Academy got it wrong on 1954’s best actress

Four of the five people nominated for an acting Oscar will lose this month — this isn’t Little League; not everyone gets a trophy — but the ones who go home emptyhanded should take solace in the fact that the wrong person often wins, and sooner or later, everyone figures it out.

At the 1955 ceremony, Grace Kelly won for an amateurish performance in “The Country Girl” — something that could have been duplicated on the stage of any community theater in America. The Academy overlooked the apotheosis of Judy Garland’s screen career in “A Star Is Born.” Garland is funny, appealing, lovable and emotional, and her singing is wonderful.

Her performance of “The Man That Got Away” is something to back up and watch again and again. “A Star Is Born” has always been a winning formula, in all its incarnations and remakes, but this version is probably the best.

“A Star Is Born” (1954): Streaming on HBO Max.

Warner Bros. 1954