Gigi: 1958 Best Picture

As you will see in the above video, the MGM musical “Gigi” managed to sweep the Oscars at the 31st Academy Awards, winning all of its 9 nominations. At the same time, it failed to secure any nominations in any acting category. No kidding! The acting nominees came from these 1958 films (winners in bold):

Best Actor and Actress:
“Separate Tables” (David Niven and Deborah Kerr)
“I Want to Live!” (Susan Hayward)
“The Defiant Ones” (Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier)
“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor)
“The Old Man and the Sea” (Spencer Tracy)
“Some Came Running” (Shirley MacLaine)
“Auntie Mame” (Rosalind Russell)

Best Supporting Actor and Actress:
“The Big Country” (Burl Ives)
“Separate Tables” (Wendy Hiller)
“The Defiant Ones” (Theodore Bikel, Cara Williams)
“Some Came Running” (Arthur Kennedy, Martha Hyer)
“The Brothers Karamazov” (Lee J. Cobb)
“Teacher’s Pet” (Gig Young)
“Auntie Mame” (Peggy Cass)
“Lonelyhearts” (Maureen Stapleton)

Here are some horror classics that came out in 1958: “The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman”, “The Fly” and “The Blob”. Others titles you might want to catch on TCM include “The Young Lions”, “Desire Under the Elms”, “The Long Hot Summer”, “Majorie Morningstar”, “Les Miserables” starring Jean Gabin, “South Pacific” and “The Vikings”.

Jeopardy! clues on “Gigi”
AT THE MOVIES $800: One of the only 2 musicals to win 9 or more Oscars; one was in 1958 & one was in 1961
THE MOVIES $400: In this 1958 film, Maurice Chevalier & Hermione Gingold sang “I Remember It Well”
MARQUEE LADIES $2000: 1958: Leslie Caron played this Parisian gal
FILMS OF THE ’50s $2000: Leslie Caron is the waif who captures Louis Jourdan’s heart in this 1958 classic
HONORARY OSCARS $200: He didn’t get nominated for Best Actor for “Gigi” but did get an honorary Oscar for that year
RESTAURANT POTPOURRI $1000: This star of the film “Gigi” owns La Lucarne Aux Chouettes, a restaurant & inn, in her native France
ACTRESSES $100: She played “Lili”, “Gigi” & “Fanny”
INTERNATIONAL ACTORS $800: Once a French resistance fighter, he’s better known for singing “Gigi” in the film
“M.C.” 5 $1000: The film “Gigi” gave him his signature song “Thank Heaven For Little Girls”

More film clues for 1958:
BOOKS & AUTHORS $400: This tale for which Hemingway won a Pulitzer was a revision of his earlier story “On the Blue Water”
CELEBRITIES’ FAVORITE MOVIES $2000: (Hi. I’m CCH Pounder.) A favorite film of mine is this 1958 musical that featured the song “Bali Ha’i”; it was also the 1st film I ever saw in color
ALIEN INVADERS! $1200: 28-year-old Steve McQueen played a teenager helping fight off the giant goopy alien in this 1958 film
“LAST” CHANCE $800: Bravo! It’s a final performance or effort before retirement & also the title of a 1958 Spencer Tracy film
ORSON $1000: You might have the right touch if you know in 1958 Orson Welles starred in the cult classic film “Touch of” this
FROM PAGE TO SCREEN $3,000 (Daily Double): Marilyn Monroe longed to play Grushenka in the 1958 film of this Dostoyevsky saga, but Maria Schell got the part
AFI’S 100 YEARS 100 MOVIES $1200: This 1958 film named for an affliction is the only movie on the ballot that starts with the letter “V”
THUNDER & LIGHTNING $2000: In 1958, Robert Mitchum played a moonshiner in this film for which he also wrote & recorded the title tune
TAM O’SHATNER $2000: One of William Shatner’s early movie roles was as Alexi in this 1958 film based on a Dostoyevsky novel
AUNTIE UP $800: In this 1958 film Rosalind Russell says, “Life is a banquet & most poor suckers are starving to death!”
ANIMAL-TITLED FILMS $800: In 1958 Alec Guinness played painter Gulley Jimson; we got it straight from this, the title of the film
THE JIMMY STEWART FILM FESTIVAL $1,000 (Daily Double): Dizziness & loss of balance characterize this mental condition in the title of a 1958 Jimmy Stewart film
“DAY” & “NIGHT”! $800: Before 1997’s “Titanic”, there was this 1958 film about the ship, based on a Walter Lord book
MOVIE BIOGRAPHIES $1,000 (Daily Double): Errol Flynn played this other dissipated matinee idol in 1958’s “Too Much, Too Soon”
AMERICAN MOVIE STARS $600: She married Paul Newman in 1958, the year they starred in their first film together, “The Long Hot Summer”
STARTS WITH “V” $200: In this 1958 Alfred Hitchcock film, James Stewart played a former police detective afraid of heights
EUROPE ON FILM $500: Parts of this 1958 Kirk Douglas film about icy invaders were filmed on location in Norway