Three Oscar Inspirations

These three people who inspired award-winning films all died on March 30.

What do "The King’s Speech," "The Killing Fields," and "Stand and Deliver" have in common? If you guessed that they’re award-winning biopics, you’re right. All three films were nominated for Oscars, but that’s not the only thing that links them.

Three of the real-life people who inspired these great films died on March 30: Queen Mother Elizabeth, featured in "The King’s Speech," died March 30, 2002; Dith Pran, subject of "The Killing Fields," died March 30, 2008; and Jaime Escalante, inspiration for "Stand and Deliver," died March 30, 2010. On this anniversary, we look at their lives and the movies that tell their tales.

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was known as the Queen consort of King George VI while he lived, and then as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother – to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II – after her husband’s death. A reluctant royal, Elizabeth was unsure she wanted to marry Prince Albert, as he was then known (he would assume the royal name ‘George’ when he took the throne), even though he wasn’t first in line to become king. When Albert’s brother, Edward VIII, abdicated to marry divorcée Wallis Simpson, Elizabeth ascended to the throne she didn’t much want.

Yet with classic British stiff upper lip, Elizabeth accepted and made the best of her fate, becoming a much-loved queen. She was known for her unflappability, her dry sense of humor, and her extravagant lifestyle. As the matriarch of the British royal family, she was, at times, one of the few royals that the public liked all that much. From her youngest days as “The Smiling Duchess” to her final years as a centenarian, she remained well-liked – eclipsed in popularity during her lifetime only by, perhaps, Princess Diana.