Around the World in Eighty Days: 1956 Best Picture

Lots of great films this year that are still well thought of, but the one that won Best Picture at the 29th Academy Awards was “Around the World In Eighty Days” starring David Niven, as Jules Verne’s globe-trotting gentlemen, Phileas Fogg, with Cantinflas as his trusty valet.

Mia Farrow’s father, John, was one of the screenwriters to win an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, (with James Poe and S.J. Perelman). Mia was around 11 years old at the time. 41-year-old Frank Sinatra, who would marry Mia 10 years later, was one of many stars with a cameo role in the film. Here are some more of the many celebrities with cameos: Andy Devine, Buster Keaton, Cesar Romero, Charles Boyer, Charles Coburn, Evelyn Keyes, George Raft, Hermione Gingold, Joe E. Brown, John Carradine, John Mills, Marlene Dietrich, Peter Lorre, Red Skelton, and John Gielgud.

“Eighty Days” won no acting Oscars, however. Those went to:
Best Actor: Yul Brynner as King Mongwut in “The King and I”
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman as Anna Koreff in “Anastasia” (Yul Brynner was the male lead in this film, too.)
Best Supporting Actor: Anthony Quinn as Paul Gauguin in “Lust for Life”
Best Supporting Actress: Dorothy Malone as Marylee Hadley in “Written on the Wind”

And the Best Director Oscar went to George Stevens for “Giant.”

Jeopardy! clues on the Best Picture of 1956:
EDWARD R. MURROW $1600: Murrow narrated this Oscar-winning 1956 film based on a Jules Verne work
“WORLD” CINEMA $200: When filming this 1956 motion picture, Cantinflas got many stamps in his “Passepartout”

Some clues on the main character of the novel:
SOUNDS LIKE 2 LETTERS $600: Title number of days needed by Phileas Fogg to traverse the globe
NONCE WORDS $600: Airgonation is travel via this transport that Phileas Fogg once used
JOURNALISM $400: Attempting to beat the fictional Phileas Fogg, this woman reporter went around the world in 72 days in 1889

More 1956 film clues:
CIRCUS & CARNIVAL CINEMA $1600: In 1956’s “Trapeze” this actor played an aerialist vying with Burt Lancaster for the attentions of Gina Lollobrigida
HE WAS IN THAT? $400: Dennis Hopper played the son of Rock Hudson & Elizabeth Taylor in this 1956 classic
OSCAR-WINNING ROLES $2000: 1956: Paul Gauguin
McCARTHYISM $1600: Mary McCarthy’s brother Kevin starred in this 1956 film in which his neighbors are replaced by pod people
THEIR SOLE OSCAR NOMINATION $1000: As a rancher, Rock Hudson, 1956
WEAK END $2000: The New York Times said this 1956 film about a grade schooler with an evil streak had an “asinine closing-credits sequence”
GREG-CELLENT! $1000: In a 1956 film he was “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit”
COMEDY DUOS $400: The duo of him & Jerry Lewis broke up after making the 1956 film “Hollywood or Bust”
“STOP” & “GO” $1000: A highlight of this 1956 film is a rendition of “That Old Black Magic” by Marilyn Monroe, who plays Cherie, a saloon singer
BOXING MOVIES $800: Ex-heavyweight champ Max Baer appeared in 1956’s “The Harder They Fall”, the last film of this actor, sweetheart
PAUL NEWMAN $1000: Paul’s breakout role was as boxer Rocky Graziano in this 1956 film (the title’s true down here, too)
LE CINEMA $400: In 1956 Roger Vadim directed his first film, “And God Created Woman”, which starred this actress, his then-wife
JOHN WAYNE AT 100 $2000: John played obsessed Indian hunter Ethan Edwards in this acclaimed 1956 film
NEED MORE SPACE! $1000: The 1956 film “Forbidden Planet” was a sci-fi version of this play; Robby the Robot was inspired by Ariel
TOP “GOD”s $800: This giant movie monster first attacked Tokyo in a 1956 film
MOVIE MUSICALS $800: (Hi, I’m Jeff Probst [reporting from Thailand]) Here in Thailand, this 1956 movie musical was banned & so was the non-musical 1999 film covering the same story
MOVIE ROLES $600: Elvis made his feature film debut as Clint Reno in this 1956 western
EGYPTIAN FILM FESTIVAL $200: The budget of this 1956 film with Charlton Heston ran into DeMilliones
ARTSY FILMS $200: He played Van Gogh in the 1956 film “Lust for Life”
THE BEAUTIFUL $200: Her famed rendition of “That Old Black Magic” appears in the 1956 film “Bus Stop”
MOVIE ACTORS $1000: She played Moses’ wife in the 1956 film “The Ten Commandments” (& Herman Munster’s wife on TV)
PUT A KIRK IN IT $600: In this 1956 film James Donald played Theo & Kirk played his brother Vincent
MOVIE DEBUTS $800: This “Indochine” actress was just 13 when she made her film debut in 1956 in “Les Collegiennes”
ELIZABETH TAYLOR FILMS $200: She was a year younger than James Dean when they made this 1956 film
’50s FILM FACTS $400: In 1956 he made his movie debut in a Civil War film called “Love Me Tender”
“AND” SO IT GOES $600: Title of 1956 French film and its 1988 American remake, both directed by Roger Vadim
HOLLYWOOD HISTORY $400: The poster for this controversial 1956 film showed Carroll Baker sucking her thumb like an infant
FICTIONAL HEROINES $400: Audrey Hepburn played the charming Natasha Rostova in this novel’s 1956 film adaptation