Welcome to Test #1 "Alpha" (α) !

These first 20 questions cover the early years of the Academy Awards®. Enter your answers, and click "Get Certificate" when you've finished. In order to get your Certificate and advance to the next test, you're required to score at least 75% on this test.

This method of testing doesn't tell you which answers were correct or incorrect. If you'd like to research the questions further, use the resources on theOscarSite that are linked at the bottom of the test.

So, sharpen your pencils, put on some appropriate movie music, and let the quiz begin!


Question 1: The first Awards ceremony was held in 1929 in a Hollywood hotel that shared its name with which U.S. ex-President?

Millard Fillmore
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson


Question 2: Who received the first Academy Award® ever presented?

Charles Chaplin
Janet Gaynor
Ben Hecht
Emil Jannings


Question 3: Who is Joseph Farnham, and why is he (or should be) memorable?

He designed the Oscar® statuette.
He hosted the first Academy Awards® ceremonies.
He received the only Oscar® ever awarded for Title Writing.
He was the first president of the Academy.


Question 4: In the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest movies, what is the highest-ranking film that received zero Oscar® nominations?

Singin' in the Rain (1952) at #10
King Kong (1933) at #43
City Lights (1931) at #76
Frankenstein (1931) at #87


Question 5: I was the first woman to win two Academy Awards® for Writing: for 1929-30 (Writing) and for 1931-32 (Original Story). Who am I?

Frances Goodrich
Joan Harrison
Sonya Levien
Frances Marion


Question 6: I am the first person who refused to accept an Oscar®. Who am I?

John L. Balderston
Jules Furthman
Dudley Nichols
Casey Robinson


Question 7: When not being threatened by monsters, I received 3 Oscars® (even though the IMDb only credits me with 2) and an Honorary Award for my Short Subjects. Who am I?

Gordon Hollingshead
Hal Roach
Edward Selzer
Pete Smith


Question 8: What is the only film to win Best Picture with no other nominations or Awards?

The Broadway Melody
Chariots of Fire
Grand Hotel
Wings


Question 9: It was the first film to receive nominations in all 4 acting categories (1936). Can you name it?

Anthony Adverse
Dodsworth
The Great Ziegfeld
My Man Godfrey


Question 10: This is an image from which 1934 Best Picture nominee?

Cleopatra
The Gay Divorcee
One Night of Love
The White Parade



(Play the clip)
then use the "Back" feature on your browser to return to this page.
Question 11: Name the Best Picture winner that features this snappy dialogue:

Cavalcade
Grand Hotel
The Great Ziegfeld
It Happened One Night


Question 12: Name the only film to have 3 nominees for Best Actor.

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
From Here to Eternity
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Schindler's List


Question 13: What is the only studio to tally a Best Picture win in every decade from the 1930s through the 1980s?

Columbia
20th Century-Fox
Universal
Warner Bros.


Question 14: Besides being nominated for 3 writing Oscars® (and winning one), Sidney Howard holds what other distinction that's relevant to this quiz?

He was the first posthumous Oscar® nominee.
He was the first posthumous Oscar® winner.
He was the first to refuse to accept his Award.
He was the first to win as a write-in candidate.


Question 15: Who received the most Oscars® at a single ceremony (4)?

James Cameron
Walt Disney
Stephen Spielberg
Billy Wilder


Question 16: Busby Berkeley was known for choreographing "on the fly." Here's his surreal masterpiece "Lullaby of Broadway". Can you name the picture it's taken from? (He came in third the year it was nominated.)

Flying Down to Rio
42nd Street
Gold Diggers of 1933
Gold Diggers of 1935


Question 17: I was nominated as Best Director 5 times, yet I never won; nor did I ever receive an Honorary Oscar®. As such, I'm one of the most overlooked directors in Oscar history. Who am I?

Clarence Brown
Henry Hathaway
Frank Lloyd
King Vidor


Question 18: In a career that began in silent films and stretched to the mid-1970s, I staged and performed stunts in hundreds of films; in 1967, I became the only stuntman to receive an Honorary Academy Award®. Who am I?

Yakima Canutt
Dave Clarke
Eli Cross
Bill Shirk


Question 19: Who were the first performers to receive statuettes in supporting categories?

Gale Sondergaard & Walter Brennan
Alice Brady & Joseph Schildkraut
Fay Bainter & Walter Brennan
Katina Paxinou & Charles Coburn


Question 20: At the ceremonies in 1934, when the host and presenter Will Rogers announced the winner for Directing by saying, "Well, well, well, what do you know. I've watched this young man for a long time. Saw him come up from the bottom, and I mean the bottom. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Come and get it, Frank," who incorrectly began to make his way toward the stage to accept the Award?

Frank Borzage
Frank Capra
Frank Lloyd
Frank Morgan


169.   2α 193.   3α 62.   4α 68.   5α 58.   6α 43.   7α 53.   8α 27.   9α 14.   10α 6.
11α 73.   12α 74.   13α 89.   14α 96.    15α 98.   16α 82.   17α 113.   18α 121.   19α 127.   20α 134.

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