White Christmas (song) created a distinct Christmas chart for seasonal releases. In "Holiday Inn", the composition won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942. In the film, Crosby sings "White Christmas" as a duet with actress Marjorie Reynolds, though her voice was dubbed by Martha Mears. This now-familiar scene was not the moviemakers' initial plan. In the script as originally conceived, Reynolds, not Crosby, would sing the song. The song would feature in another Crosby film, the 1954 musical "White Christmas", which became the highest-grossing film of 1954. (Crosby made yet another studio recording of the song, accompanied by Joseph J.
20th Academy Awards 20th Academy Awards No film received more than three awards at the 20th Academy Awards. This would not recur until the 78th Academy Awards. Rosalind Russell was highly favored to win Best Actress her performance in "Mourning Becomes Electra", but Loretta Young won instead for "The Farmer's Daughter". James Baskett received an Academy Honorary Award for his portrayal of Uncle Remus in "Song of the South", which made him the first African-American man and the first Walt Disney star to win an Academy Award for acting. At age 71, Edmund Gwenn was the oldest Oscar-winner to that time. The previous