The Sixties Revolution in Films-The Actresses Quiz

Answer: Doris Day

Doris Day (b. 1924) started her show business career as a band singer, and went on to star in many popular films. Day was one of the best-loved actresses of the fifties and sixties. She was nominated for an Oscar for "Pillow Talk" in 1959. Her sixties' movies included "Midnight Lace" (1960) with Rex Harrison, "That Touch of Mink" (1962) with the wonderful Cary Grant and "Send Me No Flowers" (1964) with frequent co-star Rock Hudson.

She is said to have turned down the role of Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate", which was eventually played by Anne Bancroft.

She retired from show business in the early seventies, and went on to become a crusader for the humane treatment of animals.

Answer: Patricia Neal

Patricia Neal was born in Kentucky in 1926. She became a star with the release of her second film, "The Fountainhead" (1949), co-starring with Gary Cooper. After an affair with the married Cooper, she wed writer Roald Dahl; the couple had five children. In 1965, Neal suffered three cerebral aneurysms while pregnant with her youngest child, and was in a coma for many days. She went on to have a healthy baby and has recovered completely. Patricia Neal was awarded an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her fine performance in 1963's "Hud" with Paul Newman.

Answer: Sue Lyon

Sue Lyon played the part of the 14 year old "nymphet" Dolores "Lolita" Haze. She was 14 when director Stanley Kubrick cast her in the film, a total newcomer. She would go on to co-star in the 1964 film "Night of the Iguana", and had a few more roles before retiring completely from show business in 1980. By all accounts she has had a very difficult personal life, including five marriages and five divorces.

Answer: Natalie Wood

Who can forget Natalie as Deanie Loomis in "Splendor in the Grass" (1961), Judy in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955), or Maria in "West Side Story" (1961)? She was one of a kind. Natalie Wood's career began in 1943, and ended with her untimely death in 1983.

She drowned when she fell into the ocean while attempting to transfer from a yacht to a small boat tied alongside. She was just 43 years old.

Answer: Tippi Hedren

"Marnie" didn't do well at the box office, and wasn't a big critical success at the time. The film is a cult classic today, and it's now considered an artistic success. Tippi Hedren also starred in Hitchcock's classic "The Birds" in 1963. Hedren found Hitchcock too controlling of her, and they never worked together again. She now operates the Shambala Preserve, a wildlife refuge for lions, tigers and other big cats, in the Mojave Desert in California.
"Goldfinger" and "Dr Strangelove" were also released in 1964. The James Bond franchise has continued into the 21st century.

Answer: Julie Christie

Julie Christie was born in Assam, India in 1941, the daughter of an English tea farmer. Her first important film was "Billy Liar" in 1963. Then came "Darling" (1965), for which Christie won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was also Oscar-nominated for "McCabe and Mrs Miller" (1971) and "Afterglow" (1997). Over forty years later, Julie Christie is still going strong, recently giving an acclaimed performance in "Away From Her" (2006). "Dr Zhivago" was a box office success and a critical failure, at least at the time it was released.

The film has stood the test of time, and in 1998 it was ranked number 39 on the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest Movies" list. Directed by David Lean, the cast included Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness and Ralph Richardson.

Answer: Vanessa Redgrave

"Blowup" was one of Vanessa Redgrave's first film roles. Born in 1937 into a family of well-known actors, she's gone on to a remarkable career spanning over forty years. Redgrave would win an Oscar for "Julia"(1977). The other actresses mentioned have been nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
Vanessa Redgrave's early films include "Morgan" (1966), "Camelot" (1967) and "Isadora" (1968). Redgrave is almost as famous for her political activism as for her movie roles.

Answer: Estelle Parsons

Estelle Parsons won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film. A character actress, she has continued working in films and television into the 21st century.
"Bonnie and Clyde" was a milestone in film history. The scene in which the bank-robbing couple were gunned down was extremely graphic. Up to that time such things were left almost entirely to the imagination. In his review of the film, critic Roger Ebert wrote: "Years from now it is quite possible that "Bonnie and Clyde" will be seen as the definitive film of the 1960s".

Answer: Mia Farrow

Mia Farrow is the daughter of director John Farrow and actress Maureen O'Sullivan. Farrow began her acting career in supporting roles in sixties movies, and became a star playing Allison Mackenzie on the television drama "Peyton Place". Mia Farrow married Frank Sinatra in 1966 -- she was 21, Sinatra almost 30 years her senior. During the filming of "Rosemary's Baby" Sinatra served Farrow with divorce papers on the set of the movie, much to Farrow's surprise.

After their divorce, she married pianist/composer André Previn in 1970. Farrow and Previn had three children of their own and adopted three children (including a young girl named Soon-Yi, now Mrs Woody Allen).

The couple divorced in 1979.

Answer: no

Jane Fonda (born Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda in 1937) was nominated for the film but didn't win-that honor would go to Maggie Smith for 1969's "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie". Fonda would later win for "Klute" in 1971 and "Coming Home" in 1978. The daughter of actor Henry Fonda, Jane began her career as a model, and has been an acclaimed actress, controversial political activist, and star of her own popular series of fitness videos.

"Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" "Easy Rider", "The Wild Bunch", and "Midnight Cowboy" were all released in 1969. Quite a change from the films of the early 60s!