Match the Best Actor Oscar Winners - 1950s Quiz

Answer: José Ferrer

José Ferrer became the first performer to win both the Oscar and the Tony for the same role when he won the Best Actor Academy Award for the title role in "Cyrano de Bergerac". He had previously been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for "Joan of Arc". Adapted from the play by Edmond Rostand, Cyrano was a 17th century swordsman and poet who was in love with his cousin Roxane but was too embarrassed by his large nose to tell her.

Instead he helped an inarticulate young man, with whom she was enamored, woo her.

The other contenders for the award were Louis Calhern ("The Magnificent Yankee"), William Holden ("Sunset Boulevard"), James Stewart ("Harvey"), and Spencer Tracy ("Father of the Bride").

Answer: Humphrey Bogart

The last actor born in the 19th century to win the Best Actor award, Humphrey Bogart picked up the only Academy Award of his career for his role as gruff steamboat captain Charlie Allnutt in "The African Queen". It was his second nomination in the category, having previously been nominated for "Casablanca".

In the film, the African Queen was the name of the steamboat which Allnutt used to deliver supplies to settlements in German East Africa. When WWII broke out, Allnutt rescued a prim English missionary (Katharine Hepburn), and opposites attracted as they tried to sabotage the German war effort.

The other nominees in the category were Marlon Brando ("A Streetcar Named Desire"), Montgomery Clift ("A Place in the Sun"), Arthur Kennedy ("Bright Victory"), and Fredric March ("Death of a Salesman").

Answer: Gary Cooper

At the first Oscar ceremony to be televised, Gary Cooper won his second Best Actor Oscar for his role as Marshal Will Kane in "High Noon". He had previously won the award for "Sergeant York" and had prior nominations for "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", "The Pride of the Yankees", and "For Whom the Bell Tolls".

In "High Noon", Kane was planning to retire after his marriage to a young Quaker pacifist (Grace Kelly), but to her dismay, he decided to stay and fight after hearing that an outlaw he had sent to jail had been released and was looking for revenge.

The other Best Actor contenders were Marlon Brando ("Viva Zapata!"), Kirk Douglas ("The Bad and the Beautiful"), José Ferrer ("Moulin Rouge"), and Alec Guinness ("The Lavender Hill Mob").

Answer: William Holden

With his second nomination in the category, William Holden won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as prisoner-of-war Sergeant J.J. Sefton in "Stalag 17", and he delivered one of the shortest acceptance speeches - a couple quick "Thank You"s. Holden had previously been nominated for "Sunset Boulevard".

In "Stalag 17", Sefton was a wheeler-dealer whom his fellow Allied prisoners-of-war suspected of being a mole for their German captors. The other contenders for the Best Actor Oscar were Marlon Brando ("Julius Caesar"), Richard Burton ("The Robe"), Montgomery Clift ("From Here to Eternity"), and Burt Lancaster ("From Here to Eternity").

Answer: Marlon Brando

Having been nominated in the Best Actor category for four straight years, Marlon Brando won his first Academy Award for his role as dockworker/former boxer Terry Malloy in "On the Waterfront". His three prior nominations were for "A Streetcar Named Desire", "Viva Zapata!", and "Julius Caesar".

In "On the Waterfront", Malloy rebelled against a violent and corrupt union boss (Lee J. Cobb) who ruined his career ("I coulda been a contender"). The other nominees in the category were Humphrey Bogart ("The Caine Mutiny"), Bing Crosby ("The Country Girl"), James Mason ("A Star is Born"), and Dan O'Herlihy ("Robinson Crusoe").

Answer: Ernest Borgnine

With his only Academy Award nomination, Ernest Borgnine won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as mama's boy Marty Piletti in "Marty". In the film, the 34-year-old butcher Marty met a fellow lonely heart that he liked, but he had to overcome the objections of his insecure mother and his jealous friends who pressured him to give up the relationship. Borgnine received his award from presenter Grace Kelly, a month before she became Princess Grace of Monaco, and the first person Borgnine thanked in his speech was his mother.

The other contenders for the award were James Cagney ("Love Me or Leave Me"), Frank Sinatra ("The Man with the Golden Arm"), Spencer Tracy ("Bad Day at Black Rock"), and James Dean ("East of Eden"), with Dean receiving the first posthumous nomination for Best Actor.

Answer: Yul Brynner

With his only Academy Award nomination, Yul Brynner won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of King Mongkut of Siam in "The King and I". He had originated the role on Broadway and became the third performer (after José Ferrer and Shirley Booth) to win both the Oscar and the Tony for the same role. "The King and I" was a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on the memoirs of English teacher Anna Leonowens who worked as the governess to King Mongkut's children in the 1860s.

The other nominees for the award were Kirk Douglas ("Lust for Life"), Rock Hudson ("Giant"), Laurence Olivier ("Richard III"), and James Dean ("Giant"), with Dean being the first recipient of two posthumous nominations in consecutive years.

Answer: Alec Guinness

At the thirtieth Academy Awards ceremony, Alec Guinness won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as by-the-book Lt. Colonel Nicholson in "The Bridge on the River Kwai". It was his second nomination in the category, having previously been nominated for "The Lavender Hill Mob".

In "The Bridge on the River Kwai", Nicholson was a WWII prisoner-of-war at a camp in Burma who, after winning a battle of wills with the Japanese camp commander, lost his focus on his true mission. The other contenders for the award were Marlon Brando ("Sayonara"), Anthony Franciosa ("A Hatful of Rain"), Charles Laughton ("Witness for the Prosecution"), and Anthony Quinn ("Wild is the Wind").

Answer: David Niven

David Niven picked up his only Academy Award nomination and the Oscar for his role as Major Angus Pollock in "Separate Tables". He was also a co-host of the Academy Award ceremony that year and became the first host or co-host to win an Academy Award in the same year.

In "Separate Tables", Pollock was a guest at a residential hotel and was the object of an expulsion campaign engineered by a bitter woman (Gladys Cooper) who had read a negative newspaper article about him. The other Best Actor nominees were Tony Curtis ("The Defiant Ones"), Paul Newman ("Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"), Spencer Tracy ("The Old Man and the Sea"), and Sidney Poitier ("The Defiant Ones"), the first African-American man to receive an acting nomination.

Answer: Charlton Heston

With his only acting nomination, Charlton Heston won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Jewish merchant/slave Judah Ben-Hur in "Ben-Hur". The film set a record by winning eleven Academy Awards that year. In the biblical epic, Ben-Hur sought revenge against a childhood friend (Stephen Boyd) for enslaving him and sending his mother and sister to prison.

The other contenders for the award were Laurence Harvey ("Room at the Top"), Jack Lemmon ("Some Like it Hot"), Paul Muni ("The Last Angry Man"), and James Stewart ("Anatomy of a Murder").