Jose Ferrer won an Academy Award for his portrayal of the large-nosed swordsman with a poet's soul. He'd played the role many times on Broadway, but his performance was captured for the ages in Stanley Kramer's 1950 production. The New York Times' Bosley Crowther wrote that Ferrer spoke Edmund Rostand's poetic dialog "with richness and clarity such as only a few other actors have managed on the screen." The story of Cyrano and his beloved Roxanne has been told many times with various actors, but until you've seen Ferrer in the lead role, you haven't seen Cyrano de Bergerac.