Characters Portrayed by Oscar Winners: Part I Quiz

Answer: Norma Besant

Mary Pickford (1892-1979) was an American actress who was a co-founder of United Artists with Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and D.W.Griffith.
Mary played they role of Norma Besant in the 1929 movie "Coquette". Norma Besant is a young Southern girl with many admirers. Her father favours someone other than the lad (Michael) that Norma falls in love with. Her father Dr. Besant disapproves of Michael and eventually kills him. Mary won the second Academy Award for Best Actress, after Janet Gaynor the previous year.

Answer: The Cisco Kid

Warner Baxter (1889-1951) was an American actor and won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of The Cisco Kid in the 1928 movie "In Old Arizona". The movie was the first talkie movie to be filmed outdoors. The Cisco Kid is a Mexican caballero and is based on the fictional character created by O. Henry in 1907.

Answer: Eva Lovelace

Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003) won the first of her four Academy Awards for Best Actress in the 1933 movie "Morning Glory" portraying Eva Lovelace. Eva Lovelace is a performer from a small town who dreams of making it big on Broadway. After a number of auditions she lands a big part and although she has self-doubt in her ability, she carries off the part successfully.

Answer: Peter Warne

Clark Gable (1901-1960) won his only Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Peter Warne in the 1934 romantic comedy "It Happened One Night". His leading lady in the movie was Claudette Colbert who won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Peter Warne is an out-of-work reporter who meets a spoiled heiress who has run away from her domineering father.

They meet on a bus headed for New York and eventually fall in love.

Answer: Julie Marsden

Bette Davis (1908-1989) won her second Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Julie Marsden in the 1938 romantic drama "Jezebel". The movie takes place in the 1850s in New Orleans as Julie Marsden (a spoilt socialite) is engaged to Preston "Pres" Dillard (Henry Fonda) but she embarrasses him at a fashionable ball and he breaks off the engagement.

They part ways and Pres gets married but Julie continues to try and get his attention even though he is married.

Answer: Louis Pasteur

Paul Muni (1895-1967) was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy award for Best Actor for his role as Louis Pasteur in the 1936 film "The Story of Louis Pasteur". He plays the role of the 19th century chemist Louis Pasteur and the movie is a biographical film about the chemist's campaigns to have doctors sterilize their hands and instruments before operating.

His theory was that diseases were caused by unseen microbes.

Answer: Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth

Joan Fontaine (1917-2013) was the sister of Academy Award winning actress, Olivia de Havilland. Joan won her Academy Award for Best Actress for her role of Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth in the 1941 Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Suspicion". This was the only Oscar winning performance in all of Hitchcock's movies.

In her role as Lina, who comes from a wealthy family, she meets a playboy on a train , falls in love with him and they marry. After the marriage she finds out that the playboy, Johnny Aysgarth (Cary Grant), has no money or a job and believes he is only after her inheritance. Johnny tries embezzlement and Lina believe that Johnny is plotting to kill her for her inheritance.

Answer: Willie Stark

Broderick Crawford (1911-1986) was an American actor of film, stage, radio and television. Broderick won his Academy Award for Best Actor portraying the ambitious and sometimes ruthless politician Willie Stark in the 1949 movie "All the King's Men". The movie received seven Academy Award nominations, winning three.

The story follows the rise of a small town politician, Willie Stark, who initially fights for justice but eventually becomes corrupt just like the politicians he once fought against. Broderick Crawford is possibly better known for his role as Chief Dan Mathews in the 1950s TV series "Highway Patrol".

Answer: Paula Alquist Anton

Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982) was a Swedish actress who won three Academy Awards. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in the 1944 mystery thriller "Gaslight". She portrays the role of Paula Alquist Anton who, as a young girl, interrupts a murder and theft. Years later while studying in Italy she meets Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer), falls in love with him and they marry.

After sometime she finally realises that her husband was the murderer of her aunt all those years ago.

Answer: Don Birnam

Ray Milland (1907-1986) was a Welsh actor and director. Ray won his Academy Award for Best Actor portraying Don Birnam in the 1945 American film "The Lost Weekend". The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards winning four. Don Birnam is a alcoholic New York writer.

He deceives his girlfriend (Jane Wyman) and goes on a week-end of drinking and getting drunk. Over the course of the weekend he is offered help to cure his alcoholism by various people but denies their help. When he is about to commit suicide his girlfriend saves him and he then begins to write the novel "The Bottle", dedicated to her.