Academy Award for Best Picture

1942

Mrs. Miniver

Release dates

June 4, 1942

Starring

Greer Garson

Walter Pidgeon

Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 American dramatic film directed by William Wyler, and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Based on the 1940 novel Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther, the film shows how the life of an unassuming British housewife in rural England is touched by World War II. She sees her eldest son go to war, finds herself confronting a German pilot who has parachuted into her idyllic village while her husband is participating in the Dunkirk evacuation, and loses her daughter-in-law as a casualty.

Produced and distributed by MGM, the film features a strong supporting cast that includes Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney and Henry Wilcoxon.

Mrs. Miniver won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actress (Greer Garson) and Best Supporting Actress (Teresa Wright). In 1950, a film sequel The Miniver Story was made with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon reprising their roles.

In 2006, the film was ranked number 40 on the American Film Institute's list celebrating the most inspirational films of all time. In 2009, the film was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and will be preserved for all time.