Biopics on the Distaff Side Trivia Quiz

Answer: Meryl Streep

In "The Iron Lady" (2011), the great actress Meryl Streep plays Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) who served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. The film depicts Thatcher in her later years as she looks back upon her life and career. She relives her humble beginnings and mourns the death of her husband. Streep, as usual, is flawless in her portrayal.

Answer: Nicole Kidman

Meryl Streep again appears in "The Hours" (2002) which depicts how three different generations are affected by Virginia Woolf's novel "Mrs. Dalloway". We see a modern woman with a friend dying of AIDS (Streep), a pregnant woman of an earlier generation reading the novel (Julianne Moore), and Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) herself as she is creating the book. Woolf is played by Nicole Kidman who won an Academy Award for Best Actress for the part.

Answer: Madonna

Madonna portrays the iconic Eva Duarte Peron (1919-1952) in Andrew Lloyd's musical, "Evita" (1996). We watch as a poor, minor Argentinian actress marries Juan Peron in 1945, less than a year before he becomes president of Argentina. As first lady, she wields her political influence and power to help those in the working class and lower class (descamisadas).

This earns her the popular support of the masses, and the derision of the military and bourgeoisie.

Answer: Hilary Swank

Best Actress Academy Award winner Hilary Swank takes on the role of pilot Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) in "Amelia" (2009). We see a young Kansas girl fall in love with aviation, and become the first woman to win the Distinguished Flying Cross for piloting a plane across the Atlantic Ocean alone. Sadly, in her attempt to circumnavigate the globe, she disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, at the age of thirty-nine.

Answer: Natalie Portman

"Jackie" (2016) is the story of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994). The film takes place after the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy. She must endure the trauma and grief while consoling her children for their loss. Her dignity and class shine though as the former first lady attempts to preserve her husband's legacy and the legend of 'Camelot'. Natalie Portman plays the role of this iconic woman, and was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for the part.

Answer: Marcia Gay Harden

Abstract expressionist painter Lenora "Lee" Krasner (1908-1984) married painter Jackson "Jack the Dripper" Pollock in 1945. In the movie "Pollock" (2000), we are first introduced to Pollock via a 1941 flashback where he is living in a garret in NYC, drinking too much and occasionally exhibiting his works.

When he meets Lee she helps him back to sanity and sobriety and a breakthrough in his work, while putting her career on hold. Sadly, it does not end well.

Answer: Kirsten Dunst

Sofia Coppola directed the 2006 film "Marie Antoinette". Antoinette (1755-1793) was born as an Archduchess of Austria, and married Louis XVI at fifteen-years-old. She reigned as Queen from 1774 to 1793, becoming the last Queen of France before the French Revolution.

The movie details the young Queen and her opulent life style in Versailles; the saying "Let them eat cake" is attributed to her. Kirsten Dunst ("Spider-Man") assayed the role.

Answer: Taraji P. Henson

History is finally getting around to telling the stories of those important people who were formerly 'invisible', e.g., women and people of color. "Hidden Figures" (2017) deals with both groups in relating the story of three black women who worked for NASA in the early 1960s, and helped get space travel 'off the ground'. Katherine G. Johnson, born in 1918, is a brilliant mathematician whose calculations helped get John Glenn safely into space and back home again. Taraji P.

Henson ("Empire") played the part with quiet dignity.

Answer: Barbra Streisand

"Funny Girl" (1968) is the story of comedienne, singer and Ziegfeld girl, Fanny Brice (1891-1951). She made appearances in every venue, i.e., radio, the stage and film (before television). She wrote and starred in the hit radio comedy "The Baby Snooks Show".

It is no surprise that the versatile singer and actress, Barbra Streisand, portrayed Brice's life and loves in the film. It was her breakout role and garnered her a Best Actress Academy Award.

Answer: Renee Zellweger

"Miss Potter" (2006) is the story of British author Beatrix Potter (1886-1943). Potter was a writer, illustrator and conservationist who is best known for her children's stories about a rabbit named Peter. The film begins in London in 1902 where we find the spinster Beatrix living with her parents. Drawing from her childhood experiences with pet animals, she gets her stories published, befriends the publisher's sister and, eventually the publisher himself. Renee Zellweger plays Miss Potter, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

Answer: Sissy Spacek

Sissy Spacek, who had previously played the unfortunate "Carrie" in the 1976 movie, went on to play country singer Loretta Lynn in the 1980 biopic "Coal Miner's Daughter". Loretta Lynn was born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky in 1932. The movie depicts Lynn's rise from her poverty-stricken childhood to her superstardom in a career spanning six decades.

She was one of the main people responsible for bringing country music to the mainstream. Spacek's portrayal earned her a Best Actress Academy Award.

Answer: Anne Hathaway

The movie "Becoming Jane" (2007) is set in England in 1795. It depicts writer Jane Austen (1775-1817) at twenty-years-old, seeing beyond the class structure into which she was born, with sense and sensibility, and beyond pride and prejudice. Many of her novels deal with the notion of love, as opposed to a pre-arranged marriage for social-standing.

When she meets Tom Lefroy, are they willing to give up everything to be together? Anne Hathaway is Jane.

Answer: Melissa McCarthy

"Can You Ever Forgive Me?" (2018) is a biopic about author Lee Israel (1939-2014). Lee started out as a freelance writer whose profile of Katharine Hepburn ran in "Esquire" magazine in 1967. Her biographies of celebrities brought her a measure of fame; that is, until she began swindling booksellers and autograph dealers with fake documents.

She served six months under house arrest and five years of federal probation. Melissa McCarthy is brilliant in her role as Lee.

Answer: Michelle Williams

In making a movie about film icon Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), where do you start? She did so much living in her relatively short life. "My Week with Marilyn" (2011) starts with the London filming of "The Prince and the Showgirl" with Laurence Olivier, in 1957.

While Olivier is trying to meet Marilyn's demands, we see the actress as she connects with a young film student where she exposes her fears and her desires. Michelle Williams was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar.

Answer: Audrey Tatou

"Coco Before Chanel" is a 2009 film about French fashion designer, Nazi spy and businesswoman Coco Chanel (1883-1971). The film depicts her beginnings at a French orphanage, as Gabrielle Chanel. She then works at a bar as both a seamstress and a singer, and reinvents herself as Coco.

A liaison with Baron Balsan allows her entry into French society, and her talent as a designer leads to fame and fortune. Audrey Tatou ("Amelie") is perfect in the role.