Ben-Hur: 1959 Best Picture

Just one year after “Gigi” set a new record at the 32nd Academy Awards, “Ben-Hur” beat it by winning 11 Oscars out of 12 nominations. The only one it lost was in the adapted screenplay category. That one went to “Room at the Top.”

Besides Ben-Hur, these movies were nominated for Best Picture: “Anatomy of a Murder”, “Room at the Top”, “Diary of Anne Frank” and “The Nun’s Story”. Other notable titles of the year include: “Imitation of Life” (the Lana Turner one), “Rio Bravo”, “Operation Petticoat” “Al Capone” (Rod Steiger played the Big Guy), “The Big Fisherman”, “Hiroshima, Mon Amour”, The Last Angry Man”, “Li’l Abner” and “The Young Philadelphians.”

Fun Fact: This year, Jeopardy! had a one-day champ named Ben-Hur Flores who played two games on July 14 and 15.

Jeopardy! clues on “Ben Hur”
LITERATURE ON FILM $1000: This 1880 novel by Lew Wallace was made into a film in 1907, 1926 & 1959
THE NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY $400: Both the 1925 & the 1959 versions of this biblical epic featuring a chariot race are on the National Film Registry
BEN-HUR $400: He must’ve gone ape after winning an Oscar for Best Actor as Ben-Hur
THE CINEMA $600: Some TV prints of this 1959 film expand to widescreen format for the chariot race only
FILM FACTS $600: “Titanic” tied this 1959 film’s record of 11 Oscars but didn’t overtake it
THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS $200: Andrew Marton received a special award for directing the chariot race in this 1959 film
AFI’S 100 YEARS 100 MOVIES $1600: This Lew Wallace “tale of the Christ” is the only title on the ballot twice; Charlton Heston was in one

More 1959 film clues:
THE GENGHIS KHAN FILM FESTIVAL $1,500 (Daily Double): A 1959 Japanese film about Genghis Khan starring Hashizo Okawa was titled “King of” this ethnic group
ZOMBIELAND $600: In this infamously awful numerical 1959 Ed Wood film, aliens “Plan” to turn all of Earth into zombieland
FUN WITH OPERA $400: To play Sportin’ Life in “Porgy and Bess”, study the performance of this Rat Packer who played him in the 1959 film
CALIFORNIA ROLE $400: In a classic 1959 film, writer Joe Gillis moves into Norma Desmond’s mansion on this title L.A. street
SEASONAL CINEMA $400: Quick! Name this seasonal 1959 Elizabeth Taylor film based on a Tennessee Williams play
NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE $400: You couldn’t drag a Best Picture nomination out of the Academy for this 1959 Billy Wilder film; well, nobody’s perfect
FOREIGN CINEMA $1600: Truffaut provided the story for this 1959 Godard film in which Belmondo plays a hood who kills a cop
FILM SCHOOL $2000: In this probing 1959 Preminger film, Jimmy Stewart’s a lawyer defending Ben Gazzara in a murder trial
FAMILIAR NUMBERS $400: Title number of “Blows” in a 1959 Jean-Pierre Leaud film
THE HISTORY OF DISNEYLAND $1600: Neuschwanstein Castle inspired the design of this heroine’s castle in a 1959 film and at Disneyland
FAMOUS JACQUES $400: His 1959 film “The Golden Fish” won him an Oscar
AT THE MOVIES $1200: Disney’s first live-action comedy, this 1959 film starred Tommy Kirk as a boy who changes into a sheepdog
PORGY-POURRI $800: Bobby McFerrin’s father dubbed the singing voice of Porgy when this leading man played him on film in 1959
MOVIES BY CHARACTER $1200: In a 1959 film, Altair, Aldebaran, Antares & Rigel (total legs: 16)
NUMBERS $500: Title number of blows in a 1959 Truffaut film that could be described as quadrigenarious
MASONS $600: He led the cast of the 1959 film “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, seen here:
KATHARINE HEPBURN FILMS $1000: In 1959 Hepburn did “Suddenly Last Summer”; 9 years later she did this historical film with another season in its title
DAY $900 (Daily Double): Doris earned an Oscar nomination for her chatty role in this 1959 film, seen here: “Who is that woman?” “Some little eavesdropper on my party line–she’s always listening in. It’s how she brightens up her drab, empty life.” “If I could get a call through once in a while, my life wouldn’t be so drab!”
“G” MOVIES $300: Hey, dude, this 1959 Sandra Dee film led to the TV series that made Sally Field a star
INACTION MOVIES $400: This 1959 film based on a journal written during WWII is set largely in an attic
“HOT” AIR $1,000 (Daily Double): For this 1959 film, a female impersonator taught actors Jack Lemmon & Tony Curtis how to be girls
FILM DIRECTORS $1000: This French director appears as a passerby who points out Belmondo to the police in his 1959 film “Breathless”
SEAN CONNERY FILMS $500: Although he’s Scottish, the luck of the Irish got Connery cast in this 1959 Disney film about the wee folk
MUSIC TRIVIA $400: This onetime drummer with Benny Goodman was portrayed by Sal Mineo in a 1959 film biography
CINEMA $1000: Near the end of this 1959 Hitchcock film, Martin Landau falls off Mount Rushmore
“TIP” “TOP” $500: Laurence Harvey fought his way up in society in this 1959 film, but Simone Signoret got the Oscar
EUROPE ON FILM $300: This 1959 film set in Amsterdam won Shelley Winters her first Oscar as Mrs. Van Damme
IT’S A MAN, BABY! $800: This 1959 movie ends with Jerry saying, “You don’t understand… I’m a man!” & getting the reply, “Well, nobody’s perfect”
ARTISTS $1000: The story of his romance with the Duchess of Alba was told in 1959 film “The Naked Maja”
1950s MOVIES: “The Man on Lincoln’s Nose” was a working title for this 1959 film
FROM NOVEL TO FILM: First published in 1880 & made into a film in 1907, 1925 & 1959, it was the first work of fiction blessed by a pope
BELA $400: This horror movie actor’s last film, “Plan 9 from Outer Space”, was released in 1959, 3 years after his death
COMPASS POINT MOVIES $1200: Hitchcock couldn’t film inside the U.N. for this 1959 thriller, so he re-created its rooms on a soundstage
MOVIE STUMPERS $400: In 1959’s “Some Like It Hot”, this then 30-year-old historic event begins the movie & sends our heroes into drag
1959 $600: Valerie Harper is one of the chorus girls in this 1959 movie musical set in Dogpatch
THE MOVIES $800: (Sofia of the Clue Crew is in New York.) The Plaza Hotel was featured in this 1959 Hitchcock movie that starred Cary Grant & Eva Marie Saint