Editing Clifton Webb (section)

===''Laura'' &ndash; established as character actor===
[[File:Clifton Webb in Laura trailer.jpg|thumb|Webb's performance in ''[[Laura (1944 film)|Laura]]'' earned him an Academy Award nomination.]]
Webb was in his mid-fifties when actor/director [[Otto Preminger]] chose him over the objections of [[20th Century Fox]] chief [[Darryl F. Zanuck]] to play the elegant but evil radio columnist Waldo Lydecker, who is obsessed with [[Gene Tierney]]'s character in the 1944 [[film noir]] ''[[Laura (1944 film)|Laura]]''. Zanuck reportedly found Webb too effeminate as a person and an actor; he wanted [[Laird Cregar]] to play the role; but Cregar by then was well established as an on-screen villain and Preminger wanted someone who would surprise the audience.

Webb's performance won him wide acclaim, and he received an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Actor in a Supporting Role]]. Despite Zanuck's original objection, Webb was signed to a long-term contract with Fox. He worked for them solely for the rest of his career. His first film under the contract was ''[[The Dark Corner]]'' (1946), a film noir directed by [[Henry Hathaway]]; as in ''Laura'', Webb played a suave villain. He was then reunited with Tierney in another highly praised role as the elitist Elliott Templeton in ''[[The Razor's Edge (1946 film)|The Razor's Edge]]'' (1946). He received another Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.