Editing Clifton Webb (section)

===''Sitting Pretty'' and stardom===
Webb was billed in a starring role in ''[[Sitting Pretty (1948 film)|Sitting Pretty]]'', playing [[Lynn Aloysius Belvedere|Mr. Belvedere]], a snide, know-it-all babysitter. It was a huge hit and Webb received an Oscar nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor in a Leading Role]]. Fox promptly put Webb in a sequel, ''[[Mr. Belvedere Goes to College]]'' (1949) where Belvedere has to complete his college degree and acts as matchmaker. It was another box office success.

In the film ''[[Cheaper by the Dozen (1950 film)|Cheaper by the Dozen]]'' (1950), Webb and [[Myrna Loy]] played [[Frank Bunker Gilbreth Sr.|Frank]] and [[Lillian Moller Gilbreth|Lillian Gilbreth]], real-life efficiency experts of the 1910s and 1920s, and the parents of 12 children. It resulted in Webb's third hit in a row and led to exhibitors voting him the seventh biggest star in the United States. Less successful at the box-office was ''[[For Heaven's Sake (1950 film)|For Heaven's Sake]]'' (1950) in which Webb played an angel trying to help a couple on earth. He made ''[[Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell]]'' (1951), with Belvedere causing trouble in an old-folks home, but the film was not as successful at the box-office as the first two, resulting in the end of the series.

Webb played a father trying to cancel his daughter Anne Francis' marriage in ''[[Elopement (film)|Elopement]]'' (1952), a minor hit. He made a brief appearance in ''[[Belles on Their Toes (film)|Belles on Their Toes]]'' (1952), on a sequel to ''Cheaper by the Dozen'', which covered the family's life after the death of the father. He then starred in ''[[Dreamboat (film)|Dreamboat]]'' (1952) as college professor Thornton Sayre, who in his younger days was known as silent-film idol Bruce "Dreamboat" Blair. Now a distinguished academic who wants no part of his past fame, he sets out to stop the showing of his old films on [[television]]. The film concludes with Webb's alter ego Sayre watching himself star in ''[[Sitting Pretty (1948 film)|Sitting Pretty]]''.

Around the same time, he starred in the [[Technicolor]] film biography of bandmaster [[John Philip Sousa]], ''[[Stars and Stripes Forever (film)|Stars and Stripes Forever]]'' (also 1952). He was a Belvedere-like scoutmaster in ''[[Mister Scoutmaster]]'' (1953). Webb had his most dramatic role as the doomed but brave husband of unfaithful [[Barbara Stanwyck]] in ''[[Titanic (1953 film)|Titanic]]'' (also 1953). Writer [[Walter Reisch]] says this movie was created in part as a vehicle for Webb by Fox, who wanted to push Webb into more serious roles.<ref name="walter">{{cite book|url=http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft0z09n7m0&chunk.id=d0e11350&toc.id=d0e11350&brand=ucpress|pages=237–238|title=Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s.|publisher= Berkeley: University of California Press|date=1991|last=McGilligan|first=Patrick}}</ref> Soon afterward, he played the (fictional) novelist John Frederick Shadwell in ''[[Three Coins in the Fountain (film)|Three Coins in the Fountain]]'' (1954), romancing [[Dorothy McGuire]]. It was a huge hit. He was top billed as a company owner in ''[[Woman's World (1954 film)|Woman's World]]'' (1954), a corporate drama.

The British film ''[[The Man Who Never Was]]'' (1956) featured Webb playing the part of [[Royal Navy]] Lt. Cmdr. [[Ewen Montagu]] in the true story of [[Operation Mincemeat]], the elaborate plan to deceive the Axis powers about the Allied invasion of [[Sicily]] during [[World War II]]. In ''[[Boy on a Dolphin]]'' (1957), second-billed to [[Alan Ladd]], with third-billed [[Sophia Loren]], he portrayed a wealthy sophisticate who enjoyed collecting illegally obtained [[Greece|Greek]] antiquities. In a nod to his own identity, the character's name was Victor Parmalee.

He starred in ''[[The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker]]'' (1959), a ''Cheaper By the Dozen'' comedy as a man with two families, and ''[[Holiday for Lovers]]'' (1959), a family comedy set in South America. Neither was particularly successful. Fox was developing ''[[Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959 film)|Journey to the Center of the Earth]]'' (1959) as a vehicle for Webb, but when he fell ill and was unable to work, [[James Mason]] stepped into the role.<ref>{{Cite book|last=McGilligan|first=Pat|title=Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s|publisher=University of California Press|year=1991|isbn=|location=|pages=243–244}}</ref> Webb's final film role was an initially sarcastic, but ultimately self-sacrificing [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] priest in [[Leo McCarey]]'s ''[[Satan Never Sleeps]]'' (1962). The film showed the victory of [[Mao Zedong|Mao Tse-tung]]'s armies in the [[Chinese Civil War]], which ended with his ascension to power in 1949, but was actually filmed in [[United Kingdom|Britain]] during the summer of 1961, using sets left from the film ''[[The Inn of the Sixth Happiness]]'' (1958), which was also set in China.

Webb was honored with a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] at 6850 Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the motion picture industry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.walkoffame.com/clifton-webb |title=Clifton Webb |website=walkoffame.com|date=October 25, 2019 }}</ref>

Webb's portrayal of Lynn Belvedere was the model for the "Mr. Peabody" character in the "'''Peabody's Improbable History'''" segment of the animated cartoon series ''[[The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends]]''. And the 1980's television sitcom Mr. Belvedere was based on Webb's character, with [[Christopher Hewett]] in the title role.