Holliday), Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Costumes. Holliday's win, over favorites Bette Davis in All About Eve and Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard is considered one of the biggest upsets in Academy Awards® history.

THE CRITICS' CORNER - BORN YESTERDAY (1950)

Born Yesterday was the sixth highest-grossing film of 1951 (it had been released late in 1950), with $4.15 million in film rentals.

"Most potent box-office factor will be the word-of-mouth buildup for Judy Holliday, repeating her legit success here as a femme star of the film version. Almost alone, she makes Born Yesterday a smart ticket buy for filmgoers, and the dumb sexy character she portrays is one the public will take to its heart." -- Brog., Variety.

"...the whole picture is Judy's, and in the intervals between guffaws you have time to reflect that you are seeing the top comic performance by an actress in American movies this year." -- Life.

"A very simple idea, but enlivened by a sharp, witty script and by Cukor's effortless handling of the brilliant performances; especially fine are Holliday, as the dumb blonde who makes good, and Crawford, as the confused sugar-daddy, nowhere more so than in the marvelous scene where her mindless singing disturbs his concentration over a game of gin rummy." -- Geoff Andrew, Time Out.

"Unfortunately for both the junkman and the picture, the journalist reforms Billie, and as she gains in virtue, she diminishes in interest. But you'll remember the early, acquisitive Billy with her truculent voice and glassy eyes, and her gin-rummy game." -- Pauline Kael, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

"Pleasant film version of a cast-iron box-office play, subtle and intelligent in all departments yet with a regrettable tendency to wave the flag." - Halliwell's Film & Video Guide.

"Direction by George Cukor is too theatrical (as is Holliday's performance at times) and the script by Garson Kanin is clever but has only a few bright moments. I don't like the way Kanin uses Crawford comically through much of the film yet, when it suits his purpose, makes him a real heavy. Best scene is the most famous - when Holliday beats Crawford at gin rummy." - Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic.

"One of Cukor's best comedies, with a remarkable performance by Judy Holliday." - Georges Sadoul, Dictionary of Films.

"...Holliday was a strange actress, uneasily bending her own intelligence to the dumbest of New York blondes so that the performance in Born Yesterday often appears studied, cute, and condescending. It is a part of this curious meticulousness that she never seemed sexy on the screen. Never the "open, honest, bland, funny, sexy girl" that Kanin intended, but a neurotic barrage of timing, expression, and gestures." - David Thomson, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film.

"In many films, hero or heroine are transformed when they take off their glasses. In Born Yesterday Billie puts her glasses on." - Movie Diva (www.moviediva.com)

"Holliday is amazingly funny and feisty as the blond who finds her brain. Everything else about the film falls flat, even the love story angle. It's all Holden and Crawford can do to keep up with her energy. A great star turn, despite the uneven story." - Crazy for Cinema, http://crazy4cinema.com/

Compiled by Frank Miller & Jeff Stafford