All About Eve: 1950 Best Picture

At the 23rd Academy Awards, “All About Eve”, starring Bette Davis, got a record number (14) of nominations, beating the prior record holder (“Gone with the Wind”) by one nomination. Unlike GWTW, however, it only picked up one award in the acting category. George Sanders (who was married to Zsa Zsa Gabor at the time, dahlink) won Best Supporting Actor. It also nabbed Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay (Joseph L. Mankiewicz for both), Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Edith Head and Charles Le Maire) and Best Sound, Recording, for a total of 6 Oscars, 2 less than GWTW.

The 4 other films nominated for Best Picture were:
“Born Yesterday” featured Judy Holliday, William Holden and Broderick Crawford in a comedic drama and love triangle. Only one Oscar went to Holliday for Best Actress, out of 5 nominations.
“Father of the Bride” starred Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor, a self-explanatory comedy. It got 3 nominations and no wins.
“King Solomon’s Mines” starred Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr on an African adventure. Out of 3 nomination, it won 2: Best Cinematography, Color and Best Film Editing.
“Sunset Blvd” featured Gloria Swanson as a delusional silent screen star. It only won 3 of its 11 nominations: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

The Best Actor Oscar went to José Ferrer for his performance as Cyrano de Bergerac in the film of the same name. Josephine Hull won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Veta Louise Simmons in “Harvey”.

Here are some Jeopardy! clues for “All About Eve”:
MANKIEWICZES AT THE MOVIES $2000: The title character of Joseph’s “All About Eve” isn’t played by Bette Davis but by her
MUSICAL THEATRE $400: Anne Baxter, who starred in “All About Eve”, later starred in this musical based on the film
EVEs $800: In this 1950 film, Bette Davis told partygoers, “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night”
THE MOVIES $1000: With 14 Oscar nominations, “Titanic” tied the record of this 1950 Bette Davis film

More clues on 1950 films:
HERE COMES THE WEDDING MOVIE $1,200 (Daily Double): Spencer Tracy played the title role in this 1950 film with Liz Taylor as his affianced daughter Kay
CLASSIC MOVIE TRAILERS $1000: The trailer for this 1950 film describes Judy Holliday’s character as follows “Blonde, beautiful, brazen, and oh, brother!”
CELEBRITIES’ FAVORITE MOVIES $2000: (Dana Delany gives the clue.) Humphrey Bogart plays a tough Hollywood writer who loses his last chance at love with Gloria Grahame in this 1950 film
JUNGLE FEVER $1600: John Huston wrote & directed this 1950 jewel heist caper that starred Sterling Hayden & Marilyn Monroe
TCM WITH ROBERT OSBORNE $1600: (Turner Classic Movies’s Robert Osbourne gives the clue.) Judy Holliday, reprising her stage role as ex-chorus girl Billie Dawn, beat Bette Davis & Gloria Swanson for Best Actress in this 1950 George Cukor film
1950s MOVIES $2000: People often cite this 1950 Japanese film when describing situations seen differently by different people
FILMS OF THE ’50s $2000: The 2 1950s films starring Grace Kelly with “High” in the title
MAX-IMUM OVERDRIVE $1200: Man von Mayerling is the tense teutonic butler to a faded star in this classic 1950 film
“WILD” ABOUT ENTERTAINMENT $2000: Even though it was in Swedish, Ingmar Bergman was nominated for an Oscar for writing this 1950s film
ROAD MOVIES $400: Classic 1950 film that includes the line “All right, Mr. De Mille, I’m ready for my close-up”
FILMED IN HAWAII $400: Set in Tahiti but filmed in Hawaii, 1950’s “Pagan Love Song” featured this star doing one of her famous water ballets
SNICKERS $1000: 1950 film in which Judy Holliday tells Broderick Crawford, “You’re just not couth!”
PEOPLE FROM INDIA $800: In the 1950s he directed the landmark “Apu” triology of films
BILLY WILDER FILMS $400: Wilder directed this big 1950 film in which Gloria Swanson says, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small!”
20th CENTURY WOMEN $400: Sadly, this studio fired Judy Garland after “Summer Stock” in 1950, & she never made another film there
WILD WILD WEST $400: Mae turned down the part of faded movie star Norma Desmond in this 1950 film
UNSEEN TITLE CHARACTERS $600: Unseen for most of the film, he’s the title character of a 1950 Jimmy Stewart movie
’50s FILM FACTS $1000: Dean Stockwell was a teenager when he played the title lad in the 1950 film of this Kipling classic
FAMOUS JAPANESE $200: His 1950 film “Rashomon” made him the 1st Japanese filmmaker to have an impact in Europe & the U.S.