THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 26, 1995 TAG: 9503270176
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
HERE ARE a few questions about Oscars that were won, or lost, by Virginia and North Carolina folks. Don't worry if you don't know the answers. The questions are more interesting.
1. Jodie Foster is a leading Oscar contender this year for playing a backwoods North Carolina girl named ``Nell.'' If she wins, she would be the second actress to win the Oscar for playing a North Carolina girl. Who was the other one, and for what film did she win?
2. There has been only one write-in winner in Oscar history. It was in the category of best cinematography and the winner was the first film ever to be shown in Norfolk's venerable art-house theater, the Naro. Name the film.
3. As a teenager, this legendary screen beauty lived with her mother in a boarding house in Newport News for a while. A North Carolina native, she was nominated in the best actress category in 1953, the same year her husband was nominated for ``From Here to Eternity.'' He won the Oscar, but she lost to Audrey Hepburn in ``Roman Holiday.'' Who was she, who was her husband, and for what film was she nominated?
4. If Jessica Lange wins the Oscar, she will bring it back to her horse-ranch home in Albemarle County. Lange, however, would not be the only Oscar winner in the Charlottesville neighborhood. Who is Jessica's Oscar-winning neighbor, and for what film did she win?
5. A Norfolk native who first appeared on stage at the Little Theater of Norfolk was one of the leading candidates for the role of Scarlett O'Hara. Married to Henry Fonda, she was an Oscar nominee in 1938 for ``Three Comrades.'' Name her.
6. Virginia has two well-known ``Oscar wives,'' so to speak - Oscar-contending wives of Virginians. The more famous of the two played her most memorable local role when she campaigned for her man, right down to riding in the Peanut Festival parade in Emporia. She played a major part in getting him to Washington - where he remains, minus her. In Hollywood, she is one of the few to win two best actress Oscars. Naming her is easy, but name the two films for which she won Oscars.
7. The other so-called ``Oscar wife'' is Debbie Reynolds, who has a somewhat mysterious marriage to a Roanoke real estate developer. Of late, she hasn't been in Virginia - making her home in Las Vegas, where she is operating her own casino. Name the role for which she was nominated for best actress.
8. George Stevens received the best director Oscar in 1956 for this film which was set partially in Virginia. Based on an Edna Ferber novel, it's earlier scenes were set in Virginia's horse country but were filmed in Maryland. Name the film.
9. This native of Wise, Va., made news when he refused to accept his Oscar. Who was he? (A hint: He was not Marlon Brando.)
10. This Oscar-winning supporting actress, who won for her very first movie role, made her professional debut as a dancer in ``The Common Glory,'' the outdoor drama presented for several decades in Williamsburg. Who was she and for what role did she win best supporting actress?
For answers, see below. If you got them all right, we can't offer real gold, but you know your stuff. ANSWERS
1. Sally Field for ``Norma Rae'' (based on a unionizing effort at Roanoke Rapids, N.C.).
2. ``A Midsummer Night's Dream.'' When the theater opened with it, in 1936, it was known as The Colley Theater - but later became the Naro.
3. Ava Gardner, a native of Smithfield, N.C., was nominated for ``Mogambo.'' Her husband, Frank Sinatra, won that same year for ``From Here to Eternity''.
4. Sissy Spacek, best actress winner for playing ``Coal Miner's Daughter''.
5. Margaret Sullavan.
6. Elizabeth Taylor, the former wife of Sen. John Warner, won Oscars for ``Butterfield Eight'' and ``Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?''
7. ``The Unsinkable Molly Brown'' was Debbie's Oscar-nominated performance in 1964. She lost out to Julie Andrews in another musical, ``Mary Poppins.''
8. ``Giant,'' starring Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean and Rock Hudson.
9. George C. Scott, who won for ``Patton,'' even though he refused the Oscar. It is still waiting for him at the Academy, if he ever chooses to accept it.
10. Goldie Hawn who won for ``Cactus Flower'' in 1969. by CNB