Isaac Hayes, Kathy Bates and Hannibal Lecter? A quiz all about Memphis and the Oscars

Editor's note: This story originally published on March 24, 2022. The 2024 Academy Awards ceremony is March 10.

The Oscars return to television Sunday night (March 27), with producers promising all the spectacle that was absent from last year's pandemic-humbled presentation.

So we're back, too, with another multiple-choice trivia quiz.

This time, the theme is Memphis and the Oscars, a relationship that isn't as interlocked as Memphis and the blues or Memphis and barbecue but nevertheless can boast a surprisingly deep history.

Sunday's event will be the 94th Academy Awards celebration, honoring the so-called "arts and sciences" of the motion picture industry. How many trivia quizzes have we run in the past couple years? Fewer than the stars in heaven (to reverse the old MGM boast), but, still, plenty.

The usual disclaimer applies: This quiz is intended to be fun. Those who say "I don't know anything about movies" shouldn't be discouraged.

So, let's begin. Or as they say on set: Action!

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THE QUESTIONS

1. In 1972, Isaac Hayes won the Best Original Song Academy Award for his "Theme from Shaft." The "date" who accompanied the 29-year-old "Black Moses" to the Oscar ceremony at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles was:

a) "Shaft" star Richard Roundtree.

b) Cher (in matching fur-lined blue tuxedo).

c) Hayes' songwriting partner, David Porter.

d) Hayes' 79-year-old grandmother, Rushia Wade.

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2. One of the Oscar show's hosts that year was Sammy Davis Jr., who took the stage as Isaac Hayes and a troupe of musicians and dancers finished their performance of "Shaft." Said Davis:

a) "Say, Isaac, can you get me a contract at Stax?"

b) "Talk about heavy!"

c) "I should've shaved my head years ago."

d) "Just wait until y'all hear 'Candy Man.'"

3. Rarely mentioned these days in lists of famous Memphians, Walter Lang was born in Memphis in 1896. He directed movies for four decades. In 1956, he was nominated for Best Director for "The King and I." (The film earned nine nominations and won five Oscars, but Lang lost out to George Stevens, for "Giant.") Which of these 1961 releases was Lang's last movie as a director?

a) "The Absent-Minded Professor."

b) "Return to Peyton Place."

c) "The Guns of Navarone."

d) "Snow White and the Three Stooges."

4. The March 5, 2006, Oscar telecast may be be best remembered for the moment when three Memphis rappers — including two members of Three 6 Mafia — won the Academy Award for Best Original song for their composition "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," from Craig Brewer's "Hustle & Flow." Those three Memphis hip-hop artists were:

a) Juicy J, DJ Paul and Frayser Boy.

b) Juicy J, Crunchy Black and Project Pat.

c) DJ Paul, 8Ball and Al Kapone.

d) Frayser Boy, DJ Squeeky and Playa Fly.

5. After the jubilant Memphis trio collected their Oscars, host Jon Stewart quipped: "You know what, __________"

a) "I just got goose bumps."

b) "we've come a long way from 'Moon River.'"

c) "that's what happens when you don't nominate a Disney song."

d) "I  think it just got a little easier out here for a pimp."

6. "Hustle & Flow" earned a second Oscar nomination, but did not take the award. The other nomination went to:

a) Director Craig Brewer, for Best Original Screenplay.

b) Terrence Howard, in the Best Actor category, for his performance as an aging pimp chasing a hip-hop dream.

c) Taraji P. Henson, in the Best Supporting Actress category, for her role as a pregnant prostitute with a heart of gold, and the vocal pipes to match.

d) Al Kapone, in the Best Original Song category, for "Whoop That Trick."

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7. Brewer's movie wasn't the only made-in-Memphis 2005 release to grab some Oscar recognition. The other was "Walk the Line." Which of these is true? Pick all that apply.

a) "Walk the Line" earned five Oscar nominations.

b) Joaquin Phoenix won an Academy Award for his performances as Johnny Cash.

c) Reese Witherspoon won an Academy Award for her performance as June Carter.

d) James Mangold was nominated for Best Director.

8. In 1991, Memphis-born White Station High School graduate Kathy Bates won the Best Actress Oscar after knocking viewers' socks off (and knocking James Caan's ankles into bone brittle) as the mallet-wielding Annie Wilkes in “Misery." Also nominated was Joanne Woodward for "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge," and three other actresses. Which of the names below was not one of the three?

a) Meryl Streep, for "Postcards from the Edge."

b) Laura Dern, for "Wild at Heart."

c) Anjelica Huston, for "The Grifters."

d) Julia Roberts, for "Pretty Woman."

