15th Academy Awards 15th Academy Awards The 15th Academy Awards was held in the Cocoanut Grove at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles honoring the films of 1942. Best Picture honors went to the film "Mrs. Miniver". The ceremony is most famous for the speech by the film’s Oscar-winning actress Greer Garson. Garson’s acceptance speech as Best Actress ran nearly 6 minutes and is generally considered to be the longest acceptance speech at an Academy Awards ceremony. "Mrs. Miniver" was the second film (after "My Man Godfrey" in 1936) to receive nominations in all four acting categories, as well as the first film
William Wyler and Roosevelt wanted prints rushed to theaters nationwide. The Voice of America radio network broadcast the minister's speech from the film, magazines reprinted it, and it was copied onto leaflets and dropped over German-occupied countries. Churchill sent MGM head Louis B. Mayer a telegram claiming that ""Mrs. Miniver" is propaganda worth 100 battleships." Bosley Crowther wrote in his "New York Times" review that "Mrs. Miniver" was the finest film yet made about the war, "and a most exalting tribute to the British." Between 1942 and 1945 Wyler volunteered to serve as a major in the United States Army Air Forces