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Oscar for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Prior to the 49th Academy...
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Louise Dresser
Louise Dresser (October 5, 1878 – April 24, 1965) was an American actress.
Born Louise Josephine Kerlin in Evansville, Indiana, her first film was in 1922 in The Glory of Clementina, and her first starring role was in 1924's The City that Never...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1928
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979) was a Canadian motion picture actor, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Known as "America's Sweetheart," ...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1929
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Betty Compson
Betty Compson (March 19, 1897 – April 18, 1974) was an American actress. Born Eleanor Luicime Compson in Beaver, Utah, she had an extensive filmography. As a youth her father died and she was forced to drop out of school and earn a living for...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1929
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Jeanne Eagels
Jeanne Eagels (June 26, 1890 – October 3, 1929) was an American actress on Broadway and in several motion pictures. She was a former Ziegfeld Follies Girl who went on to greater fame on Broadway and in the emerging medium of sound films.
She was...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1929
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Bessie Love
Bessie Love (September 10, 1898 – April 26, 1986) was an American motion picture actress who achieved fame largely in the silent films and early talkie era. Petite and very pretty, she played innocent young girls, flappers, and wholesome leading...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1929
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age.
Regarded as one of the greatest and most inscrutable movie stars ever produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the...
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- x Year:
- 1939
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1937
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1930
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Ruth Chatterton
Ruth Chatterton (December 24, 1893 – November 24, 1961) was an American actress.
Born in New York City on Christmas Eve 1893, of English and French extraction to Walter Smith and Lillian Reed Chatterton, she was on Broadway by the age of 14, as a...
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- x Year:
- 1930
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1929
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Nancy Carroll
Nancy Carroll (November 19, 1903 – August 6, 1965) was an American actress.
Christened Ann Veronica Lahiff in New York City, she began her acting career in Broadway musicals. She became a successful talkies actress because her musical background...
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- x Year:
- 1930
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Norma Shearer
Edith Norma Shearer (August 10, 1902 – June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress. Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in the world from the mid-1920s until her retirement in 1942. Her early films cast her as the girl-next-door but...
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- x Year:
- 1931
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1936
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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- 1938
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- Oscar for Best Actress
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Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich (German pronunciation: [maɐˈleːnə ˈdiːtrɪç]; 27 December 1901 – 6 May 1992) was a German-born American actress and singer.
Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself. In 1920s Berlin,...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1931
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne (December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s and 1940s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron (1931), Theodora Goes Wild ...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1931
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1937
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1939
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Ann Harding
Ann Harding (August 7, 1901 – September 1, 1981) was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress.
Born Dorothy Walton Gatley at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of a career army officer, she traveled often...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1931
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler (November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian actress and Depression-era box office hit. She won an Oscar in 1931 for Best Actress in Min and Bill.
Born Leila Marie Koerber in Cobourg, Ontario, to parents Alexander Rudolph Koerber...
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- x Year:
- 1932
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1931
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes (October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of only ten people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an...
Lynn Fontanne
Lynn Fontanne (6 December 1887 – 30 July 1983) was a British actress and major stage star in the United States for over 40 years, who with her husband Alfred Lunt was part of the most acclaimed acting team in the history of the American theater....
May Robson
May Robson (19 April 1858 - 20 October 1942) was an actress and playwright. A major stage actress of the late 19th and early 20th century, Robson is best known today for the dozens of 1930s motion pictures she appeared in when she was well into her...
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- x Year:
- 1933
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Diana Wynyard
Diana Wynyard (16 January 1906 – 13 May 1964) was an English stage and film actress.
Born Dorothy Isobel Cox in London, Wynyard began her career on the stage. After success in Liverpool and London, she attracted attention on Broadway and appeared...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1933
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Grace Moore
Grace Moore (December 5, 1898 - January 26, 1947) was an American operatic soprano and actress in musical theatre and film, nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped to popularize opera by bringing it to a larger audience.
Moore was...