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9. To date, Memphis-born Justin Timberlake has won 10 Grammy awards out of 39 nominations. But he has received only one Academy Award nomination, for:

a) Best Supporting Actor ("The Social Network").

b) Best Supporting Actor ("Inside Llewyn Davis").

c) Best Original Song ("Can't Stop the Feeling," from "Trolls").

d) Best Original Song ("Trolls Wanna Have Good Times," from "Trolls 2: World Tour").

10. Named the Best Picture of 2018 by Academy Awards voters, "Green Book" was shot mostly in Louisiana. None of it was filmed in Memphis, but it does contain one scene set in Memphis, when the lead characters — a driver (Viggo Mortensen) and a classical pianist (Mahershala Ali) — visit: 

a) A club on Beale Street.

b) The Peabody.

c) The pianist's mother's grave.

d) The Nathan Bedford Forrest statue.

11. Another major Oscar-winner with a minor Memphis connection is 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs," one of three films in Academy Awards history — the others are "It Happened One Night" (1934) and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1976) — to take home trophies in the so-called "top five" categories (picture, director, actor, actress, screenplay). Although the scene was not shot here, Hannibal Lecter commits mayhem in Memphis, when he:

a) Cannibalizes a woman he picks up on Beale Street.

b) Kills his guards and escapes from a jail cell in the Shelby County Courthouse.

c) Devours a Peabody duck.

d) Eats an Elvis fan.

12. Before he won back-to-back Best Director Oscars for "Birdman" and "The Revenant," Alejandro González I?árritu brought an all-star ensemble to Memphis in 2003 to act in his second feature film, “21 Grams." The result: Two cast members earned acting Academy Award nominations. One was Best Supporting actor nominee Benicio del Toro. The other was: 

a) Best Actor nominee Sean Penn.

b) Best Actress nominee Naomi Watts.

c) Best Supporting Actress nominee Charlotte Gainsbourg.

d) Best Supporting Actress nominee Melissa Leo.

13. Memphis' Oscar history goes back almost to the start of the awards. In 1930, for the third annual ceremony, King Vidor was nominated as Best Director for his first sound film, the previous year's "Hallelujah," considered a groundbreaking film for being a major studio production with an all-Black cast. Why did "Hallelujah" make news in 2008? Choose all that apply.

a) After almost 80 years, it crossed the $100 million mark in revenue at the U.S. box office.

b) Star Nina Mae McKinney received an honorary career Oscar.

c) It was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

d) It was featured on a U.S. Postal Service stamp.

14. In 2012, the Best Documentary Feature award went to "Undefeated." The movie chronicles:

a) The struggles of the "Memphis State Eight," who in 1959 were the first Black students to integrate the campus of what was then called Memphis State University.

b) A season of football at Manassas High School.

c) The battles — inside and outside the ring — of professional wrestler "Sputnik" Monroe.

d) The release, after 18 years in prison, of the "West Memphis Three."

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15. No Elvis movie earned an Academy Award nomination in any category, but during an interview on the set of his 1968 film "Live a Little, Love a Little," Elvis told Variety columnist Army Archerd that the Academy had invited him to perform during the show. "Yes, they invited me," he said. "But I’ve never gone. I’ll go when ___"

a) "I get a nomination."

b) "hell freezes over."

c) "I get a nomination or hell freezes over, whichever comes first."

d) "they get Ann-Margret to host."

16. One of the greatest film artists to come out of Memphis was a dancer/choreographer who spent about as much time here as did Aretha Franklin: He was born in 1909, but his family had moved to Nashville by the time he was 2 years old. A key collaborator at RKO on the Fred Astaire musicals, he was Oscar-nominated in the now-vanished Best Dance Direction category for "Top Hat" (1935) and "Swing Time" (1936), and he won that award for "A Damsel in Distress" (1937). He died in 1990 at the age of 80. Revered by aficionados but essentially unknown to the general public, this man had a wonderful name, and that name was:

a) Terpsichore Tenenbaum.

b) Icarus Darling.

c) Hermes Pan.

d) Cupid Kockenlocker.

