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Disability in "The Best Years of Our Lives"
Published in the Spring 2015 issue of Breath & Shadow: A Journal of Disability Culture and Literature The Best Years of Our Lives : Shattering Glass, Shattering Disability Taboos By Denise Noe The Best Years of Our Lives is a 1946 black and white motion picture rightly regarded as a classic. William Wyler directed this film from a screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood based on a novel by MacKinlay Kantor. The movie won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay. One actor, Harold Russell, won two Academy Awards for his performance in this film: an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and a special honorary award “for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans.” By casting Russell, who had lost his hands and forearms in a military training accident, the film shattered a major cinematic taboo: he was the first physically disabled person ever cast in a major role. To this day, Ru...
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