Match the Best Supporting Actor - 1930s/40s Quiz

Answer: Walter Brennan

Walter Brennan picked up the very first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the ninth Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937 for his role as simple and kindly Swan Bostrom in "Come and Get It". It was his first Academy Award nomination. The award at the time was a plaque rather than an Oscar; it wasn't until 1944 that the Best Supporting Actor/Actress received Oscars. Based on the Edna Ferber novel, "Come and Get It" followed the lives of two friends, a ruthless logger Glasgow (Edward Arnold) and his pal Bostrom.

When Glasgow tossed aside his saloon singer girlfriend (Frances Farmer) to marry the boss's daughter, Bostrom married her. Years later, both Glasgow and his son fell for her daughter (also played by Farmer). The other contenders for the award were Mischa Auer ("My Man Godfrey"), Stuart Erwin ("Pigskin Parade"), Basil Rathbone ("Romeo and Juliet"), and Akim Tamiroff ("The General Died at Dawn").

Answer: Joseph Schildkraut

With his only Academy Award nomination, Joseph Schildkraut picked up the Best Supporting Actor award at the tenth Academy Awards ceremony for his portrayal of Captain Alfred Dreyfus in "The Life of Emile Zola". The first film to receive ten Academy Award nominations, "The Life of Emile Zola" was a fictionalized account of Zola (Paul Muni), his life with painter Paul Cezanne (Vladimir Sokoloff), and his conviction for his literary defense of Jewish military officer Dreyfus. Schildkraut didn't think he would win the Oscar, so he wasn't at the ceremony initially; he showed up late after receiving a call from an Academy representative telling him that he'd won.

The other nominees were Ralph Bellamy ("The Awful Truth"), Thomas Mitchell ("The Hurricane"), H.B. Warner ("Lost Horizon"), and Roland Young ("Topper").

Answer: Walter Brennan

Walter Brennan picked up his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on his second nomination for his role as cantankerous horse breeder Peter Goodwin in "Kentucky". He had previously won for "Come and Get It". The film "Kentucky" followed a family feud set against the world of horse racing.

In a flashback sequence, a young Goodwin saw his father shot by a Union officer who was confiscating their horses during the Civil War. Seventy-five years later, Goodwin's granddaughter ended up in a relationship with the officer's grandson.

The other Best Supporting Actor nominees were John Garfield ("Four Daughters"), Gene Lockhart ("Algiers"), Robert Morley ("Marie Antoinette"), and Basil Rathbone ("If I Were King").

Answer: Mickey Rooney

Honorary Oscars for performers under the age of 18 were handed out periodically between 1934 and 1960, and winners of the Juvenile Academy Awards or Juvenile Oscars received a miniature version of the Oscar statue. Twelve child actors and actresses received the awards, with the first recipient being Shirley Temple in 1934 and the last being Hayley Mills in 1960. Both Mickey Rooney and Deanna Durbin were honored at the 1939 ceremony "for their significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth, and as juvenile players setting a high standard of ability and achievement". Rooney was the oldest winner of a Juvenile Oscar as he was over 18 at the time that he received the award, but it was awarded for his work in the previous year when he was 17.

He had appeared in several films in 1938 including a couple of "Andy Hardy" comedies and the drama "Boys Town".

Answer: Thomas Mitchell

With his second nomination in the category, Thomas Mitchell won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as alcoholic Dr. Josiah Boone in "Stagecoach". He had previously been nominated for "The Hurricane". Known for John Wayne's breakthrough role as the Ringo Kid, "Stagecoach" followed a group of strangers who were traveling between the Arizona and New Mexico territories in the 1880s. Doc Boone drank samples from a whiskey salesman during the treacherous trip but when one of the female passengers went into labor, the drunken Boone had to sober up and deliver the baby.

The other contenders for the award were Brian Aherne ("Juarez"), Harry Carey ("Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"), Brian Donlevy ("Beau Geste"), and Claude Rains ("Mr. Smith Goes to Washington").

Answer: Walter Brennan

It was a hat trick for Walter Brennan; he picked up his third Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor with his third nomination for his portrayal of Wild West Judge Roy Bean in "The Westerner". He had previously won for "Come and Get It" and "Kentucky". "The Westerner" was a very fictionalized account of the infamous hanging judge of Texas.

In the film, Bean declined to hang a drifter named Cole Harden (Gary Cooper) after Harden claimed to know Bean's idol, Lillie Langtry, and then the two faced off against each other after Harden became a deputy.

The other nominees were Albert Bassermann ("Foreign Correspondent"), William Gargan ("They Knew What They Wanted"), Jack Oakie ("The Great Dictator"), and James Stephenson ("The Letter").

Answer: Donald Crisp

Donald Crisp broke Walter Brennan's streak in 1942 when Crisp won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Welsh miner Gwilym Morgan in "How Green was My Valley". It was his only Academy Award nomination. Crisp was serving in the U.S. Army Reserves during WWII, and he wore his uniform when he picked up his plaque at the Academy Award ceremony.

Infamously known as the film that beat out "Citizen Kane" for the Best Picture award, "How Green was My Valley" told the story of a poor Welsh mining family and the changes the mine brought to their lives over the years. Morgan was the father of six boys who would all work in the mine and a daughter (Maureen O'Hara) who married the mine owner's son.

The other nominees in the category were Walter Brennan ("Sergeant York"), Charles Coburn ("The Devil and Miss Jones"), James Gleason ("Here Comes Mr. Jordan"), and Sydney Greenstreet ("The Maltese Falcon").

