Match the Best Actress Oscar Winners - 1970s Quiz

Answer: Glenda Jackson

Glenda Jackson was a first time nominee when she won her first Best Actress Oscar for her role as the free-spirited Gudrun Brangwen in "Women in Love". Based on the D. H. Lawrence novel, the film followed the romances of two sisters, the traditional Ursula (Jennie Linden) and the unconventional Gudrun (Jackson) and the men with whom they were involved (Alan Bates and Oliver Reed). Jackson was mainly a stage actress at the time, but producer/screenwriter Larry Kramer insisted on casting her for the role over more established film actresses.

The other nominees in the category were Jane Alexander ("The Great White Hope"), Ali MacGraw ("Love Story"), Sarah Miles ("Ryan's Daughter"), and Carrie Snodgress ("Diary of a Mad Housewife").

Answer: Jane Fonda

With her second nomination in the category, Jane Fonda picked up her first Best Actress Oscar for portraying call girl Bree Daniels in "Klute". She had previously been nominated for "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" Donald Sutherland portrayed the titular Klute, a detective who became involved with a prostitute (Fonda) he was tracking following the disappearance of a businessman who apparently knew her. Fonda received much acclaim for her performance, with film critic Roger Ebert stating that the film should have been called "Bree".

The other nominees for Best Actress were Julie Christie ("McCabe & Mrs. Miller"), Glenda Jackson ("Sunday Bloody Sunday"), Vanessa Redgrave ("Mary, Queen of Scots"), and Janet Suzman ("Nicholas and Alexandra").

Answer: Liza Minnelli

Liza Minnelli won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as singer Sally Bowles in "Cabaret", and with her win, she became the first Oscar winner whose parents (Judy Garland and Vincent Minnelli) were also Oscar winners. She had previously been nominated in the same category for "The Sterile Cuckoo". Bowles (Minnelli) was a singer at the Kit Kat Klub, a pre-WWII nightclub in Berlin, and performances at the nightclub were interposed with the increasing Nazi violence outside the club.

The Bob Fosse film won eight Oscars, which at that time was the record for the number of Oscar wins without winning Best Picture.

The other contenders for the award were Diana Ross ("Lady Sings the Blues"), Maggie Smith ("Travels with My Aunt"), Cicely Tyson ("Sounder"), and Liv Ullmann ("The Emigrants"). Ross and Tyson made history with their nominations; it was the first time that two African-American actresses received the Best Actress nomination in the same year, and it was only the second time that an African-American actress had received a nomination in that category (Dorothy Dandridge was the first way back in 1955).

Answer: Glenda Jackson

Glenda Jackson picked up her second Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as "the other woman" Vickie Allessio in "A Touch of Class". She had two prior nominations, both in the Best Actress category, for "Women in Love" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday", winning her first Oscar for "Women in Love".

In "A Touch of Class", divorcee Allessio embarked on an affair with a married man (George Segal) only to realize she wanted more than a casual relationship. Jackson didn't attend any of the Academy Award ceremonies in which she was nominated, and she dismissed the awards, stating that her mother used to polish the statues religiously, and that it didn't "take long for the gold to come off. Nothing but base metal underneath".

She did however present the Best Actor award to Art Carney at the 1975 ceremony: "You will please note that this is not an award for the best actor but for the best performance by an actor".

The other nominees in the category were Ellen Burstyn ("The Exorcist"), Marsha Mason ("Cinderella Liberty"), Barbra Streisand ("The Way We Were"), and Joanne Woodward ("Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams").

Answer: Ellen Burstyn

Ellen Burstyn won the Best Actress Academy Award for her role as widowed waitress Alice Hyatt in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore". She had two prior nominations, "The Last Picture Show" (Best Supporting Actress) and "The Exorcist" (Best Actress). The Martin Scorsese film followed the New Mexico housewife Hyatt (Burstyn) as her attempt to become a singer in California was derailed when she ran out of money in Arizona, where she ended up working as a waitress in a diner.

The film inspired the sitcom "Alice" with Vic Tayback, who played the diner owner Mel, being the only cast member to make the transition to the television show.

The other contenders for the award were Diahann Carroll ("Claudine"), Faye Dunaway ("Chinatown"), Valerie Perrine ("Lenny"), and Gena Rowlands ("A Woman Under the Influence").

Answer: Louise Fletcher

On her first nomination, Louise Fletcher won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as manipulative Nurse Mildred Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Nurse Ratched (Fletcher) was the floor warden in a mental institution where a prisoner (Jack Nicholson) had arranged to serve out his sentence by pretending to be mentally ill.

The Milos Forman film was only the second to sweep the top Oscar awards (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenwriter); "It Happened One Night" first achieved that honor back in 1935.

The other nominees in the category were Isabelle Adjani ("The Story of Adele H."), Ann-Margret ("Tommy"), Glenda Jackson ("Hedda"), and Carol Kane ("Hester Street").

Answer: Faye Dunaway

On her third nomination, Faye Dunaway received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as television programming executive Diana Christensen in "Network". She had previously been nominated in the same category for "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Chinatown".

In "Network", the conniving Christensen (Dunaway) would do anything for television ratings, using and destroying people along the way. The other contenders for the Best Actress award were Marie-Christine Barrault ("Cousin Cousine"), Talia Shire ("Rocky"), Sissy Spacek ("Carrie"), and Liv Ullmann ("Face to Face").

Answer: Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton picked up the Best Actress Oscar on her first nomination for her role as the ditzy title character in "Annie Hall". The Woody Allen film also won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. "Annie Hall" explored the on-again off-again quirky relationship between Annie (Keaton) and Alvy Singer (Allen).

Besides receiving critical acclaim, the film also sparked a fashion trend with Annie's menswear style becoming popular.The other nominees in the category were Anne Bancroft ("The Turning Point"), Jane Fonda ("Julia"), Shirley MacLaine ("The Turning Point"), and Marsha Mason ("The Goodbye Girl").

Answer: Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda won her second Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Vietnam-era military wife Sally Hyde in "Coming Home". She had three prior nominations in the category, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", "Klute", and "Julia", and she won her first award for "Klute" a few years earlier. "Coming Home" received the "Big Five" Oscar nominations (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay), winning the latter three, and it also received acting nominations in all categories (Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress).

In "Coming Home", Hyde (Fonda) volunteered at a veterans' hospital where she became involved with a paraplegic veteran (Best Actor winner Jon Voight) while her husband (Bruce Dern) was deployed in Vietnam.

The other nominees for Best Actress were Ingrid Bergman ("Autumn Sonata"), Ellen Burstyn ("Same Time, Next Year"), Jill Clayburgh ("An Unmarried Woman"), and Geraldine Page ("Interiors").

Answer: Sally Field

On her first nomination, Sally Field won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as union organizer Norma Rae Webster in "Norma Rae". Inspired by the true story of union organizer Crystal Lee Sutton, the film told the story of the battle between Webster (Field) and the management at a cotton mill over poor working conditions.

The other contenders for the award were Jill Clayburgh ("Starting Over"), Jane Fonda ("The China Syndrome"), Marsha Mason ("Chapter Two"), and Bette Midler ("The Rose").