Match the Best Supporting Actor - 1950s Quiz

Answer: George Sanders

With his only Academy Award nomination, George Sanders won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as cynical drama critic Addison De Witt in "All About Eve". In the film, a conniving wanna-be actress (Anne Baxter) met her match in the equally manipulative De Witt as she tried to use him to further her career at the expense of an aging actress (Bette Davis).

The other nominees in the category were Jeff Chandler ("Broken Arrow"), Edmund Gwenn ("Mister 880"), Sam Jaffe ("The Asphalt Jungle"), and Erich von Stroheim ("Sunset Boulevard").

Answer: Karl Malden

Karl Malden won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role as mama's boy Harold "Mitch" Mitchell in "A Streetcar Named Desire", a role that he had originated on Broadway. It was his first Academy Award nomination. In the film, Mitch was the poker buddy of Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando) and the would-be suitor of Kowalski's mentally frail sister-in-law (Vivien Leigh).

The other contenders for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar were Leo Genn ("Quo Vadis"), Kevin McCarthy ("Death of a Salesman"), Peter Ustinov ("Quo Vadis"), and Gig Young ("Come Fill the Cup").

Answer: Anthony Quinn

At the 25th Academy Award ceremony, Anthony Quinn won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Mexican revolutionary Eufemio Zapata in "Viva Zapata!" It was his first nomination, and he wasn't available to attend the ceremony, so his wife, Katherine DeMille, picked up the award for him.

The film was a fictionalized account of the revolutionary Emiliano Zapata (Marlon Brando), a leader in the rebellion against peasant oppression and presidential corruption in Mexico during the early 1900s. Quinn portrayed Emiliano's feisty brother and fellow revolutionary, Eufemio.

The other nominees for Best Supporting Actor were Richard Burton ("My Cousin Rachel"), Arthur Hunnicutt ("The Big Sky"), Victor McLaglen ("The Quiet Man"), and Jack Palance ("Sudden Fear").

Answer: Frank Sinatra

With his first Academy Award nomination for acting, Frank Sinatra won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role as wise-cracking Private Angelo Maggio in "From Here to Eternity". Sinatra had previously picked up an Honorary Oscar at the 1946 ceremony for a short subject film called "The House I Live In" which was created to promote religious tolerance. "From Here to Eternity" was set on Oahu in the days before the Pearl Harbor attack. Maggio was the hot-headed buddy of a bullied soldier (Montgomery Clift), who had to endure his own ill-treatment at the hands of an Italian-hating Sergeant (Ernest Borgnine).

The other contenders for the Oscar were Eddie Albert ("Roman Holiday"), Brandon de Wilde ("Shane"), Jack Palance ("Shane"), and Robert Strauss ("Stalag 17").

Answer: Edmund O'Brien

With his first Academy Award nomination, Edmund O'Brien picked up the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as slimy Hollywood publicist Oscar Muldoon in "The Barefoot Contessa". His win was considered to be an upset as he was in competition with three actors from "On the Waterfront"; it was the first time that a film received three acting nominations in the Supporting Actor category, and the nominations appeared to have canceled each other out.

In "The Barefoot Contessa", Muldoon helped writer/director Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart) make a star out of a Spanish nightclub performer (Ava Gardner).

The other nominees in the category were Lee J. Cobb ("On the Waterfront"), Karl Malden ("On the Waterfront"), Rod Steiger ("On the Waterfront"), and Tom Tully ("The Caine Mutiny").

Answer: Jack Lemmon

With his first nomination, Jack Lemmon won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as flighty Ensign Frank Pulver in "Mister Roberts". The WWII film followed the efforts of naval officer Doug Roberts (Henry Fonda) to get reassigned from a cargo ship to a combat ship before the war was over. Pulver was Roberts' timid but amiable bunkmate who gained a backbone before the film was over.

The other nominees for the award were Arthur Kennedy ("Trial"), Joe Mantell ("Marty"), Sal Mineo ("Rebel Without a Cause"), and Arthur O'Connell ("Picnic").

Answer: Anthony Quinn

Anthony Quinn was two for two, picking up his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar on his second nomination for his portrayal of artist Paul Gauguin in "Lust for Life". The film was a fictionalized account of the life of Vincent Van Gogh (Kirk Douglas) starting with his early years before he became an artist, through his time in Paris with Gauguin, and ending with his death.

The other contenders for the award were Don Murray ("Bus Stop"), Anthony Perkins ("Friendly Persuasion"), Mickey Rooney ("The Bold and the Brave"), and Robert Stack ("Written on the Wind").

Answer: Red Buttons

A one-time Academy Award nominee, Red Buttons won the Best Supporting Actor award at the 30th Academy Awards ceremony for his role as Airman Joe Kelly in "Sayonara". In "Sayonara", Kelly had married a Japanese bride while stationed in Japan during the Korean War. Since the inter-racial marriage was not accepted by the military, Kelly was ordered back to the U.S. without his pregnant wife despite the efforts of his superior (Marlon Brando).

The other nominees in the category were Vittorio De Sica ("A Farewell to Arms"), Sessue Hayakawa ("The Bridge on the River Kwai"), Arthur Kennedy ("Peyton Place"), and Russ Tamblyn ("Peyton Place").

Answer: Burl Ives

With his only Academy Award nomination, Burl Ives won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as bitter rancher Rufus Hannassey in "The Big Country". In the film, Hannassey was the enemy of fellow rancher Terrill (Charles Bickford) whose daughter Patricia (Carroll Baker) was engaged to James McKay (Gregory Peck). McKay tried to defuse the feud between the two ranchers, but his peace-making ways weren't appreciated by any of the parties, leading to tragic consequences.

The other contenders in the category were Theodore Bikel ("The Defiant Ones"), Lee J. Cobb ("The Brothers Karamazov"), Arthur Kennedy ("Some Came Running"), and Gig Young ("Teacher's Pet").

Answer: Hugh Griffith

At the 1960 Academy Awards ceremony, Hugh Griffith won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Sheik Ilderim in "Ben Hur". It was his first Academy Award nomination. In the film, Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) was imprisoned by childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd) for refusing to accept Roman dominion over the Jewish people.

Sheik Ilderim was a wealthy Arab who supplied the chariot that Ben-Hur used to enact revenge in his chariot race against Messala. The other nominees were Arthur O'Connell ("Anatomy of a Murder"), George C. Scott ("Anatomy of a Murder"), Robert Vaughn ("The Young Philadelphians"), and Ed Wynn ("The Diary of Anne Frank").