Nothing to it! Oscar wins on the first try Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. A sitcom star in the 1960s, this woman won a best actress Oscar in the previous decade for her first film. She played a lonely woman with an alcoholic husband in this adaptation of a play by William Inge. Who was the actress and what was the film?

Answer: Shirley Booth, "Come Back, Little Sheba"

Best known for the titular role in the 1960's sitcom,"Hazel", Shirley Booth was in her fifties by the time she started her film career. She had worked professionally as a stage actress since the age of 12 and ended up making only a handful of films.

Booth won one of her three Tony Awards for playing Lola in "Come Back, Little Sheba", William Inge's heartbreaking drama about an aging couple haunted by their disappointments. In the film version, Burt Lancaster plays her alcoholic husband Doc, who gave up his hopes of a medical career when Lola became pregnant. The "Little Sheba" of the title refers to their dog who has run away.

2. Elia Kazan directed this young actress to a best supporting Oscar for her film debut. She played the daughter of a dockworker who sets out to find out who murdered her brother. Things get complicated when she falls in love with an unwilling accomplice. Who was the actress and what was the film?

Answer: Eva Marie Saint, "On the Waterfront"

Eva Marie Saint was very, very pregnant the night she picked up her Oscar. She gave birth to her son Darrell just two days later.

In addition to "On the Waterfront", Saint is probably best known for playing Eve Kendall opposite Cary Grant's Roger Thornhill in Hitchcock's "North by Northwest", but she has worked steadily in film and television since her 1954 debut. An exceptional talent and a class act.

"On the Waterfront" is one of the great films of the 1950s. It tells the story of Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), an ex-boxer who faces a crisis of conscience after he unwittingly sets up a fellow dockworker to be murdered. The film won the Oscar for best picture; Kazan and Brando also took home gold statuettes.

3. This actress, making her film debut, won a best supporting Oscar in another Elia Kazan film, this one a World War I era drama. She played the estranged mother of two teenage boys whose father has not told them the truth about her. When the more wayward of the boys discovers her secret, high drama and method acting ensue. Who was the actress and what was the film?

Answer: Jo Van Fleet, "East of Eden"

Twelve years after playing James Dean's mother in "East of Eden", Jo Van Fleet gave another stellar performance in "Cool Hand Luke", playing the mother of a different method actor--Paul Newman this time.

A talented stage actress as well, Van Fleet won a Tony in 1954 for her role in "A Trip to Bountiful".

Based on John Steinbeck's novel, "East of Eden" tells the story of the troubled Trask family. Cal Trask (James Dean, in his first starring role) seeks to make a connection with his estranged mother (Van Fleet), the madam of a brothel. Cal's staunchly religious father (Raymond Massey) has hidden his mother's fate from his two sons and Cal's discovery turns the family upside down.

4. "My Fair Lady" won the Oscar as 1964's best picture. The young actress who had originated the role of Eliza in "My Fair Lady" on Broadway was not cast in the film version, but she made her film debut in another musical released in the same year. She took home the Oscar for best actress and the woman who played Eliza in "My Fair Lady" was not even nominated! Revenge is sweet. Who was the actress and what was the film?

Answer: Julie Andrews, "Mary Poppins"

Audrey Hepburn was cast as Eliza Doolittle in George Cukor's film version of "My Fair Lady" despite the fact that she wasn't really a singer. Julie Andrews had played the role to great acclaim on Broadway and she could sing...really sing! Walt Disney came to the rescue and cast Andrews as the title character in "Mary Poppins" and the rest is history. Andrews became the preeminent musical film star of the 1960s.

"Mary Poppins", the beloved tale of a nanny who sweeps into the lives of the Banks family and makes everything better, lost the best picture Oscar to "My Fair Lady" but Andrews was victorious.

One last note--nearly all of Hepburn's singing in "My Fair Lady" was dubbed by Marni Nixon who, a year later, would appear alongside Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music". Julie did all her own singing. (What a concept!) I love Audrey Hepburn but...come on!

5. In one of the most spectacular film debuts of all time, this celebrated actress/singer played a stage/radio/film star from an earlier era in this adaptation of a Broadway musical. She had played the role in the original Broadway production; she failed to win a Tony, but the Oscar voters were more generous. Who was the actress and what was the film?

Answer: Barbra Streisand, "Funny Girl"

Barbra Streisand actually tied with Katharine Hepburn for best actress in 1969. I guess if you're going to tie with someone for a best actress Oscar, it might as well be Katharine Hepburn.

