In 1943, Ida Lupino starred in "The Hard Way". Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan, and Jack Carson filled out the leading cast. The time of filming was difficult for Ida, as her father was dying in England of cancer, and he had asked her to keep that secret from her mother. Ida was also concerned her character in this film was horrible and that audiences would turn against her. She told director Vincent Sherman at one point: "This picture is going to stink and I'm going to stink in it!"
She did manage to work through her difficulties, and in the end, along with director Sherman, did a tremendous job in a great film. She won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress of 1943. And she should have at least been nominated for an Academy Award, but that is something that can be said of a lot of Ida's performances.
originally posted in The Vintage Classics on October 13, 2018
Comments