Cimarron (motion picture)

Cimarron (motion picture), drama about a family’s struggles in the Old West from the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1890 to 1915, based on a book by Edna Ferber. Released in 1931, this film won three Academy Awards, including for best picture. Irene Dunne stars as Sabra Cravat, the indomitable matriarch of the family who eventually becomes a newspaper editor and congresswoman despite abandonment by her husband.

Director

• Wesley Ruggles

Cast

• Richard Dix (Yancey Cravat)
• Irene Dunne (Sabra Cravat)
• Estelle Taylor (Dixie Lee)
• Nance O'Neil (Felice Venable)
• William Collier Jr. (The Kid)
• Roscoe Ates (Jess Rickey)
• George E. Stone (Sol Levy)
• Robert McWade (Louie Heffner)
• Edna May Oliver (Mrs. Tracy Wyatt)
• Frank Darien (Mr. Bixby)
• Eugene Jackson (Isaiah)
• Dolores Brown (Baby Big Elk 'Eldest')
• Gloria Vonic (Baby Big Elk 'Youngster')
• Otto Hoffman (Murch Rankin)
• William Orlamond (Grat Gotch)
• Frank Beal (Louis Venable)
• Nancy Dover (Donna Cravat 'Eldest')
• Helen Parrish (Donna Cravat 'Younger')
• Donald Dillaway (Cim 'Eldest')
• Junior Johnson (Cim 'Younger')
• Douglas Scott (Cim 'Youngest')
• Reggie Streeter (Yancey, Jr.)
• Lois Jane Campbell (Felice, Jr.)
• Ann Lee (Aunt Cassandra)
• Tyrone Brereton (Dabney Venable)
• Lillian Lane (Cousin Bella)
• Henry Rocquemore (Jonett Goforth)
• Nell Craig (Arminta Greenwood)
• Bob McKenzie (Pat Leary)
• Bob Kortman (Killer)
• Clara Hunt (Indian girl)
• William Janney (Worker)
• Dennis O'Keefe (Extra)

Awards

• Academy Award for Best Picture (1930–1931): William LeBaron—Producer
• Academy Award for Best Writing—Adaptation (1930–1931): Howard Estabrook
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction (1930–1931): Max Ree

Quote

• Yancey Cravat (regarding the Oklahoma Land Rush): “Creation. That took six days. This was done in one … Why, it’s like a miracle out of the Old Testament.”