The greatest senate majority leader we have ever had was Walter Pidgeon in Advise and Consent. who is "as virile as a bull-goat," according to his charming mistress (Gene Tierney), in addition to being indispensable to his party and his nation because he is unfailingly humane, rational, loyal, and wise. In a movie featuring Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, and distinguished others, Pidgeon as senate majority leader Bob Munson bests them all.
And that's as it should be because Walter Pidgeon's role in the movie is not as the nation's leader -- the president is Franchot Tone -- but as a number-two man. And Walter Pidgeon was particularly gifted at portraying the second in command, the assistant to the chief, the spouse. He is Greer Garson's husband in Mrs. Miniver, an enviable part, and there's no shame in playing second fiddle to the incomparable Ms. Garson. He is also William Holden's right-hand man in Executive Suite. In both parts he brings to life a character sorely missing from public land private life today: the gentleman, the grown-up, reliable in the clutch, the guy you'd want to have next to you in the trenches.
Born in Canada, Pidgeon could portray an Englishman in Mrs. Miniver and other movies for the simple reason that he speaks the language as it should be spoken. You can and should catch him in the films I've mentioned and in Man Hunt, Fritz Lang's 1941 thriller, based on the novel Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household. Pidgeon is the hero here: he represents Great Britain, steadfast and resourceful, in opposition Nazi Germany as embodied by George Sanders, smooth, suave, and deceitful. -- DL
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