The Country Girl is a star vehicle for Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby, who play an alcoholic actor and his dedicated wife. It produced acclaim and respect for Kelly, cast against type and wearing drab dresses to accentuate her performance as a frumpy housewife. Adapted by director George Seaton from Clifford Odets' stage play, the movie unwisely alters the source material to make room for Crosby's singing numbers, though in other respects it's a reasonable transference to the big screen. When Paramount released the film, it launched a major campaign to generate Oscar nominations, and it garnered seven, including Best Picture and Best Director, winning Best Screenplay and Best Actress for a pre-Monaco Kelly. Ironically, Seaton lost the Best Director Oscar to On the Waterfront's Elia Kazan, who was in part the basis for the director played by William Holden in The Country Girl.