Death of a Salesman
US (1951): Drama
Fredric March won an Oscar® nomination for best actor playing the tragic Willie Loman in this first screen version of Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Willie (March) spent his entire life reaching for fortune. Now, middle aged and weary, he has little to show for it. Devastated by this realization, he begins to experience flashbacks of the past in an attempt to make sense of it all. But the more his mind travels, the more he seems to lose touch with reality.
Kevin McCarthy costars as Biff, Willie's oldest son, who clashes horribly with his father. Mildred Dunnock, who plays Willie's wife Linda in the film, held the same role in the popular stage version. The role of Willie was cast to Fredric March after Lee J. Cobb, from the stage version, was blacklisted by Hollywood for his politics. Directed by László Benedek; cast also features Cameron Mitchell as Happy. There have been several other productions of the play filmed, the most notable of which are the Dustin Hoffman-John Malkovich 1985 TV version and the 2000 Brian Dennehy-Ron Eldard version. (Columbia) (amctv.com)
Arthur Miller disliked this film version of his play because he felt that the flashback sequences made it look as if Willy Loman were literally acting out his past in front of others, and that this made him seem insane. Perhaps because of this, this 1951 version has not been televised in more than twenty years, and it has never been issued on VHS or DVD.
5 nominations
· Actor 1951: Fredric March
· Supporting Actor 1951: Kevin McCarthy
· Supporting Actress 1951: Mildred Dunnock
· Cinematography (Black and White) 1951: Franz Planer
· Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1951: Alex North