Oscar Winners in Two Acting Categories Quiz

Answer: Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman is in fact a three time recipient of the golden statuette, having won Best Actress in "Gaslight" (1944) and "Anastasia" (1956) then picking up a Best Supporting nod for "Murder On the Orient Express" (1974). Ingrid received nominations for "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943), "The Bells of St Mary's" (1945), "Joan of Arc" and "Höstsonaten" (Autumn Sonata). She starred in two superb movies for Alfred Hitchcock, "Spellbound" (1945) and "Notorious" (1946). For all her awards and great performances Ingrid is best remembered for her role as Ilsa Lund in "Casablanca" (1942) where she makes one of the immortal quotes from this classic, "Play it Sam, play As Time Goes By".

Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor and Olivia De Havilland each won two Oscars in the Best Actress category.

Answer: Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Private Trip, the embittered former slave in "Glory" (1989). Then as the rogue Los Angeles narcotics detective Alonzo Harris in "Training Day" (2001), he collected a Best Actor award. His other nominations have been, as Steve Biko in "Cry Freedom" (1987), in the title role of "Malcolm X" (1992), as Rueben Carter in "Hurricane" (1999), as the alcoholic Whip Whittaker in "Flight" (2012), as Troy Maxon in "Fences" (2016) and in the title role as "Roman J. Israel, Esq." (2017).

In his book "Oscar Stars from A to Z" published in 1998 author Roy Pickard notes, "No black actor has won two Academy Awards. Denzel Washington might conceivably be the first to do so." He was right.

Answer: Robert De Niro

With numerous Academy Award nominations and two wins, Robert De Niro is one of the best, if not the best actor of the past 45 years. His first win was as the young Vito Corleone in The "Godfather Part II" (1974) in the supporting category, followed a few years later with a Best Actor award for his role as Jake La Motta in "Raging Bull" (1980). Robert has been nominated for "Taxi Driver" (1976), "The Deer Hunter" (1978), "Awakenings" (1990) and "Cape Fear" (1991).

Another nomination came his way for his role in "Silver Linings Playbook" (2012). Robert De Niro has a nomination for Best Picture for "The Irishman" (2019). No nominations for his great performance in "The King of Comedy" (1982), or his comedic turns in "Analyse This" (1999), or "Meet The Fockers" (2004).

Answer: Helen Hayes

The grand lady of the American stage, Helen Hayes made only 17 feature movies and collected two Academy Award nominations for two wins. Firstly as an unmarried mother in "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" (1931), she won in the Best Actress category. In 1969 Helen was happily working on television in the made for TV remake of "Arsenic and Old Lace" when she was approached to play Ada Quonset in the all star blockbuster "Airport" (1970).

She accepted the role as the lovable stowaway and duly won an Oscar. Alas, no nomination for her outstanding portrayal of the Dowager Empress in "Anastasia" (1956) Interesting note: Helen Hayes is one of the rare performers who have won in competitive categories for performing, an Academy Award, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony.

Some others are Audrey Hepburn, Rita Moreno, Whoopi Goldberg and Sir John Gielgud.

Answer: Jack Lemmon

Jack Lemmon starred in this Billy Wilder comedy "The Fortune Cookie" (1966) from the Neil Simon play. It was his co-star Walter Matthau who got the prize for this picture, winning the Best Supporting Oscar at the 1967 awards. Jack Lemmon however had won for his role as Ensign Pulver in "Mister Roberts" (1955). He then won for his role in "Save the Tiger" (1973). Jack was nominated a further six times in the Best Actor category, for "Some Like It Hot" (1959), The Apartment" (1960), "Days of Wine and Roses" (1962), "The China Syndrome" (1979), "Tribute" (1980) and "Missing" (1982). Oddly no nomination for his role as Felix Unger in "The Odd Couple" (1968) or his standout performance in a brilliant ensemble cast in "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1992).

William Powell, Henry Fonda and James Cagney all starred in "Mr Roberts" (1955) with Jack Lemmon.

Answer: Cate Blanchett

Multi Oscar nominated Cate Blanchett is who it was. Nominated as Elizabeth I in "Elizabeth" (1998), she broke through when she played the young Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator" (2004), winning in the supporting category. She followed with nominations for "Carol" (2015), "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (2007) and then winning for "Blue Jasmine" (2013). Throw in two other nods for "Notes on a Scandal" (2006) and "I'm Not There" (2007) and you have a very complete and talented performer.

In winning for her role in "The Aviator" as Katharine Hepburn, Cate became the first person to win an award playing a previous Oscar winner.

Answer: Meryl Streep

Indeed the movie "Julia" (1977) featured Oscar winners Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximillian Schell and Jason Robards but lower down the cast as Lillian and Julia's friend Anne Marie is Meryl Streep. Meryl has won an Oscar for "Sophie's Choice" (1982), "The Iron Lady" (2012) and "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979). Meryl has been nominated multiple times with I presume, more on the way.

Answer: Jessica Lange

Jessica Lange was nominated in the top category for her lawyer in "Music Box" (1989) where she played the defender of her father for war crimes. Jessica won for her part as Dustin Hoffman's soap star friend in "Tootsie" (1982) and for her part as the blowsy military wife of Tommy Lee Jones in "Blue Sky" (1994). Other nominations have been for the title role in "Frances" (1982), as the wife of Sam Shepherd in "Country" (1984) and as Patsy Cline in "Sweet Dreams" (1986).

Olivia de Havilland, Glenda Jackson and Vivien Leigh have each won two Oscars in the Best Actress category.

Answer: Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith shone in her first Best Actress winning role as the Scottish school teacher in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969) and then for playing Michael Caine's wife in Neil Simon's "California Suite" (1978) she picked up a Best Supporting oscar. Maggie had been nominated for her portrayal of Desdemona alongside Laurence Olivier in "Othello" (1966). Further nominations have followed for her turn as scatty Aunt Augusta in "Travels with My Aunt" (1972), as the chaperone Charlotte Bartlett in "Room with a View" (1986) and for her standout performance as Constance Trentham in "Gosford Park" (2002).

In 2010 she agreed to play Violet Crawley in British television's "Downton Abbey" for which she has won numerous awards including Golden Globes, Primetime Emmys and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards.

Answer: Renee Zellweger

Famous for being Bridget Jones, Renee Zellweger is a consummate actress. First coming to prominence as Tom Cruise's love interest in "Jerry Maguire" (1996), where she uttered the much repeated line "You had me at hello". Renee was nominated for the title role in "Bridget Jones Diary" (2001) and again the following year for playing Roxie Hart in "Chicago" (2002).

Her breakthrough came for her role as Ruby Thewes in "Cold Mountain". Most recently she received an Oscar for her riveting performance as Judy Garland in "Judy" (2019).