Death in the suburbs, Death Row, the specter of dead people, abortion, and companies that lie about killing people-yes, it’s time for another cheerful night at the Oscars. Given that this year’s Best Picture nominees are such a sunny collection, the 11th annual Os-Caro Quiz feels duty bound to mix in some glee with the gloom.
Remember, you can’t win a million dollars — or even one — for playing along. Smile, everybody!
1. Six of this year’s acting nominees play characters who are dead by the time the closing credits roll. Who’s won more Oscars over the past 10 years: performers playing characters who have killed or performers playing characters who have been killed?
2. Speaking of which, what do Broderick Crawford, Estelle Parsons, Ben Kingsley, Peter Finch and Christopher Walken have in common?
3. What movie featured one current Best Actor nominee hunting down and blowing away a fellow Best Actor nominee?
4. Half of this year’s Best Actor and Actress nominees played real-life people. Which one of the following has not won an Oscar for playing an actual person?
a. James Cagney
b. Daniel Day-Lewis
c. Susan Sarandon
d. Meryl Streep
e. Spencer Tracy
5. Which of this year’s acting nominees once played fallen televangelist Jim Bakker in a TV movie?
6. True or false: Best Actress nominee Hilary Swank played the lead role in “The Next Karate Kid.”
7. Samantha Morton received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for “Sweet and Lowdown” although she never talks in the film. Who was the last acting Oscar winner to speak no lines?
a. Patty Duke
b. Harpo Marx
c. Marlee Matlin
d. John Mills
e. Jane Wyman
8. Which of this year’s nominees is threatening to become the Oscars’ Susan Lucci, with 13 nominations and no victories so far?
9. Which two of this year’s acting nominees played lovers in a previous movie?
10. Which movie did Best Director nominee Lasse Hallstrom not direct?
a. “ABBA: The Movie”
b. “My Life as a Dog”
c. “Something To Talk About”
d. “The Best Intentions”
e. “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”
11. “The Cider House Rules” marks eight straight years that Miramax has had a Best Picture nominee. Which studio has had the longest streak of Best Picture nominees?
a. Columbia
b. MGM
c. Paramount
d. 20th Century Fox
e. Warner Brothers
12. Which two of this year’s acting nominees have won Tony Awards?
(The erroneous question 13 as published has been deleted in this text.)
14. Who is the only one of the following who has not won both an Oscar and an Emmy Award?
a. Cher
b. Dustin Hoffman
c. Jack Palance
d. George C. Scott
e. Meryl Streep
15. Tickets for the first-ever Academy Awards show cost $10 each in 1929. How much do tickets cost now?
a. $15
b. $40-$250
c. $350-$750
d. $1,200-$1,500
e. They’re free but invitation-only
16. Despite being considered by many to be one of the year’s best films, “Three Kings” received no Oscar nominations. Which one of the following movies was an Oscar nominee?
a. “Local Hero”
b. “The Night of the Hunter”
c. “Mean Streets”
d. “Airport ’75”
e. “The Birds”
17. The 72nd annual Academy Awards show will take place at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium. Which theater has hosted the most Academy Awards shows?
a. The Biltmore Hotel
b. The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
c. The RKO Pantages Theater
d. The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
e. The Shrine Auditorium
18. “The Insider” has the lowest box-office gross of any of the Best Picture nominees. In the 17 years in which Entertainment Data Inc. has reported box-office figures, how many of the Best Picture winners have been the lowest-grossing nominee?
a. 0
b. 1
c. 2
d. 3
e. 4
19. Which two acting nominees both played the plain Harriet Smith in versions of Jane Austen’s “Emma”?
20. Haley Joel Osment received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for “The Sixth Sense” at the age of 11. Who was the youngest Best Supporting Actor winner?
a. Jackie Cooper
b. Mickey Rooney
c. James Dean
d. Justin Henry
e. Timothy Hutton
21. Which of the following is not true about Best Actor nominee Richard Farnsworth?
a. He had an uncredited role in the Marx Brothers’ “A Day at the Races.”
b. He was Kirk Douglas’ body double in “Spartacus.”
c. He was a stuntman for 30 years before becoming an actor.
d. He broke Montgomery Clift’s finger on the set of “Red River.”
e. He received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in “Comes a Horseman.”
