Age of Female Actor Oscar Winners

From the Exploring Data website - http://curriculum.qed.qld.gov.au/kla/eda/
© Education Queensland, 1997

The Age of Female Actor Oscar Winners

Adapted from an assignment by Stephen Broderick, St. Ursula’s College, Toowoomba

1. The table below gives the age of each female Oscar winner since 1928, along with the movie in which she starred.

Produce a short report on this data, based on the six characteristics of a dataset. Discuss any interesting patterns that you find in the data.

2. Are Oscar winning female actors getting older when they win?

Use the dataset below and your choice of summary statistics and graphical displays to help you decide.

Present your solution as a report. Include in your report any summary statistics and graphical displays that you use as evidence to support your position.

Extension

3. Research the ages of male Oscar winners (eg using the World Wide Web). Is there a significant difference in the distribution of ages of female and male Oscar winners?

Year	Actor	Movie		Age
1928	Laura Gainor	Sunrise		22
1929	Mary Pickford	Coquette		37
1930	Norma Shearer	The Divorcee		30
1931	Marie Dressler	Min and Bill		62
1932	Helen Hayes	The Sin of Madelon Claudet		32
1933	Katharine Hepburn	Morning Glory		26
1934	Collette Colbert	It Happened One Night		31
1935	Bette Davis	Dangerous		27
1936	Luise Rainer	The Great Zeigfeld		26
1937	Luise Rainer	The Good Earth		27
1938	Bette Davis	Jezebel		30
1939	Vivien Leigh	Gone With the Wind		26
1940	Ginger Rogers	Kitty Foyle		29
1941	Joan Fontaine	Suspicion		24
1942	Greer Garson	Mrs. Miniver		39
1943	Jennifer Jones	The Song of Bernadette		24
1944	Ingrid Bergman	Gaslight		29
1945	Joan Crawford	Mildred Pierce		37
1946	Olivia de Havilland	To Each His Own		30
1947	Loretta Young	The Farmer’s Daughter		34
1948	Jane Wyman	Johnny Belinda		34
1949	Olivia de Havilland	The Heiress		33
1950	Judy Holliday	Born Yesterday		28
1951	Vivien Leigh	A Streetcar Named Desire		38
1952	Shirley Booth	Com Back, Little Sheba		45
1953	Audrey Hepburn	Roman Holiday		24
1954	Grace Kelly	The Country Girl		26
1955	Anna Magnani	The Rose Tattoo		47
1956	Ingrid Bergman	Anastasia		41
1957	Joanne Woodward	The Three Faces of Eve		27
1958	Susan Hayward	I Want to Live!		39
1959	Simone Signoret	Room at the Top		38
1960	Elisabeth Taylor	Butterfield 8		28
1961	Sophia Loren	Two Women		27
1962	Anne Bancroft	The Miracle Worker		31
1963	Patricia Neal	Hud		37
1964	Julie Andrews	Mary Poppins		30
1965	Julie Christie	Darling		24
1966	Elizabeth Taylor	Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?		34
1967	Katharine Hepburn	Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner		60
1968	Katharine Hepburn	The Lion in Winter		61
1968	Barbra Streisand	Funny Girl		26
1969	Maggie Smith	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie		35
1970	Glenda Jackson	Women In Love		34
1971	Jane Fonda	Klute		34
1972	Liza Minnelli	Cabaret		26
1973	Glenda Jackson	A Touch of Class		37
1974	Ellen Burstyn	Alice Doesn’t live Here Anymore		42
1975	Louise Fletcher	One Flew Over The Cockoo’s Nest		41
1976	Faye Dunaway	Network		35
1977	Diane Keaton	Annie Hall		31
1978	Jane Fonda	Coming Home		41
1979	Sally Field	Norma Rae		33
1980	Sissy Spacek	Coal Miner’s Daughter		30
1981	Katharine Hepburn	On Golden Pond		74
1982	Meryl Streep	Sophie’s Choice		33
1983	Shirley MacLaine	Terms of Endearment		49
1984	Sally Field	Places in the Heart		38
1985	Geraldine Page	Trip to Bountiful		61
1986	Marlee Matlin	Children of a Lesser God		21
1987	Cher	Moonstruck		41
1988	Jodie Foster	The Accused		26
1989	Jessica Tandy	Driving Miss Daisy	81
1990	Kathy Bates	Misery	42
1991	Jodie Foster	The Silence of the Lambs	29
1992	Emma Thompson	Howards End	33
1993	Holly Hunter	The Piano	35
1994	Jessica Lange	Blue Sky	45
1995	Susan Sarandon	Dead Man Walking	49
1996	Frances McDormand	Fargo	39