The Bells of St. Mary's premiered in New York City on 6 December 1945.
After the success of Going My Way the year before, director Leo McCarey (who had received the Best Director Oscar for the film) established his own production company and looked to make another film with Bing Crosby as Father O'Malley (Crosby received the Oscar for Best Actor).
McCarey developed the story (based in part on his own aunt, Sister Mary Benedict, who died of typhoid) and Dudley Nichols wrote the screenplay. Ingrid Bergman was cast (she received a Best Actress Oscar for 1944's Gaslight, and would receive her 3rd consecutive nomination for The Bells of St. Mary's).
The Bells of St. Mary's was a commercial and critical hit. It was the highest-grossing film for 1945 in the US and was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (making Crosby the first actor to receive nominations for portraying the same character in different films), Best Actress, Best Editing (Harry Marker), Best Music (Robert Emmett Dolan), and Best Song ("Aren't You Glad You're You").
It received the Oscar for Best Sound Recording.