Answer: Van Heflin

At the fifteenth Academy Awards ceremony, Van Heflin won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role as erudite gangster underling Jeff Hartnett in "Johnny Eager". It was his only Academy Award nomination. "Johnny Eager" was a convoluted film noir with Robert Taylor as the titular gangster who used and killed people to his purpose, but who had a soft spot for his alcoholic right-hand man Hartnett (Heflin). Hartnett tried to help Eager develop a conscience before it was too late.

The other contenders for the award were William Bendix ("Wake Island"), Walter Huston ("Yankee Doodle Dandy"), Frank Morgan ("Tortilla Flat"), and Henry Travers ("Mrs. Miniver").

Answer: Charles Coburn

With his second nomination in the category, Charles Coburn (no relation to James) picked up the Best Supporting Actor award for his role as conniving WWII housing adviser Benjamin Dingle in "The More the Merrier". He was previously nominated for "The Devil and Miss Jones".

A screwball comedy, "The More the Merrier" took place in Washington D.C. during WWII when there was a housing shortage. After the middle-aged Dingle sublet half an apartment from a young woman (Jean Arthur), he further sublet his space to a soon-to-be deployed sergeant (Joel McCrea).

Then after being unimpressed with her bureaucrat fiance, Dingle conspired to get the sergeant and his landlady together. The other nominees were Charles Bickford ("The Song of Bernadette"), J. Carrol Naish ("Sahara"), Claude Rains ("Casablanca"), and Akim Tamiroff ("For Whom the Bell Tolls").

Answer: Barry Fitzgerald

Barry Fitzgerald was nominated in two categories at the 1945 Academy Award ceremony - both for the same role. He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as traditional priest Father Fitzgibbon in "Going My Way" and lost the Best Actor category to his co-star in the film, Bing Crosby.

The voting rules were changed after the ceremony so he remains the only performer to receive Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations for the same performance. These were his only Academy Award nominations.

In "Going My Way", Fitzgibbon butted heads with a younger and more liberal priest (Crosby) whom Fitzgibbon was told was sent to be his assistant but in reality was intended to be his replacement. The other contenders in the category were Hume Cronyn ("The Seventh Cross"), Claude Rains ("Mr. Skeffington"), Clifton Webb ("Laura"), and Monty Woolley ("Since You Went Away").

Answer: James Dunn

With his only Academy Award nomination, James Dunn picked up the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as happy-go-lucky alcoholic Johnny Nolan in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". In the film, which covered only a small section of the Betty Smith novel, Nolan was the frequently unemployed but beloved father of 13-year-old Francie (Peggy Ann Garner), who aspired to a better life than that of her poor Irish family.

The other Best Supporting Actor nominees were Michael Chekhov ("Spellbound"), John Dall ("The Corn is Green"), Robert Mitchum ("G.I. Joe"), and J. Carrol Naish ("A Medal for Benny").

Answer: Harold Russell

Harold Russell became the first person to receive two Oscars for the same performance when he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as WWII veteran Homer Parrish in "The Best Years of Our Lives". Russell wasn't an actor; he was a veteran who had lost both of his hands during the war and was chosen to play the role of a similarly afflicted veteran in the film.

Not being an actor, he wasn't expected to win the award, but the Academy wanted to recognize his performance for "bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans" so they awarded him an honorary Oscar, and then surprise -- he ended up winning the competitive Oscar after all. "The Best Years of Our Lives" followed the difficulties that three veterans (Dana Andrews, Fredric March, and Russell) experienced after returning home from WWII.

The other nominees in the category were Charles Coburn ("The Green Years"), William Demarest ("The Jolson Story"), Claude Rains ("Notorious"), and Clifton Webb ("The Razor's Edge").

Answer: Edmund Gwenn

At the twentieth Academy Awards ceremony, Edmund Gwenn won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as kindly Kris Kringle in "Miracle on 34th Street". It was his first nomination, and at 71 years old, he was the oldest Oscar winner at that time.

In the holiday classic film, Kringle was hired to portray Santa Claus at Macy's department store, but problems arose when it became clear that he thought he truly was Santa Claus. The other contenders for the Best Supporting Actor award were Charles Bickford ("The Farmer's Daughter"), Thomas Gomez ("Ride the Pink Horse"), Robert Ryan ("Crossfire"), and Richard Widmark ("Kiss of Death").

Answer: Walter Huston

Fourth time was a charm for Walter Huston when he picked up the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as wise old prospector Howard in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre". He had previously been nominated in the Best Actor category for "Dodsworth" and "All That Money Can Buy" and in the Best Supporting Actor category for "Yankee Doodle Dandy". "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" was directed by John Huston, Walter Huston's son, and the younger Huston also picked up Oscars for Best Director and Best Screenplay for the film.

In "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", Howard guided two novice prospectors (Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt) on a life-changing gold-mining expedition in Mexico. The other nominees in the category were Charles Bickford ("Johnny Belinda"), José Ferrer ("Joan of Arc"), Oscar Homolka ("I Remember Mama"), and Cecil Kellaway ("The Luck of the Irish").

Answer: Dean Jagger

At the Academy Award ceremony in 1950, Dean Jagger won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as WWII Major Harvey Stovall in "Twelve O'Clock High". It was his only Academy Award nomination. The film followed a battle-weary American bomber group based in England, and after the original commander was relieved of duty, the new commander (Gregory Peck) took a heavy hand in reestablishing discipline in the unit. Stovall was the group adjutant who helped keep the unit together by delaying transfer requests.

The other contenders for the award were John Ireland ("All the King's Men"), Arthur Kennedy ("Champion"), Ralph Richardson ("The Heiress"), and James Whitmore ("Battleground").