in the early years he achieved success in films such as "bulldog drummond escapes" (1937), "hotel imperial" (1939), "beau geste" (1939), and "the major and the minor" (1942) with ginger rogers. he was also in "ministry of fear" (1944), by fritz lang. in the billy wilder film "the lost weekend" (1945), he played the role of don birnam, an alcoholic writer. that role earned him an academy award as best actor.