17. The daughter of FedEx founder Fred Smith, Molly Smith was a producer of "La La Land," which in 2017 won six Academy Awards. Which of the following "La La Land" Oscar facts is fake news?

a) The film received 14 nominations, tying a record previously set by "All About Eve" and "Titanic."

b) Due to an announcing error, the movie was named Best Picture, live on national television. The cast and crew already were onstage to accept the award when they learned the actual winning film was "Moonlight."

c) During her Best Actress acceptance speech, Emma Stone promoted her upcoming role in "Zombieland: Double Tap."

d) Winner Damien Chazelle gave a heartfelt first-name shout-out of appreciation to the other nominees in the Director category: "Barry, Kenny, Mel, Denis..."

18. In the 1990s, made-in-Memphis major-studio adaptations of John Grisham best-sellers made some Oscar waves — for their nominations, if not for their wins. Which of the following Grisham-movie nominations did not occur?

a) Susan Sarandon, Best Actress, "The Client" (1994).

b) Holly Hunter, Best Supporting Actress, "The Firm" (1992).

c) Dave Grusin, Best Original Score, "The Firm" (1992).

d) Francis Ford Coppola, Best Director, "The Rainmaker" (1997).

19. Shot in Memphis though it had no Memphis scenes, "The People vs. Larry Flynt" (1996) starred Woody Harrelson as Larry Flynt, who was presented as both pornography peddler and First Amendment crusader. Harrelson was nominated for Best Actor. Also nominated was director Milos Forman, who already had won the Best Director Oscar twice (as would, later, Alejandro González I?árritu — see question 10). Including those two, how many individuals have won the Best Director Academy Award two or more times?

a) Five.

b) Seven.

c) 14.

d) 21.

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20. Perhaps the most Oscary Memphis-born individual is Morgan Freeman. He's been nominated in acting categories five times, but won only once: a Best Supporting Actor award, in 2005, for "Million Dollar Baby." His first nomination in that category was in 1987, for "Street Smart." Which of the following is not one of his other nominations?

a) Best Actor, "Driving Miss Daisy."

b) Best Actor, "The Shawshank Redemption."

c) Best Actor, "Invictus."

d) Best Supporting Actor, "The Dark Knight."

21. A biography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. released when the country still seemed to be in an extended period of mourning for the civil rights hero killed at the Lorraine Motel, "King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis" was an Oscar nominee for Best Feature Documentary of 1970. Which of these other nominees took home the award?

a) "Woodstock," a chronicle of the 1969 music festival.

b) The Rod McKuen-narrated "Say Goodbye," which critiqued man's relationship with the natural world.

c) "Jack Johnson," about the first Black heavyweight boxing champion.

d) "Chariots of the Gods," which explored Erich von D?niken's theories that extraterrestrials had visited Earth in the ancient past.

22. Set in Memphis but shot in Georgia, 2009's "The Blind Side" scored with Oscar voters, who nominated it for Best Picture and gave Sandra Bullock the Best Actress award for her portrayal of a real-life Tennessean. Bullock was cast as:

a) Memphis-born Leigh Anne Tuohy, well-to-do adoptive mother of teenager Michael Oher, a skilled and occasionally homeless football player from a background of poverty.

b) An instructor at a 19th-century home for the visually impaired.

c) The litigant in the precedent-setting traffic-accident lawsuit that mandated the addition of passenger-side mirrors to automobiles.

d) Marsha Blackburn.

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THE ANSWERS

1. D. ("Her prayers kept my feet on the path of righteousness," Hayes said of his grandmother, during his acceptance speech.)

2. B.

3. D. (It was the Stooges' only color feature film.)

4. A. (Real names: Jordan Houston III, Paul Beauregard and Cedric Coleman.)

5. D. 

6. B.

7. A and C.

8. B.

9. C. 

10. B. (The Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans "played" the role of The Peabody.)

11. B. 

12. B. 

13. C and D. (The stamp was part of a series dedicated to "Vintage Black Cinema." McKinney, by the way, died in 1967 at 54.)

14. B.

15. A. 

16. C. 

17. C. (The directors cited by Chazalle were Barry Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan, Mel Gibson and Denis Villeneuve.)

18. D. 

19. D. (The top winner is John Ford, who has four Best Director awards.)

20. D. 

21. A. 

22. A.

Grade Assessment: All 22 correct: Deserving of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 21-15: Can I have your autograph? 14-10: The phone still rings. 9-5: Time for a new agent. 4-1: Bit player. Zero: Not even welcome on Poverty Row.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Oscars trivia quiz: 22 questions about Memphis and the Academy Awards