Remember Winston Churchill’s Legacy With Gary Oldman’s Academy Award®-Winning Performance

On April 9, 1963, Winston Churchill was made the first honorary citizen of the United States. Celebrated today as Winston Churchill Day, April 9 offers a moment to reflect on the man and his legacy.

For the event, President John F. Kennedy issued a proclamation (reprinted by the International Churchill Society) that noted how Churchill’s “bravery, charity, and valor, both in war and in peace, have been a flame of inspiration in freedom’s darkest hour.” And Joe Wright’s award-winning film Darkest Hour highlights those very qualities.

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Written by Anthony McCarten, Darkest Hour recounts the world-changing days in 1940 after Churchill was elected the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The country was facing perhaps its gravest threat as Nazi troops were massing on the French coast, ready to invade England. In the following weeks, Churchill united a fractured government, calmed a frightened public, and rescued the country’s army from what appeared inevitable defeat on the shores of Dunkirk, often simply with the brilliance and ferocity of his speeches. The International Churchill Society noted that Kennedy said Churchill “mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.”

In bringing Churchill to life, Gary Oldman listened to countless radio speeches to divine the unique way the leader used words to propel a nation. “This was the hardest job I’ve ever done as an actor,” Oldman told Vanity Fair. Of course, Oldman was helped by the great orator himself. “Churchill … hands the actor some of the best speeches of his career, and Oldman brings them vividly to life,” writes the Philadelphia Inquirer. All the filmmakers felt a deep responsibility to capture the man, not just for posterity but for contemporary audiences, as well. “Darkest Hour is timely because we feel a void of leadership now; we want someone to rise to the occasion as Winston did,” explains producer Lisa Bruce in the production notes.

The film rose to the occasion. It was nominated for six Academy Awards®, with Oldman winning Best Actor and Kazu Hiro, David Malinowski, and Lucy Sibbick winning Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The Chicago Sun Times writes, “As played by Oldman, Churchill has perhaps never seemed greater. Or more human.” Others grasped the importance of keeping alive the memory of what Churchill was and did. The Washington Post put it simply: “As a portrait of leadership at its most brilliant, thoughtful, and morally courageous, Darkest Hour is the movie we need right now.”