Match the Best Actress Oscar Winners - 1960s Quiz

Answer: Elizabeth Taylor

On her fourth nomination in the category, Elizabeth Taylor won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as promiscuous Gloria Wandrous in "BUtterfield 8". She had previously been nominated for "Raintree County", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", and "Suddenly, Last Summer".

The title, "BUtterfield 8", referred to Wandrous's telephone number, which was a reminder of the frequent, one-night liaisons that Wandrous had had and a stumbling block when she finally fell in love with a man who loved her back (Laurence Harvey).

The other nominees in the category were Greer Garson ("Sunrise at Campobello"), Deborah Kerr ("The Sundowners"), Shirley MacLaine ("The Apartment"), and Melina Mercouri ("Never on Sunday").

Answer: Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress on her first nomination for her portrayal of Cesira in "Two Women". In Italian, the film was called "La ciociara" ("The Woman from Ciociara"), and with her win, Loren became the first actor or actress to win an acting Oscar for a foreign language film.

The two women in the English title were Cesira and her daughter (Eleanora Brown), and the film followed their disturbing experiences during the allied invasion of Italy in 1943. The other contenders for the Best Actress Oscar were Audrey Hepburn ("Breakfast at Tiffany's"), Piper Laurie ("The Hustler"), Geraldine Page ("Summer and Smoke"), and Natalie Wood ("Splendor in the Grass").

Answer: Anne Bancroft

Another winner on her first nomination, Anne Bancroft picked up the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of visually-impaired teacher Annie Sullivan in "The Miracle Worker". Bancroft had originated the role on Broadway where she had won a Tony Award for her performance, at that time being the fourth performer to have managed the dual feat (Jose Ferrer, Shirley Booth, and Yul Brynner were the first three). "The Miracle Worker" was based on the true story of Helen Keller (Patty Duke) and focused on the early years when Sullivan was the first person to control and teach the unruly Keller.

The other nominees for the award were Bette Davis ("What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"), Katharine Hepburn ("Long Day's Journey into Night"), Geraldine Page ("Sweet Bird of Youth"), and Lee Remick ("Days of Wine and Roses").

Answer: Patricia Neal

Patricia Neal also won the Best Actress Oscar on her first nomination for her role as no-nonsense housekeeper Alma Brown in "Hud". In "Hud", Brown was the housekeeper at a ranch owned by Homer Bannon (Melvyn Douglas) and was the object of violent affection for Bannon's womanizing son Hud (Paul Newman).

The other contenders for the Best Actress Oscar were Leslie Caron ("The L-Shaped Room"), Shirley MacLaine ("Irma la Douce"), Rachel Roberts ("This Sporting Life"), and Natalie Wood ("Love with the Proper Stranger").

Answer: Julie Andrews

And yet another first-time nominee, Julie Andrews won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the titular magical nanny in "Mary Poppins". In the Walt Disney film, Poppins arrived at the strict Edwardian Banks home to become the nanny to two children in need and along the way, she loosened up their uptight father (David Tomlinson).

The other nominees in the category were Anne Bancroft ("The Pumpkin Eater"), Sophia Loren ("Marriage Italian Style"), Debbie Reynolds ("The Unsinkable Molly Brown"), and Kim Stanley ("Seance on a Wet Afternoon").

Answer: Julie Christie

In what was called the "Julie vs. Julie" race, Julie Christie beat out Julie Andrews when she picked up the Best Actress Oscar for her role as unfulfilled 1960s model Diana Scott in "Darling". It was her first Academy Award nomination. A snapshot of the swinging 60s, in "Darling", Scott was a self-indulgent model who used people to get what she wanted but then quickly became bored with what she achieved.

The other Best Actress nominees were Julie Andrews ("The Sound of Music"), Samantha Eggar ("The Collector"), Elizabeth Hartman ("A Patch of Blue"), and Simone Signoret ("Ship of Fools").

Answer: Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor picked up her second Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as the shrewish wife Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" She won her first Best Actress Oscar for "BUtterfield 8" and had nominations in the same category for "Raintree County", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", and "Suddenly, Last Summer". "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" took place over an event-filled evening when a drunk, troubled middle-aged couple (Taylor and Richard Burton) entertained a younger couple (George Segal and Best Supporting Actress winner Sandy Dennis) following a party.

The other contenders for the award were Anouk Aimee ("A Man and a Woman"), Ida Kaminska ("The Shop on Main Street"), Lynn Redgrave ("Georgy Girl"), and Vanessa Redgrave ("Morgan!").

Answer: Katharine Hepburn

Thirty-four years after winning her first Best Actress Oscar, Katharine Hepburn picked up her second Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as upper-class liberal Christina Drayton in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner". She had previously won the award for "Morning Glory", and she had eight nominations in between the wins, all in the Best Actress category: "Alice Adams", "The Philadelphia Story", "Woman of the Year", "The African Queen", "Summertime", "The Rainmaker", "Suddenly, Last Summer", and "Long Day's Journey into Night".

In "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", the liberal Draytons (Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, in his final role) had one evening to come to terms with the fact that their only child (Katharine Houghton, Hepburn's real-life niece) was engaged to an accomplished African-American doctor (Sidney Poitier) and that he wouldn't marry her without their blessing.

The other nominees for the Best Actress award were Anne Bancroft ("The Graduate"), Faye Dunaway ("Bonnie and Clyde"), Edith Evans ("The Whisperers"), and Audrey Hepburn ("Wait Until Dark").

Answer: Barbra Streisand

Oscar had its first true tie in the acting categories at the 41st Academy Awards ceremony. There had been a tie for Best Actor in 1932, but the rules were different then, allowing for a tie if the difference between the winner and second place was within three votes. Wallace Beery was thus awarded the Best Actor along with Fredric March even though March was the true winner.

But in 1969, two actresses truly tied for the Best Actress Oscar: Katharine Hepburn won her third Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of legendary queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in "The Lion in Winter", and Barbra Streisand picked up her first Oscar for portraying comedienne Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl". With her win, Hepburn became the third performer to win back-to-back acting Oscars (Luise Rainer and Spencer Tracy were the others).

As for Streisand, it was her first Academy Award nomination. Ingrid Bergman was the presenter at the ceremony, and she looked momentarily confused when she opened the envelope: "The winner... it's a tie!".

She then announced Katharine Hepburn's name first, followed by Streisand's, the latter clearly being the audience's favorite based on applause. Only Streisand was there to accept her award, and she did so memorably in a see-through pantsuit, with one of the most famous acceptance speech lines, saying "Hello gorgeous" to her Oscar statue. "The Lion in Winter" was a fictional account of an event-filled evening in the life of Henry II of England (Peter O'Toole), Eleanor Aquitaine, their family, and Phillip II of France (Timothy Dalton, in his film debut). "Funny Girl" was loosely-based on the relationship between Brice and professional gambler Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif), and covered the years from Brice's debut in vaudeville until the end of their relationship following his prison sentence for embezzlement. The other nominees in the category were Patricia Neal ("The Subject was Roses"), Vanessa Redgrave ("Isadora"), and Joanne Woodward ("Rachel, Rachel").

Answer: Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as charismatic teacher Jean Brodie in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie". She had previously been nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for "Othello". In the film, Brodie was a free-spirited teacher at a conservative Scottish school in the 1930s who groomed a select group of girls to follow her beliefs, including support for fascism, with disastrous results.

The other nominees were Genevieve Bujold ("Anne of a Thousand Days"), Jane Fonda ("They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"), Liza Minnelli ("The Sterile Cuckoo"), and Jean Simmons ("The Happy Ending").