Close To My Heart 1951 -Ray Milland, Gene Tierney, Fay Bainter

Considering Gene Tierney`s struggle with depression & having a disabled child at home this must have been a difficult role for her to play in this movie. She was a real professional.

Gene Tierney's mid to late 1940s films: Laura (1944), Leave Her To Heaven (1945), The Razor's Edge (1946), The Ghost And Mrs. Muir (1947) are well known and well documented. Tierney's performances in the early 1950s can also stand on their own, especially in Close to My Heart (1951, Warner Brothers). Close To My Heart is a warm, touching film that explores the issue of nature versus nurture in terms of babies and parenting. The film is based on a novel by James R. Webb, entitled "A Baby for Midge." Both Gene Tierney and Ray Milland were loaned out to Warner Brothers to make Close to My Heart - Tierney from 20th Century-Fox and Milland from Paramount. Tierney embraced the opportunity. "As Midge Sheridan in Close to My Heart, I had my best role in half a dozen years, the story of a woman who adopts a baby," said Tierney in her 1979 autobiography Self-Portrait. "The part was one that touched the chords of my own experience. I can understand the hunger to have a baby."In the only feature film Tierney made at Warner Brothers, Fox contract star Gene Tierney plays Midge Sheridan, a young wife who is unable to conceive children. Her husband Brad (Ray Milland) readily agrees that adoption is the answer to their problem, but when Midge becomes attached to Danny, a foundling born to unidentified parents, Brad begins to worry that the baby may have been born with genetically determined criminal tendencies. He uses his position as a newspaper reporter to launch an investigation into Danny's parentage, causing the head of the adoption agency (Fay Bainter) to question whether the Sheridans are the most suitable couple to raise Danny.This sensitive, thoughtful drama is expertly played by a talented cast. Miss Tierney, in particular, is ideally suited to her role and turns in a beautifully underplayed performance that tugs at the audience's heart. Tierney was very convincing and I admired her ability to do such a film considering her history of severe depression and her own issues with having a severely disabled child. I kept wondering how hard all this must have been for her and she pulled it off flawlessly.If you compare The Razor’s Edge (1946, 20th Century-Fox), which costarred Tierney with Tyrone Power. In that film, she portrays Isabel Bradley, a woman so drastically different from Midge Sheridan that it was amazing and perhaps a little jarring to see her playing such polar opposites and make them both very believable. But that’s a testament to Tierney’s talent and career; she possessed a most remarkable range. Her scenes with Faye Bainter, especially the ones in which she attempts to explain away Milland's obsessive doubts, are authentically tender and convincing. Bainter is superb as the head of the adoption agency who wants to make sure both parents are right for the child. Tierney looks ravishing and there is no trace of the illness which would overtake her career in a few short years. Tierney's husband at the time, famed fashion designer Oleg Cassini, created all of her costumes for Close to My Heart, their tenth film working together. It would be the final creative collaboration between the two as the marriage ended in divorce the following year in 1952.The quality of the acting is exemplified towards the end, when Milland comes home to a quietly angry Tierney. The dynamic of a somewhat oblivious husband who suddenly realizes he may have totally destroyed his marriage, and an equally oblivious wife who has manipulated herself into thinking divorce for the first time in her life, is rarely this realistically portrayed. Tierney's chemistry with Milland in this film is very authentic as a married couple. Milland has some good moments too, especially towards the end when he has his final confrontation with Bainter is rather poignant. B-actress Mary Beth Hughes has only two scenes but she gives a stunning portrayal of a party girl.As usual, Max Steiner's score sets just the right mood.

Great review Marc! I count Gene Tierney among my top 3 actresses. I just enjoy every performance she does! She can play light and funny to vulnerable to a psycho killer and I find her equally believable. What a beautiful, classy woman!

I live in Houston, Texas and that's where Gene Tierney lived after her marriage to Howard Lee in 1960 in fact I have paid my respects to Miss Tierney at her gravesite and her two daughters Daria and Christina are buried in the family plot. Howard Hughes is also buried there as well. I know some people who knew her when she was living in Houston and they all told me that she was very gracious to everybody and was not at all mean and nasty. I have attach a photo from the scene that shocked audiences then as it still does today. Truly unforgettable in every way.

If you have read much on my page, you know that my admiration of Gene Tierney is great. I have only read that she was kind and reserved, which made the coldness of the scene you referenced even more shocking. Amazing actress. Timeless beauty. It always makes me happy that we are still talking about her today!

I just read all these comments tonight. Wonderful. I always enjoy Tierney in all her roles. What a tender movie. Thank you

Gene Tierney was a fine actress. She was very attractive coupled with a softness, making her one of the more endearing celebrities, qualities so rare these days! I love these old movies, so much better than what comes out of hollywood these days.

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