SINGING OSCAR WINNERS

Well, well, Steven Spielberg did NOT win the Academy Award for ‘Best Director’.  That’s a bit of a shocker.  Jennifer Lawrence and Daniel Day-Lewis’ win for ‘Best Actress’ and ‘Best Actor’ wasn’t much of a surprise, but well deserved nonetheless.   Congratulations to Adele for ‘Best Original Song’ for the theme from “Skyfall”.  For our final Academy Award quiz until next year, the questions are about Oscar winning (or nominated) actors/actresses who’ve also had (or not had) a singing career.  Once again, the questions are in the form of true or false, so guess away if you’re not sure.  

QUESTIONS:

1.  Academy Award winner Sissy Spacek (she won her Oscar for her portrayal of country singer Loretta Lynn in 1980’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter”) once recorded a song about John Lennon – true or false?  

                                                                                                                       

2.  Although Clint Eastwood has never won an Academy Award for acting (although he has been nominated), he does have two Oscars on his mantle for ‘Best Director’ – one for 1992’s “Unforgiven” and the other for 2004’s “Million Dollar Baby”.  During his career, Clint has recorded at least one album featuring his ‘singing’ – true or false?         

3.  Cher has certainly had her ‘share’ of hits.  From “I Got You Babe”, her first # 1 with then husband Sonny Bono in 1965 to her solo smashes in the ‘70’s, ‘80’s and ‘90’s.  She’s been in dozens of movies, including “Silkwood”, “Mask”, “The Witches Of Eastwick” and “Burlesque”.  But despite her success on the recording side, Cher has never won an Academy Award – true or false?

4.  Phil Collins won a ‘Best Original Song In A Motion Picture’ Academy Award in 2000 for “You’ll Be In My Heart” from Disney’s animated feature ”Tarzan”  Although he’s appeared as an actor in movies like “Buster” and “Hook”, he was also in one of The Beatles’ movie – true or false?     

5.  In movies, Lee Marvin usually played a tough guy – sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always tough.  His only Academy Award win was in 1966 when he took home the ‘Actor In A Leading Role’ Oscar for the 1965 film “Cat Ballou”.  Marvin even shot Ronald Reagan in the 1964 film, “The Killers”, several decades before Reagan was elected President of the United States.  This ‘tough guy’ actor, Lee Marvin, once had a # 1 hit – true or false?   

ANSWERS

1.  That’s true, true, true.  Sissy Spacek DID record a song about John Lennon called, “John, You Went Too Far This Time”.  The name on the record was Rainbo, but that was a pseudonym for Spacek.  Before she made it on the silver screen, Spacek played and sang in New York’s Greenwich Village coffee houses.  She even sang commercial jingles.  The 1968 novelty sang was in response to John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s album, “Two Virgins” in which they appeared on the front cover naked as ‘jay birds’.  The song did not chart, nor did it sell very well and Rainbo aka Spacek was dropped by her record company.  Lucky for her, her acting career started to take off.    HH                           

2.  True again.  Eastwood has had a fairly lengthy recording career, which began when Clint was starring in the TV series “Rawhide” (1959-1966).  In 1963, Cameo Records, home to ‘60’s teen heart throb Bobby Rydell, released an album called “Rawhide’s Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites”.  It wasn’t a huge seller.  Clint has composed music to many of his films, including “Mystic River”, “Million Dollar Baby”, “Flags Of Our Fathers”, “Hereafter” and “J. Edgar”.  In 1007, Clint was awarded an honorary ‘Doctor of Music’ degree from the Berklee College of Music.   

3.  Oh my, that is so false.  Cher won the Oscar for ‘Actress In A Leading Role’ for 1987’s “Moonstruck” at the Shrine Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles on April 11, 1988.  She’s currently in pre production on the movie “Bet and Flo’ due for release possibly in 2014.

4.  Yep, it’s absolutely true.  Phillips David Charles Collins was a working actor long before he became successful as a musician.  As a young lad, he played the Artful Dodger in the stage production of “Oliver” in London’s West End.  In The Beatles 1964 film debut “A Hard Day’s Night”, you can spot Phil (if you look really closely) in the audience during the Beatles TV performance at the end of the film.  He was 13 at the time and got the gig because his mother, June Collins, was a talent agent in London.

5.  It’s might be unbelievable, but it’s true.  Lee Marvin’s # 1 hit single in Great Britain was the song, “Wand’rin’ Star” from the 1969  motion picture “Paint Your Wagon”.  His deep, husky voice took the song to # 1 in the UK for three weeks in 1970 which kept The Beatles “Let It Be” at # 2.