Streisand's remarkable performance as Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl" was most deserving of an Oscar. It was the perfect marriage of actress and part. She famously played the same role in the Broadway production of "Funny Girl" and was nominated for a Tony. She lost to Carol Channing for "Hello, Dolly!". Ironically, she beat out Channing for the lead in the film version of "Hello, Dolly!".

6. A Greek actress, driven from her homeland during World War II, makes her way to Hollywood where she is cast in a prestigious Ingrid Bergman film. After a distinguished stage career, this was her film debut. Playing a spirited Spanish revolutionary, she wowed the critics and the Academy voters who crowned her best supporting actress. Who was the actress and what was the film?

Answer: Katina Paxinou, "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman supplied the star power for this adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel. Set during the Spanish Civil War, Cooper plays an American living in Spain who finds himself fighting against the fascists. He falls in love with Maria, played by Ingrid Bergman, and they share a famous love scene in a sleeping bag. How this furthers the fight against the fascists is never explained.

Katina Paxinou was a Greek stage actress who was one of the founders of the National Theatre of Greece. After the war, Paxinou returned to Greece with her husband; together, they became their nation's most revered theatrical couple--the Lunt and Fontanne of Greece.

7. For her feisty portrayal of a strident, unscrupulous advisor to a corrupt politician, this actress started her film career with a best supporting Oscar win. The film's insights into politics still ring disturbingly true. Perhaps that's why it also won the Oscar for best picture. Who was the actress and what was the film?

Answer: Mercedes McCambridge, "All the King's Men"

"All the King's Men" is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Robert Penn Warren. It tells the story of Willie Stark, the populist but crooked governor of a southern state. The character of Stark is based on Huey Long, the Louisiana politician who was assassinated in 1935. Broderick Crawford won an Oscar for his gruff, unflinching portrait of Stark.

Mercedes McCambridge won a cult following when, in 1973, she did voice over work for the character of Regan (Linda Blair) in "The Exorcist". She had to fight with producers to receive credit for her work on the film.

8. In the first year in which they added the best supporting actress category, this woman took home an Oscar for her film debut. In a prestigious literary adaptation, she played an evil housekeeper who rises to power by marrying well. Who was the actress and what was the film?

Answer: Gale Sondergaard, "Anthony Adverse"

"Anthony Adverse" takes us all the way back to 18th century Italy for the tale of an orphan caught between his adopted family and the woman he loves. I hate when that happens.

Gale Sondergaard, who I'm sure was a very nice lady, made a career of playing evil types. Most memorably, she played a vengeful widow opposite Bette Davis in the great forties thriller, "The Letter". She was even cast as the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz" but, at the last moment, the producers decided to make the witch the hideous grotesque looking creature we all know and love, so Sondergaard backed out, making way for Margaret Hamilton's show-stealing cackle.

9. Playing opposite her father in this Depression-era tale of a con-man and his pint-sized companion, this actress became the youngest person to ever win an Oscar. Who was the actress and what was the film?

Answer: Tatum O'Neal, "Paper Moon"

Peter Bogdanovich's "Paper Moon" gave Ryan O'Neal his very best role and he was supported most ably by his adorable and talented daughter, Tatum. O'Neal plays a Depression-era con man who finds himself saddled with a 10-year-old girl who may or may not be his daughter. Shot in glorious black and white, "Paper Moon" holds up beautifully all these years later.

Tatum O'Neal beat out fellow child actress Linda Blair, nominated for "The Exorcist", for the best supporting actress Oscar. "Paper Moon" co-star Madeline Kahn was also nominated.

10. This African American actress, in her film debut, tackled the challenging role of a slave girl subjected to horrifying abuse. She won an Oscar for best supporting actress. A Yale graduate who is fluent in four languages, she just may be the smartest person to ever win an Oscar. Who was the actress and what was the film?

Answer: Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave"

Lupita Nyong'o beat out an impressive field of nominees that included Julia Roberts and Jennifer Lawrence. Voters made the right choice. Nyong'o's performance is brave and heart-wrenching, most deserving of the Oscar. Since then, she has chosen her various projects carefully and well. "Black Panther"--need I say more? Nyong'o appeared on Broadway in 2016 in "Eclipsed" and received a Tony nomination for her work.

"12 Years a Slave," the story of a free black man who is hijacked into slavery in the years before the Civil War, won the Oscar for best picture.

Source: Author matriplex

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor skunkee before going online.
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These ten talented woman took home Oscars for their very first films. Identify the actress and the title of the film.

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