Match the Best Actress Oscar Winners - 1950s Quiz

Answer: Judy Holliday

With her only Academy Award nomination, Judy Holliday won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Emma "Billie" Dawn in "Born Yesterday", a role she had originated on Broadway. In the film, a shady tycoon named Brock (Broderick Crawford) hired a journalist (William Holden) to educate his low-class girlfriend (Holliday), but she ended-up falling for the journalist and using her new-found smarts against Brock.

The other nominees in the category were Anne Baxter ("All About Eve"), Bette Davis ("All About Eve"), Eleanor Parker ("Caged"), and Gloria Swanson ("Sunset Boulevard").

Answer: Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh received her second Best Actress Oscar for her role as mentally unstable Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire". She had one previous nomination and win for "Gone with the Wind". Adapted from the Tennessee William play of the same name, the film followed a fragile southern teacher (Leigh) who moved to New Orleans to live with her sister (Best Supporting Actress winner Kim Hunter) and her sister's abusive husband (Marlon Brando).

The film featured the cast from the Broadway play with the exception of Leigh; she had originated the role in London, while Tony Award winner Jessica Tandy had played it on Broadway, but Leigh was considered the better box-office draw.

The other Best Actress contenders were Katharine Hepburn ("The African Queen"), Eleanor Parker ("Detective Story"), Shelley Winters ("A Place in the Sun"), and Jane Wyman ("The Blue Veil").

Answer: Shirley Booth

With her sole Academy Award nomination, Shirley Booth won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as doting wife Lola Delaney in "Come Back, Little Sheba". She became the second performer (after Jose Ferrer) and the first actress to win the Oscar and the Tony for the same role.

In the film, Lola was in a loveless marriage to an alcoholic (Burt Lancaster) who became infatuated with a young boarder (Terry Moore) the couple took in. The other nominees in the category were Joan Crawford ("Sudden Fear"), Bette Davis ("The Star"), Julie Harris ("The Member of the Wedding"), and Susan Hayward ("With a Song in My Heart").

Answer: Audrey Hepburn

With her first Academy Award nomination, Audrey Hepburn won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Princess Ann in "Roman Holiday". In the film, Princess Ann was a sheltered crown princess who decided to escape one evening while on a European tour. A journalist (Gregory Peck), hoping to score an exclusive story, became her guide for her day of freedom in Rome.

The other nominees in the category were Leslie Caron ("Lili"), Ava Gardner ("Mogambo"), Deborah Kerr ("From Here to Eternity"), and Maggie McNamara ("The Moon is Blue").

Answer: Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly picked up her only Academy Award for her role as long-suffering Georgie Elgin in "The Country Girl". She had a prior nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for "Mogambo". In "The Country Girl", Georgie was the wife of Frank (Bing Crosby), an alcoholic actor who publicly blamed her for his troubles while privately being completely dependent on her.

When a director (William Holden) who gave Frank a shot at success fell in love with her, she had to choose between the two. The other nominees were Judy Garland ("A Star is Born"), Audrey Hepburn ("Sabrina"), Jane Wyman ("Magnificent Obsession"), and Dorothy Dandridge ("Carmen Jones"), the first African-American actress to receive a Best Actress nomination.

Answer: Anna Magnani

With her first Academy Award nomination, Anna Magnani won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as betrayed widow Serafina Delle Rose in "The Rose Tattoo". The film was an adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play which he had wrote for Magnani, but the Italian actress declined the stage role because she wasn't confident with the English language.

In the film, Delle Rose sank into a depression after the death of her beloved husband, retreating from life and trying to withdraw her daughter also, only to later find out that her husband had been unfaithful to her.

The other contenders for the Best Actress Oscar were Susan Hayward ("I'll Cry Tomorrow"), Katharine Hepburn ("Summertime"), Jennifer Jones ("Love is a Many-Splendored Thing"), and Eleanor Parker ("Interrupted Melody").

Answer: Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman won her second Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of mental patient Anna Koreff in "Anastasia". She had previously won for "Gaslight" and had prior nominations in the same category for "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "The Bells of St. Mary's", and "Joan of Arc".

In the historical drama, Koreff was an amnesiac who had claimed that she was the youngest Romanov daughter and was then groomed by a former Russian general (Yul Brynner) to pass herself off as such so that he could access her inheritance.

The other nominees in the category were Carroll Baker ("Baby Doll"), Katharine Hepburn ("The Rainmaker"), Nancy Kelly ("The Bad Seed"), and Deborah Kerr ("The King and I").

Answer: Joanne Woodward

At the thirtieth Academy Awards ceremony, Joanne Woodward won the Oscar for Best Actress for her roles as Eve White, Eve Black, and Jane in "The Three Faces of Eve". It was her first Oscar nomination, and she became the first actress to win an Academy Award for playing three roles (personalities) in a film. Based on a true story, the film followed the psychological treatment of timid mental patient Eve White who, due to a childhood trauma, had developed a second wild and violent personality, Eve Black.

Another personality, Jane, developed during her treatment. The other contenders for the award were Deborah Kerr ("Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison"), Anna Magnani ("Wild is the Wind"), Elizabeth Taylor ("Raintree County"), and Lana Turner ("Peyton Place").

Answer: Susan Hayward

On her fifth nomination, Susan Hayward won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of convicted murderer Barbara Graham in "I Want to Live!" She had prior nominations, all in the Best Actress category, for "Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman", "My Foolish Heart", "With a Song in My Heart", and "I'll Cry Tomorrow".

The film was a fictionalized account of the life and execution of Graham, a former prostitute who was involved in a robbery and convicted as a result of her relationship with a murderer. The other nominees in the category were Deborah Kerr ("Separate Tables"), Shirley MacLaine ("Some Came Running"), Rosalind Russell ("Auntie Mame"), and Elizabeth Taylor ("Cat on a Hot Tin Roof").

Answer: Simone Signoret

With her first Academy Award nomination, Simone Signoret won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as unhappily married Alice Aisgill in "Room at the Top". In the film, Aisgill became the older lover of a social-climbing young man (Laurence Harvey) who decided to give up his pursuit of a wealthy man's daughter for her, only to have his plan thwarted by the girl's pregnancy.

The other Best Actress nominees were Doris Day ("Pillow Talk"), Audrey Hepburn ("The Nun's Story"), Katharine Hepburn ("Suddenly, Last Summer"), and Elizabeth Taylor ("Suddenly, Last Summer").