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In Oscars history, Barry Fitzgerald holds the record of being the only actor to ever receive two separate award nominations for the same performance and win one. The Irish actor, whose prolific career in Hollywood lasted from the 1920s to the end of the 1950s, worked with the likes of movie legends John Wayne, John Ford, Cary Grant, and more. But rather than just being a part of their cinematic accomplishments, Fitzgerald succeeded in landing some important achievements of his own in the industry.

In the early stages of his career, Barry Fitzgerald was an unlikely contender to set any Oscar records. He started off as a stage actor in Ireland and didn't receive his break in Hollywood until 1936, when he appeared in John Ford's The Plough and the Stars, at the age of 48. But just eight years after his appearance in the John Ford movie, Fitzgerald was chosen by director,...

Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water”) and Jordan Peele (“Get Out”) joined an elite group of filmmakers who received Oscar nominations for writing, directing and producing the same film. In the academy’s 90-year history, only 26 other people pulled off this hat trick. Peele is the first black filmmaker to do so, while del Toro is only the second Latin American after his filmmaking amigo Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

Now del Toro and Peele are hoping to join the even more exclusive club of seven filmmakers who won all three prizes in one night. Considering they’re in direct competition with each other for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay (where del Toro competes alongside co-writer Vanessa Taylor), it’ll be an especially tricky feat to pull off.

Leo McCarey was the first person to win the big three for “Going My Way” (1944), a lighthearted comedy starring Bing...

Going My Way (1944) Direction: Leo McCarey Cast: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Risë Stevens, Frank McHugh, Gene Lockhart, James Brown, Jean Heather, Porter Hall, Fortunio Bonanova Screenplay: Frank Butler and Frank Cavett; from a story by Leo McCarey Oscar Movies Barry Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Going My Way Director Leo McCarey and screenwriters Frank Butler and Frank Cavett poured a whole bottle of syrup into their sentimental comedy-drama Going My Way. The fact that this "inspirational" tale with religious overtones became the year's biggest blockbuster and the winner of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, proves that McCarey, Butler, Cavett, and Paramount Pictures knew exactly what audiences wanted in 1944: the same sort of gooey star vehicle that continues to lure millions of moviegoers, e.g., Tom Hanks' Forrest Gump, Will Smith's The Pursuit of Happyness, Sandra Bullock's The Blind Side. In Going My Way, the goo is provided...

Going My Way (1944) Direction: Leo McCarey Screenplay: Frank Butler and Frank Cavett; from a story by Leo McCarey Cast: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Risë Stevens, Frank McHugh, Gene Lockhart, James Brown, Jean Heather, Porter Hall, Fortunio Bonanova Barry Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby in Going My Way Synopsis: The new priest in parish, the jovial Father O’Malley (Bing Crosby), tries to befriend the local old-school priest, Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald), and to reach out to a new generation of churchgoers. Will he succeed? (Just a rhetorical question.) The Pros: Barry Fitzgerald is fun as the feisty dark-robed curmudgeon with a heart of solid platinum. ("His performance is one of the half-dozen finer things seen in motion pictures as they complete their first fifty years," said [...]...