Disability in the Movies
TCM, beginning at 8 p.m.
Sunday evenings in July, Turner Classic Movies will air double features of films dealing with various aspects of physical and mental disabilities among characters, and often starring disabled actors. Tonight’s first title is The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Best Director Oscar winner William Wyler’s Best Picturewinning drama about three World War II veterans who face challenges as they readjust to life back home. Two of the vets are played by nondisabled actors: Best Actor winner Fredric March, as a man wrestling with alcoholism, and Dana Andrews, whose character struggles with PTSD (known then as “shell shock”). The third character is portrayed by Harold Russell, an actual World War II veteran who lost both his hands in his military service and had them replaced with hooks. Russell became the first nonprofessional actor to win an Academy Award when he was named Best Supporting Actor for his performance here. He also received an Honorary Award for what the Academy described as “bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance in The Best Years of Our Lives.” Russell did not appear in another film until 34 years later, in tonight’s next title, which is making its TCM premiere: Inside Moves (1980). He has a smaller role in this Richard Donner-directed drama, playing one of the regulars in a neighborhood bar that is frequented by disabled people, including the main character (played by John Savage), who finds himself there following a suicide attempt.