The 1934 Best Actress race became one of the Academy's earliest and most controversial scandals. Amid growing resentment over the Academy's perceived alignment with producers during labor disputes, both the Screen Actors Guild and Screen Writers Guild encouraged members to boycott the organization, dramatically reducing participation in the nominations. As a result, only a small pool of actors selected the nominees, leading to several high-profile omissions, most notably Bette Davis for her acclaimed performance in Of Human Bondage.

Davis had already angered Warner Bros. by insisting on being loaned to RKO for the role, and the studio reportedly refused to campaign on her behalf after blocking her from It Happened One Night. The omission sparked widespread outrage throughout Hollywood, with trade papers, actors such as Joan Blondell and Dick Powell, and even fellow nominee Norma Shearer publicly questioning the Academy's decision.

The backlash forced the Academy into damage control. Just days after the nominations, newly elected president Howard Estabrook introduced unrestricted write-in voting for all categories, a reform supported by Frank Capra, Robert Riskin, Norma Shearer, William Powell, and Norman Krasna in the hope of ensuring more credible winners. Although Davis received a substantial write-in vote, it was not enough to overcome the official nominees, and Claudette Colbert ultimately won for It Happened One Night.

Characters: Peter Warne and Ellen “Ellie” Andrews Warne

Media: It Happened One Night (1934)

Played by: Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert

Setting: 1930s, Glen Falls / New York City

Clark Gable emerged from It Happened One Night not simply as a major star, but as the defining masculine icon of Depression-era Hollywood. By the mid-1930s, his rise had been astonishingly fast, fueled by audiences craving a new kind of leading man: confident, magnetic, rough-edged, and assertive without becoming truly cruel or villainous. Until then, MGM had often cast Gable as gangsters, dangerous seducers, or aggressively masculine antiheroes.

Peter Warne, however, reshaped his image completely. Under Frank Capra’s direction, Gable projected not only swagger and authority, but warmth, humor, emotional restraint, and unexpected vulnerability. Rather than dominating Ellie Andrews through brute masculinity, Peter constantly balances teasing cynicism with instinctive protectiveness, creating a far more approachable and likable screen persona that would heavily influence Gable’s later career.

The film also turned Gable into a nationwide cultural phenomenon. Audiences immediately copied his style, mannerisms, and appearance, while the phrase “Who do you think you are, Clark Gable?” reportedly entered popular slang. One of the film’s most famous moments came during the “Walls of Jericho” motel sequence, when Gable casually removed his shirt to reveal he was not wearing an undershirt — a scene so widely discussed that it allegedly contributed to declining undershirt sales across America.