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- x Year:
- 1934
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon (18 February 1911 – 23 November 1979) was an Indian-born British actress.
She began her film career in British films, and a prominent role, as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), brought attention to her. Leading roles...
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- x Year:
- 1935
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Elisabeth Bergner
Elisabeth Bergner (August 22, 1897 – May 12, 1986) was an actress.
She was born Elisabeth Ettel in Drohobycz, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Drogobych, Ukraine).
She began acting in Innsbruck at the age of 15. In Vienna, she worked as an artist's...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1935
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Miriam Hopkins
Ellen Miriam Hopkins (October 18, 1902 – October 9, 1972) was an American actress known for her versatility in a wide variety of roles.
She was born in Savannah, Georgia and raised in Bainbridge, a town in the state's southwest near the Alabama...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1935
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard (October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in several classic films of the 1930s, most notably in the 1936 film My Man Godfrey. She is listed as one of the American...
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- x Year:
- 1936
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Gladys George
Gladys George (September 13, 1904 – December 8, 1954) was an American actress, now perhaps best remembered for her role in The Maltese Falcon.
She was born Gladys Clare Evans on September 13, 1904in Patten, Maine, the daughter of English parents Sir...
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- x Year:
- 1936
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor (October 6, 1906 – September 14, 1984) was an American actress.
One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films:...
Luise Rainer
Luise Rainer (born January 12, 1910) is a German film actress. Of living Academy Awards winners, she holds the earliest-awarded Oscar and is also the oldest living recipient of a non-honorary one.
The daughter of Heinrich Rainer and Emmy (née...
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- x Year:
- 1937
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1936
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Wendy Hiller
Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller DBE (15 August 1912 – 14 May 2003) was an English film and stage actress, who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. Despite many notable film performances, she chose to remain primarily a stage...
Fay Bainter
Fay Okell Bainter (December 7, 1893 – April 16, 1968) was an American actress. She is the aunt of actress Dorothy Burgess and sister-in-law to actress Grace Burgess.
She was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Charles F. Bainter and...
Margaret Sullavan
Margaret Brooke Sullavan (May 16, 1909 – January 1, 1960; studio publicity incorrectly reported her year of birth as 1911). Margaret Sullavan was an American stage and film actress. Sullavan started her career on the stage in 1929. She was...
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television and theatre. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film...
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- x Year:
- 1939
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1940
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1941
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Greer Garson
Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson, CBE (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996) was a British-born actress who was very popular during World War II. As one of MGM's major stars of the 1940s, Garson received seven Academy Award nominations, winning the Best...
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- 1939
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1960
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1945
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- Oscar for Best Actress
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Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress of film, television and stage.
Hepburn holds the record for the most Best Actress Oscar wins with four, from 12 nominations. Hepburn won an Emmy Award in 1976 for her...
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- x Year:
- 1940
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1942
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1951
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American film and stage actress, dancer and singer.
During her long career, she made a total of 73 films, and is noted for her role as Fred Astaire's romantic interest and dancing partner in a...
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- x Year:
- 1940
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Joan Fontaine
Joan Fontaine (born October 22, 1917) is a British American actress. She became an American citizen in April 1943. She is the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland, also an Academy Award winner. Along with Luise Rainer, Gloria Stuart,...
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- 1940
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- Oscar for Best Actress
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- 1943
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1941
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Martha Scott
Martha Ellen Scott (September 22, 1912 – May 28, 2003) was an American actress best known for her roles as mother of the lead character in numerous films and television shows.
Scott was born in Jamesport, Missouri, the daughter of Letha (née...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1940
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, a star of film and television, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors such as...
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- x Year:
- 1941
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1944
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1948
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell (June 4, 1907 – November 28, 1976) was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Auntie...
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- x Year:
- 1942
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1946
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1958
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Teresa Wright
Teresa Wright (October 27, 1918 – March 6, 2005) was an American actress.
She was born Muriel Teresa Wright in Harlem, New York City, the daughter of Martha (née Espy) and Arthur Wright, who was an insurance agent. She grew up in Maplewood, New...
