"AND THE SPLENDID BOHO GOES TO"- HAROLD RUSSELL FOR "THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES" (1945) - THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS PRESENT A NEW SERIES WHERE THEY PAY TRIBUTE TO A NOTED CHARACTER ACTOR WHOSE CONTRIBUTION TO A FILM ENHANCED IT'S GREATNESS!

DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS

From Purple Hearts to Flying Crosses, veterans can hold any number of decorations, but few can boast the title of Oscar winner.

For his role as double amputee Homer Parrish in 1946's The Best Years of Our Lives, actual veteran Harold Russell earned unique distinction as the first non-professional actor to win an Oscar and the only one in history to win two Oscars for the same role (Supporting Actor and a Special Oscar for "bringing aid and comfort to disabled veterans through the medium of motion pictures").

Russell wasn't a star or even an aspiring actor when cast as Homer Parrish. After signing up to serve in the army, Russell was stationed at Camp Mackall in North Carolina where he trained army paratroopers. There, while demonstrating to his trainees, a defective fuse on a stick of TNT caused an explosion and Russell lost both of his hands. Russell opted for practical hooks — as seen in the film — over prosthetics because of their functionality (prosthetics have significantly improved since the 1940s).
Following his accident, Russell was recruited to appear in the day-in-the-life short Diary of a Sergeant. "It was basically to show the day in the life of a disabled veteran and to inspire other veterans that you can still live a normal, fruitful, happy life," says Jill Blake, writer and cohost of film podcast Criterion Now. Russell had no dialogue in the short, but instead went about his day underscored by voiceover narration.

But his performance got him noticed by government higher-ups, who recruited him to do appearances for the eighth war loan drive, a war bond campaign. At events around the country, they would screen Diary of a Sergeant and Russell would come out to speak about his own experiences.

At one of these events, The Best Years of Our Lives director William Wyler was in attendance — and he was struck by inspiration. The character that would become Homer Parrish was originally written to be suffering from a traumatic brain injury, but Wyler decided casting Russell and making the character a double amputee would serve the story better.

The 1946 film remains a paragon of depicting the challenges that soldiers face readjusting to life back home, in part because Russell's life was incorporated into Homer's story. "What makes this film unique is a person with a disability is playing a person with a disability," adds Blake. "The spirit of the film and that authenticity in Russell's performance is timeless."

Part of that authenticity was inspired by Russell's appearances in the bond drives. Looking to connect with people, he would find ways to break the ice and get people to focus on him as a person rather than his disability. These tactics included extended his hook to shake someone's hand, encouraging them to set aside any discomfort. Additionally, he'd light cigarettes with a match until it burned out, noting that he couldn't burn his fingers anymore. And he'd often joke that one thing he couldn't do was pick up the check. All these moments found their way into the Years script.

"He went through so much in his recovery," notes Blake. "But he chose to be optimistic and use it to his benefit and the benefit of the people around him. And I think that's what really drew Wyler to him."