Teresa Wright won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Carol Beldon in "Mrs Miniver". Teresa received Academy Award nominations in her first three films. She was nominated in 1942 for "Little Foxes", and in 1943 for "Mrs Miniver" in the Best Supporting Actress category and as Best Actress starring with Gary Cooper in "Pride of The Yankees".
2. A Patch of Blue
Answer: Shelley Winters
Released in 1965, "A Patch of Blue" dealt with an inter-racial relationship; still a taboo subject for movies in 1965. The leading players, Sidney Poitier and Elizabeth Hartman, handled their roles perfectly. As Hartman's controlling mother who tries to scuttle her daughter's romance, Shelley Winters is outstanding and deservedly won an Oscar for this performance. Winters had previously won in the supporting category for "The Diary of Anne Frank".
3. The Razor's Edge
Answer: Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter became a major star in the 1940s and 1950s following performances in "Swamp Water", "The Fighting Sullivans" and "The Magnificent Ambersons". Anne accepted the supporting role in "The Razor's Edge" which won her an Academy Award. "The Razor's Edge" is the story of a wealthy young man changed by service in the First World War.
After the war he breaks off his engagement to a socialite and goes off searching for himself. Whilst in Paris he meets his old girlfriend and an old acquaintance played by Anne Baxter, who has lost her family in a tragic accident and became an alcoholic. Ms Baxter's best known role was playing Eve Harrington in "All About Eve" with Bette Davis.
4. Key Largo
Answer: Claire Trevor
Claire Trevor was recognised for her portrayal of an alcoholic gangster's moll in "Key Largo". Key Largo is a great movie featuring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Edward G Robinson and Claire Trevor. The movie deals with the taking over of a hotel by a gangster (Edward G Robinson) and his eventual downfall at the hands of Bogart's character. Claire Trevor was also nominated for her supporting performances in "Dead End" and "The High and The Mighty".
5. Separate Tables
Answer: Wendy Hiller
Wendy Hiller was first nominated in 1939 as Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion". This great English actress scored her Oscar win as the owner of a seaside hotel in "Separate Tables". Although mostly a stage actress, when she did appear in films she was memorable, for instance in "Sons and lovers", "Major Barbara", "I Know Where I'm Going" and "Murder On The Orient Express". "Separate Tables" boasted an all-star cast including Deborah Kerr, Rita Hayworth, David Niven, Wendy Hiller, Burt Lancaster, Gladys Cooper, Cathleen Nesbitt, Felix Aylmer and Rod Taylor.
The movie chronicled the sad and lonely lives of various people at a hotel during the off-season, showing them all dining at separate tables.
6. The Grapes of Wrath
Answer: Jane Darwell
Jane Darwell was 67 when John Ford asked her to play Ma Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath". Jane appeared in 25 silent movies and over 170 talking pictures. Her last movie appearance was as the Bird Woman in "Mary Poppins". "The Grapes of Wrath" is John Steinbeck's masterpiece about the Oklahoma farmers forced to migrate to California during the depression.
Henry Fonda earned a Best Actor nomination for his portrayal as Tom Joad and John Ford won his second Oscar as Best Director for his work on this movie.
7. National Velvet
Answer: Anne Revere
As Velvet Brown's mother in "National Velvet", Anne Revere gave a very moving performance and duly won an Oscar. Anne was often type cast as a stern or bitter character, yet when she had a role not so stereotyped she shone. Her other Academy Award nominations bear this out, as the mother of Bernadette Soubirous in "Song of Bernadette" and for playing Gregory Peck's liberal mother in "Gentleman's Agreement". "National Velvet" made a star out of young Elizabeth Taylor.
8. All The Kings Men
Answer: Mercedes McCambridge
Mercedes McCambridge deservedly won for her performance in "All The King's Men". The movie based on the life of Louisiana Governor Huey Long and starring Broderick Crawford was a smash hit when it was released and still packs a punch today. Mercedes went on to feature in "Johnny Guitar" against Joan Crawford and "Giant" with its stellar cast in which she stood out and was nominated again for her work. Mercedes had a tragic private life, which is why in a 45 year career she only appeared in 19 movies.
9. Airport
Answer: Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes was the first performer to win an Oscar, a Tony and an Emmy.
Helen made rare movie appearances after the mid 1940s preferring the Broadway stage, where she was christened "The First Lady of American Theatre". Her screen appearances in the late 1940s and the 1950s were for the most part on live television usually filmed in New York. She accepted the role in "Airport" as Ada Quonsett the stowaway after it had been turned down by Claudette Colbert.
"Airport" was an all star extravaganza and was the first of many disaster movies of the 1970s. Helen had previously won a Best Actress Academy Award in 1932 for the title role in "The Sins of Madelon Claudet".
10. Elmer Gantry
Answer: Shirley Jones
Shirley Jones is remembered for her movie musical roles in "Oklahoma",
"Carousel" and "The Music Man". Then even more fame ensued on television as Shirley Partidge in "The Partridge family". It is for her dramatic roles that she received critical acclaim such as "April Love", "Two Rode Together" and "Elmer Gantry". In "Elmer Gantry", her performance as the vengeful prostitute was so good and out of character that she won her Oscar. The public however loved the good Shirley, so her subsequent roles have been much lighter.
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor jmorrow before going online.
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