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 1915 – 29 August 1982) was a Swedish actress noted for her starring roles in American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1943
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1978
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1956
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
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Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur (October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991) was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. "No one was more closely identified with the screwball...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1943
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert (pronounced /koʊlˈbɛr/; September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was a French-born American stage and film actress.
Born in Saint-Mandé, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1944
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1935
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1934
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Gene Tierney
Gene Tierney (November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991) was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best-remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura (1944) and her Academy Award...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1945
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones (born March 2, 1919) is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Song of Bernadette (1943).
Jones was born Phylis Lee Isley in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the daughter of Flora Mae (née Suber)...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1946
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1955
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1945
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Celia Johnson
Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson DBE (18 December 1908 – 25 April 1982) was a British actress.
She began her stage acting career in 1928, and subsequently achieved success in West End and Broadway productions. She also appeared in several films,...
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman (January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007) was an American character actress of stage, film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades. She received an Academy Award for Best Actress...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1946
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1954
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1951
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (March 23, 1905 – May 10, 1977) was an American actress in film, television and theatre. Starting as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro...
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- x Year:
- 1947
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1952
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1945
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy Hackett McGuire (June 14, 1916 – September 13, 2001) was an American actress.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she began her acting career on the stage at the Omaha Community Playhouse. Eventually, she succeeded on Broadway, first appearing as an...
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland (born July 1, 1916) is an actress. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. De Havilland is one of the last surviving female stars from 1930s Hollywood. She is also the last living lead from Gone with the Wind.
De...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1948
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1949
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1946
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Loretta Young
Loretta Young (January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress.
She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah as Gretchen Young, of Luxembourgian descent.At confirmation, she took the name Michaela. She and her family moved to Hollywood when she...
Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Elizabeth Crain (May 25, 1925 – December 14, 2003) was an American actress.
Crain was born in Barstow, California to George A. Crain (a school teacher) and Loretta Carr; she was of Irish heritage on her mother's side, and of English and...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1949
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson (March 27, 1899 – April 4, 1983) was an American actress. She was most prominent during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille. She was also one of the first stars...
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- x Year:
- 1950
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1930
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1928
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday (June 21, 1921 – June 7, 1965) was an American actress.
Holliday began her career as part of a night-club act, before progressing to work in Broadway roles. Her success in the 1946 production of Born Yesterday led to her being cast in...
Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress known for her performances in films such as All About Eve, The Razor's Edge and The Ten Commandments.
Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana to Kenneth Stuart Baxter and...
Eleanor Parker
Eleanor Jean Parker (born June 26, 1922) is an American actress.
Parker was born in Cedarville, Ohio. At an early age, her family moved to East Cleveland, Ohio and she attended public schools. She is a graduate of Shaw High School. After high school...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1950
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1951
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1955
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
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Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier (5 November 1913 – 7 July 1967) was an English actress. She won two Best Actress Academy Awards for playing "southern belles": Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1951
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1939
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1952
- x Award Nominee:
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters (August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television.
Winters was born Shirley Schrift in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Jewish parents Rose (née...
Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth (August 30, 1898 – October 16, 1992) was an American actress.
Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she...
Julie Harris
Julie Harris (born December 2, 1925) is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards and three Emmy Awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame. She also...
Leslie Caron
Leslie Claire Margaret Caron (French pronunciation: [lɛzli kaʁɔ̃], born 1 July 1931) is a French film actress and dancer, who appeared in 45 films between 1951 and 2003. She was one of the most famous Hollywood musical stars in the 1950s. Caron is...
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress.
She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared in supporting roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers (1946). She became...
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, born Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer, CBE (30 September 1921 – 16 October 2007) was a British stage, television and film actress. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which...
- Award Nominations
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- x Year:
- 1953
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
- x Year:
- 1956
- x Award:
- Oscar for Best Actress
- x Award Nominee:
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- 1957
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- Oscar for Best Actress
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