Match the Best Actress Oscar Winners - 1940s Quiz

Answer: Ginger Rogers

At the thirteenth Academy Awards ceremony, and with her only Academy Award nomination, Ginger Rogers won the Best Actress Oscar for playing the title role in "Kitty Foyle". It was the first Oscar ceremony in which the names of the winners were kept secret by the Price Waterhouse accounting firm.

Although she is better known today for her dancing work with Fred Astaire, she was also a dramatic actress, and she won the award for portraying a working class girl, Kitty Foyle, in the romantic drama. Foyle worked as a secretary for a wealthy man with whom she had a relationship, but when things fell apart, she met a doctor and had to choose between the two.

The other nominees in the category were Bette Davis ("The Letter"), Joan Fontaine ("Rebecca"), Katharine Hepburn ("The Philadelphia Story"), and Martha Scott ("Our Town").

Answer: Joan Fontaine

Joan Fontaine won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Lina Aysgarth in Alfred Hitchcock's "Suspicion". It was her second nomination in the category, having been nominated for "Rebecca" the prior year, and she became the only performer to win an acting Oscar in a Hitchcock film.

In "Suspicion", Lina Aysgarth was a shy heiress who married a charming playboy (Cary Grant) and then began to suspect that he was trying to kill her for her money. The other Best Actress nominees were Bette Davis ("The Little Foxes"), Greer Garson ("Blossoms in the Dust"), Barbara Stanwyck ("Ball of Fire"), and Olivia de Havilland ("Hold Back the Dawn"). Fontaine and de Havilland were the first sisters to be nominated for Academy Awards in the same year.

Answer: Greer Garson

Greer Garson memorably picked up the Best Actress Oscar on her third nomination in the category for her role as British WWII housewife Kay Miniver in "Mrs. Miniver". Her rambling acceptance speech, which clocked in at five and a half minutes, was the longest acceptance speech to date. Even the official Oscars website doesn't have a complete transcript; they provide a few sections, admitting "it is not known how the rest of the pieces fit together or the extent of the missing footage". Garson was previously nominated for "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" and "Blossoms in the Dust".

The film "Mrs. Miniver" followed the impact of WWII on an upper class family living in a village outside of London. The other contenders for the Best Actress award were Bette Davis ("Now, Voyager"), Katharine Hepburn ("Woman of the Year"), Rosalind Russell ("My Sister Eileen"), and Teresa Wright ("The Pride of the Yankees").

Answer: Jennifer Jones

With her first Academy Award nomination, Jennifer Jones won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Bernadette Soubirous in "The Song of Bernadette". The biographical drama was based on the life of Saint Bernadette who reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes. Jones portrayed the character from the age of fourteen until her death in a convent.

The other nominees in the category were Jean Arthur ("The More the Merrier"), Ingrid Bergman ("For Whom the Bell Tolls"), Joan Fontaine ("The Constant Nymph"), and Greer Garson ("Madame Curie").

Answer: Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman won her first Academy Award for her role as tortured wife Paula Anton in "Gaslight". It was her second nomination in the category, having previously been nominated for "For Whom the Bell Tolls". In "Gaslight", Anton was the young wife of a charming man who tried to protect her as she slipped into madness, or did he? The other nominees for Best Actress were Claudette Colbert ("Since You Went Away"), Bette Davis ("Mr. Skeffington"), Greer Garson ("Mrs. Parkington"), and Barbara Stanwyck ("Double Indemnity".

Answer: Joan Crawford

With her first Academy Award nomination, Joan Crawford won the Best Actress Oscar for playing the title role in "Mildred Pierce". Reportedly, Crawford expected Ingrid Bergman to win again and decided not to appear at the ceremony, claiming to be ill in bed.

But once she found out she had won, she put on her makeup, and when director Michael Curtiz brought the award to her home, she invited the press into her bedroom to photograph her with it. In the film, Mildred Pierce was the overly protective and coddling mother of self-centered, social-climbing Veda (Ann Blyth), with disastrous results.

The other contenders for the award were Ingrid Bergman ("The Bells of St. Mary's"), Greer Garson ("The Valley of Decision"), Jennifer Jones ("Love Letters"), and Gene Tierney ("Leave Her to Heaven").

Answer: Olivia de Havilland

Five years after her sister Joan Fontaine's win, Olivia de Havilland picked up the Best Actress Oscar for her role as unwed mother/businesswoman Josephine "Jody" Norris in "To Each His Own". It was her third nomination, having previously been nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for "Gone with the Wind" and in the Best Actress category for "Hold Back the Dawn". With her win, de Havilland and Fontaine became the first sisters to both win Academy Awards.

In "To Each His Own", a one-night stand with a WWI fighter pilot (John Lund) led to a child for Jody Norris, whom she had to give up and watch from afar as he grew up into a WWII fighter pilot (also played by Lund).

The other nominees for Best Actress were Celia Johnson ("Brief Encounter"), Jennifer Jones ("Duel in the Sun"), Rosalind Russell ("Sister Kenny"), and Jane Wyman ("The Yearling").

Answer: Loretta Young

At the twentieth Academy Awards ceremony, Loretta Young won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Katie Holstrom in "The Farmer's Daughter". It was her first Academy Award nomination, and her win was considered a major upset. Rosalind Russell was the odds-on favorite to pick up the award, and Russell reportedly stood up to accept the award before the winner was announced, quickly disguising her gaffe as a standing ovation for Young.

In the film, Holstrom's plans to study nursing in the city were squashed after she was swindled, so she ended up working as a maid for a congressman and eventually getting into politics herself.

The other contenders for the award were Joan Crawford ("Possessed"), Susan Hayward ("Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman"), Dorothy McGuire ("Gentleman's Agreement"), and Rosalind Russell ("Mourning Becomes Electra").

Answer: Jane Wyman

Jane Wyman won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as deaf mute Belinda McDonald in "Johnny Belinda", becoming the first actress since the days of silent movies to win the award for a non-speaking role. She was previously nominated in the same category for "The Yearling".

At the award ceremony, Wyman gave a short acceptance speech: "I won this award by keeping my mouth shut, and I think I'll do it again". In the film, which was loosely based on a true story, Belinda was the victim of a rape that resulted in a child, but the local townsfolk believed that the new doctor in town was the father.

The other nominees for Best Actress were Ingrid Bergman ("Joan of Arc"), Olivia de Havilland ("The Snake Pit"), Irene Dunne ("I Remember Mama"), and Barbara Stanwyck ("Sorry, Wrong Number").

Answer: Olivia de Havilland

Olivia de Havilland won her second Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as shy and trusting Catherine Sloper in "The Heiress". She had previously won in the same category for "To Each His Own", had two other Best Actress nominations for "Hold Back the Dawn" and "The Snake Pit", and had a Best Supporting Actress nomination for "Gone with the Wind".

In "The Heiress", Sloper was the dutiful daughter of an uncaring father (Ralph Richardson), and when a handsome schemer (Montgomery Clift) came into her life, her father threatened to disinherit her if she married him.

The other contenders for the award were Jeanne Crain ("Pinky"), Susan Hayward ("My Foolish Heart"), Deborah Kerr ("Edward, My Son"), and Loretta Young ("Come to the Stable").