22. Two of this year’s nominees appeared in two of the films up for Best Picture, but they are not nominated in the acting categories. Who are they?
23. Best Supporting Actress nominee Angelina Jolie is the daughter of 1978 Best Actor winner Jon Voight (“Coming Home”). What is the only family to have three generations of Oscar winners?
24. Billy Crystal will host his 7th Oscars show this year. After tonight, who will have hosted the most shows?
a. George Jessel
b. Bob Hope
c. Johnny Carson
d. Vincent Price
e. Billy Crystal
25. Which of the following is not a reason to expect “American Beauty” to win Best Picture.
a. It received the most Oscar nominations this year.
b. It won the Directors Guild Award.
c. It won the Producers Guild Award.
d. It’s based on an original screenplay.
e. It received multiple acting nominations.
ANSWERS
1. Killed actors win 10-4, including two killed killers (Gene Hackman in “Unforgiven” and Joe Pesci in “GoodFellas”) and not counting the found-innocent Jeremy Irons in “Reversal of Fortune”.
2. They’ve all won Oscars for roles in which they’re shot to death.
3. “Virtuosity” (1995), which starred Denzel Washington as an ex-cop assigned to nab a computer-generated serial killer played by Russell Crowe.
4. d. Although Meryl Streep has been nominated for playing real people Karen Silkwood in “Silkwood” (1983), Karen Blixen in “Out of Africa” (1985), Lindy Chamberlain in “A Cry in the Dark” (1988) and Roberta Guaspari in this year’s “Music of the Heart,” her two victories have come for fictional roles in “Kramer Vs. Kramer” (1979) and “Sophie’s Choice” (1982).
5. Kevin Spacey in “Fall from Grace” (1990).
6. True. Swank played Ralph Macchio’s successor in the 1994 film.
7. d. John Mills, 1970’s Best Supporting Actor for “Ryan’s Daughter.” Matlin actually spoke briefly in “Children of a Lesser God.”
8. Randy Newman, whose “Toy Story 2” tune “When She Loved Me” is up for Best Song.
9. Kevin Spacey and Jude Law in “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”
10. d. Bille August directed “The Best Intentions.”
11. b. MGM had 18 straight years of Best Picture nominees from 1928-29 through 1946.
12. Janet McTeer (“A Doll’s House,” 1997) and Kevin Spacey (“Lost in Yonkers,” 1991).
(The erroneous answer for question 13 as published has been deleted in this text.)
14. a. Alas, although “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” was nominated four times and “Cher” once, the Emmy never went to Cher.
15. b. $40-$250, and, no, they’re not available to the public.
16. e. “The Birds” received one nomination for special visual effects.
17. b. The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion has hosted 24 awards shows, the last time in 1996.
18. a. 0.
19. Best Supporting Actress contender Toni Collette played her in Douglas McGrath’s 1996 movie “Emma”; fellow nominee Samantha Morton played her in the 1997 BBC mini-series.
20. e. Timothy Hutton was 20 when he won for “Ordinary People” (1980).
21. d. Although Farnsworth was Clift’s stunt double in “Red River,” he didn’t damage the actor’s finger.
22. “Cider House” screenwriter John Irving played a stationmaster in his film; “Sixth Sense” director M. Night Shyamalan portrayed a doctor in his.
23. The Hustons. Walter won Best Supporting Actor in 1948 for “The Treasure of Sierra Madre,” for which his son John won Best Director. Anjelica won Best Supporting Actress in 1985 for “Prizzi’s Honor.”
24. b. Bob Hope, who hosted or co-hosted 18 shows.
25. d. Most Best Picture winners have been based on adapted screenplays.
— Sources: “70 Years of the Oscar,” Robert Osborne (Abbeville Press); Internet Movie Database; AC Nielsen EDI’s Academy Awards Guide
