Born September 23, 1897 in New Brunswick, Canada to a haberdasher and a housewife, Walter Pidgeon was educated at the University of New Brunswick where he studied law and drama. He volunteered with the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery in World War I. Severely injured in an accident when he was crushed between two gun carriages and spent seventeen months in a military hospital. After the war, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts where he worked as a bank runner while studying voice at Boston Conservatory.
Pidgeon married Edna Pickles in 1919. She died giving birth to his daughter, who he also named Edna, in 1921. She was raised by his widowed mother.
Moving to New York in 1923, Pidgeon appeared on the Broadway stage before moving to Hollywood in 1926. He appeared in supporting roles in more than twenty films from 1926-1930, returning to Broadway in 1928 where he appeared sporadically more the next ten years.
In 1931, Pidgeon married second wife Ruth Walker with whom he would be married for the remainder of his life. His film career picked up with higher profile supporting roles in 1937’s Saratoga, 1938’s The Girl of the Golden West and Too Hot to Handle and 1940’s It’s a Date and Dark Command among others. He had three high profile starring roles in 1941 in Man Hunt opposite Joan Bennett, Blossoms in the Dust opposite Greer Garson, and How Green Was My Valley opposite Maureen O’Hara. Garson was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for Blossoms in the Dust and both that an How Green Was My Valley were nominated for Best Picture with the latter winning.
Pigeon starred opposite Garson again in 1942’s Mrs. Miniver for which he and she were both nominated for Oscars as was the film which won Best Picture and five other Oscars including one for Garson. The following year Garson and Pidgeon were nominated again for Madame Curie and in 1944 Garson was nominated yet again for Mrs. Parkington, their fourth film together. They would make several more films together but none of them were major Oscar contenders.
The actor’s major late 1940s films included The Secret Heart opposite Claudette Colbert and June Allyson, If Winter Comes opposite Deborah Kerr and Angela Lansbury, Command Decision opposite Clark Gable, The Red Danube opposite Ethel Barrymore, and That Forsyte Woman opposite Errol Flynn and Garson. In 1950, he and Garson reunited once again for The Miniver Story, a poorly received sequel to Mrs. Miniver.
From 1952-1957 , Pidgeon was president of the Screen Actors Guild, succeeding Ronald Reagan and preceding Leon Ames. During this period, he appeared in supporting roles in numerous major films including Million Dollar Mermaid as Esther Williams’ father, The Bad and the Beautiful with Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner, Executive Suite with William Holden and June Allyson, Men of the Fighting Lady with Van Johnson, The Last Time I Saw Paris as Elizabeth Taylor and Donna Reed’s father, Hit the Deck as Jane Powell’s father, Forbidden Planet in a rare starring role at this point, The Rack with Paul Newman and These Wilder Years with James Cagney and Barbara Stanwyck.
Later films include 1968’s Funny Girl as Flo Ziegfeld and 1977’s Sextette in support of Mae West. He died in 1984 at 87, willing his body to scientific research.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941), directed by John Ford
Nominated for 10 Oscars and winner of 5, Ford’s superb film of the first half of Richard Llewelyn’s novel provided Pidgeon with his first blockbuster role as the minister of the church in the Welsh mining town in which he falls in love with Maureen O’Hara as the only daughter of Doanld Crisp and Sara Allgood in a family with five sons, four of whom move away as work in the mines dwindles to a standstill while O’Hara becomes unhappily married to the son of the mine owner. H is also the mentor of O’Hara’s youngest brother, an equally unforgettable Roddy McDowall who also co-starred with Pidgeon in the same year’s Man Hunt.
MRS. MINIVER (1942), directed by William Wyler
Nominated for 12 Oscars and winner of 6, this was Pidgeon’s second Oscar winning film in two years and the first for which he himself was nominated for Best Actor opposite Greer Garson who won Best Actress in the title role of the World Warr II wife and mother. Teresa Wright also won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress as their daughter-in-law. Wright’s husband in the film, Richard Ney, became Garson’s husband in real life. Henry Travers and Dame May Whitty were also nominated for their supporting performances, Travers as the town’s station master and Whitty as Wright’s grandmother.
THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952), directed by Vincente Minnelli
Nominated for 6 Oscars and winner of 5, Minnelli’s expose of Hollywood failed to secure a nomination for Best Picture but won more Oscars that year than any of the year’s Best Picture nominees including High Noon, The Quiet Man, and winner, The Greatest Show on Earth. He was part of a strong ensemble that included Kirk Douglas as a heal of a director, Lana Turner as a troubled actress, Dick Powell as a screenwriter, and Best Supporting Actress winner Gloria Grahame as Powell’s two-timing wife. Pidgeon, then the president of the Screen Actors Guild, played the studio head.
EXECUTIVE SUITE (1954), directed by Robert Wise
Nominated for 4 Oscars, MGM’s glossy all-star expose of a corporate boardroom in turmoil provided strong characterizations for such stars as William Holden, June Allyson, Fredric March, Barbara Stanwyck, Shelley Winters, Paul Douglas, Louis Calhern, Dean Jagger and Nina Foch as well as Pidgeon who was one of the contenders for president of the company after Calhern’s sudden death. Foch as Calhern’s executive secretary, was the only performer nominated for an Oscar, although the film is better remembered for the performances of Holden, March, and Stanwyck with Pidgeon and Jagger also scoring strong notices.
ADVISE & CONSENT (1962), directed by Otto Preminger
One of Preminger’s most acclaimed films, Allen Drury’s bestselling novel about the inner workings of the U.S. Senate, gave Pidgeon one of his juiciest late career roles as the Senate Majority Leader tasked by President Franchot Tone with securing the approval of Henry Fonda for Secretary of State. Also involved in the machinations are fellow senators Charles Laughton, Don Murray, Peter Lawford, George Grizzard, Paul Ford, and Will Geer as the Senate Minority Leader. Lew Ayres is Tone’s Vice President, Burgess Meredith is a mysterious witness at Fonda’s confirmation hearing, and Gene Tierney is an influential Washington hostess.
WALTER PIDGEON AND OSCAR
Mrs. Miniver (1942) Nominated – Best Actor
Madame Curie (1943) Nominated – Best Actor
