Which 1944 Best Picture winner stars Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O'Malley?

The 1944 Best Picture winner starring Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O’Malley is Going My Way.

Directed by Leo McCarey, the film follows the young, unconventional Father O’Malley as he arrives at St. Dominic’s Church in New York and clashes with the parish’s older priest, Father Fitzgibbon, played by Barry Fitzgerald. Crosby’s relaxed screen presence and musical performances are central to the film’s appeal.

Going My Way was the highest-grossing American film of 1944 and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Crosby, and Best Supporting Actor for Fitzgerald. Its song “Swinging on a Star” also won an Oscar.

The most likely confusion is The Bells of St. Mary’s, the 1945 sequel. Crosby returned as Father O’Malley in that film, but Ingrid Bergman played his co-star, and it was not the Best Picture winner described here. The film was later preserved in the National Film Registry.