Dying to Get An Oscar: Actress Quiz

Answer: Old Age

Rainer's character of O-Lan dies after a very hard life. In the film, O-Lan is a hardworking and faithful wife who has three children, faces a number of hardships, and is betrayed by her husband with a younger woman. Flooding of the Yangtzee River is common, and the floods of 1931 killed between 3.5 and 4 million people. But drought, not flooding, is central to the plot of "The Good Earth."

Answer: Hilary Swank

Hilary Swank was shot to death as Brandon Teena in "Boys Don't Cry" (1999). Five years later, she played boxer Maggie Fitzgerald, who was euthanized by her trainer (Clint Eastwood) when she became a quadriplegic, in "Million Dollar Baby" (2004). Ingrid Bergman did not die in either "Gaslight" (1944) or "Anastasia" (1956). Luise Rainer died of old age in "The Good Earth" (1937) but survived "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936). And Elizabeth Taylor died in "Butterfield 8" (1960), but survived "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966).

Answer: Sigourney Weaver

Weaver was nominated for playing Dian Fossey in "Gorillas in the Mist" (1988). Fossey was a primatologist who specialized in gorillas, and who got on the wrong side of poachers. She was murdered in Rwanda in December 1985. Weaver lost to Jodie Foster, who won for "The Accused" (1988). Weaver was also nominated as Best Supporting Actress for "Working Girl" (1988), but lost to Geena Davis. Swank won for playing murder victim Brandon Teena in "Boys Don't Cry" (1999). Kidman won for playing author Virginia Woolf, who committed suicide in the River Ouse, in "The Hours" (2002). And Cotillard won for playing French singer Edith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose" (2007). Piaf died of liver cancer at the age of 47.

Answer: Susan Sarandon

The film that Susan Sarandon won her Academy Award for, "Dead Man Walking" (1995), is set primarily inside a prison. However, her character, Sister Helen Prejan, was alive at the end. The real Helen Prejean, a leading prison reform activist, spent decades trying to abolish the death penalty. Susan Hayward was executed as Barbara Graham in "I Want to Live!" (1958).

The real Graham was executed at San Quentin in June 1955. Charlize Theron won for playing serial killer Aileen Wuornos in "Monster" (2003).

The real Wuornos was executed by the state of Florida in October 2002. Kate Winslet played Hanna Schmitz, a former Nazi guard, who committed suicide in prison in "The Reader" (2008).

Answer: Jennifer Jones

While all of them are Academy Award winners, Jennifer Jones won for playing Bernadette in "The Song of Bernadette" (1943), in which she died of TB. The film told the story of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, a young French girl who had visions of the Virgin Mary.
Bergman did have TB in "The Bells of St Mary's" (1945), but did not die; she was nominated. Kidman also had TB in "Moulin Rouge!" and actually died, but was only nominated. Winslet had TB in her screen debut "Heavenly Creatures" (1994) but neither died nor received an Oscar nomination.

Answer: Car Crash

In "Room at the Top" (1959), Signoret's character Alice Aisgill got drunk and crashed her car. And in "Butterfield 8" (1960), Taylor's first Oscar winning role, her character Gloria Wandrous is killed when she drives off a cliff. Taylor died of a snake bite in "Cleopatra" (1963). Signoret died of cancer in September 1985 and Taylor died of heart failure in March 2011.

Answer: Kathy Bates (1990)

"I'm your number one fan." Kathy Bates played Annie Wilkes, obsessed romance novel fan turned kidnapper in "Misery" (1990). Annie had a brutal fight with author Paul Sheldon (James Caan) before he killed her.
Meryl Streep's Sophie Zawistowska commited suicide over guilt about her actions during World War II in "Sophie's Choice" (1982). Kate Winslet did the same as Hanna Schmitz, hanging herself in "The Reader" (2008). Hilary Swank begged to die at the end of "Million Dollar Baby" (2004).

Answer: "Dark Victory", brain tumor

In "Dark Victory" (1939), Davis played Judith Traherne, a party girl socialite who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. It was the eighth film to team Davis and George Brent. Both the film and Davis lost out to "Gone With the Wind" (1939). While a car accident was central to the plot of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962), Davis did not die in the crash or the film.

In "Of Human Bondage" (1934), Mildred Rogers died of tuberculosis. In "The Letter" (1940), Leslie Crosbie was stabbed in her garden. Davis won her Oscars playing alcoholic actress Joyce Heath in "Dangerous" (1935) and southern belle Julie Marsden in "Jezebel" (1938). Steven Spielberg later bought both of these Oscars at auction and returned them to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Answer: Grand Canyon

In "Thelma and Louise" (1991), Sarandon and Davis played two friends who went on a road trip that got way out of hand. Sarandon's character murdered a scumbag rapist, and things spiraled out of control until half the police in the southwestern United States were chasing them.

In the closing shot, they drove off into the Grand Canyon. However, "You never actually saw the car land," noted Geena Davis. The pair received several awards, and were nominated for many others. Wins: Boston Film Critics (Davis), National Board of Review (Both), David Di Donatello Award (Both), Critic's Circle (Sarandon), However, they lost at the Academy Awards to Jodie Foster for her role as Clarice Starling in "Silence of the Lambs" (1991).

Answer: Gunned down by Police

In "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967), Dunaway died the way the real Bonnie Parker died, gunned down by police officers. Parker and Clyde Barrow were killed in a hail of gunfire in Louisiana in May 1934. And in "Chinatown" (1974), Evelyn Cross Mulwray was shot as she attempted to flee from the police. Dunaway won for playing amoral television producer Diana Christensen in "Network" (1976).