Gary Cooper won an Oscar for his portrayal of Alvin C. York, a sharpshooting Tennessee mountaineer turned World War I hero who singlehandedly killed 25 Germans and captured 132 in one day's action in the Argonne Forest. Cooper had to be talked into taking (more…)Gary Cooper won an Oscar for his portrayal of Alvin C. York, a sharpshooting Tennessee mountaineer turned World War I hero who singlehandedly killed 25 Germans and captured 132 in one day's action in the Argonne Forest. Cooper had to be talked into taking the role, and it was by York himself.

Best Picture nominee is adapted from the John Steinbeck Depression-era novel about two wayfaring California farmhands, one of whom is a simpleminded brute who doesn't know his own strength, which leads to a number of troublesome encounters for the pair.