Mrs Miniver
Mrs. Miniver was a fictional English housewife created by Jan Struther
in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns for the Times of London.
The columns were short reflections on everyday life, based in part
on Struther's own family and experiences. While the columns
started out as lighthearted domestic scenes where the outside
world barely intruded, the approach of World War II slowly brought
darker global concerns into Mrs. Miniver's world. (One of the more
memorable pieces appears near the middle of the series, where the
Minivers get gas masks.)
The columns were first published as a book in 1939, shortly after
the outbreak of war. Struther stopped the regular newspaper columns
that year, but wrote a series of letters from Mrs. Miniver,
expanding on the character's wartime experiences, that
were published in later editions.
The book became an enormous success, especially in the United States,
where Struther went on a lecture tour shortly after the book's release.
Although the US was still officially
neutral, the tribulations of the Miniver
family as war with Nazi Germany approached
engaged the sympathy of the American public sufficiently that President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt credited it for hastening America's
involvement in the war, and Winston Churchill claimed that it
had done more for the Allied cause that a flotilla of battleships.
The film adaptation of
Mrs. Miniver, released in 1942, focused on Mrs. Miniver
and her family coping with the early days of World War II. The movie sought to build patriotic sentiment in the light of the war.
The film won six Oscars:
It was nominated for another six Oscars:
See also Mrs. Miniver's problem.
External links
Referenced By
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay | Academy Awards/Best Supporting Actress | Academy Awards/Writing Screenplay Adaptation
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