Random Acts of Thursday - Will the real Act of Thursday please stand up?

So yesterday, in my infinite absent-mindedness, I posted, thinking it was Thursday.  That was because I was so convinced that Tuesday was actually Wednesday, I left work having prepared for Wednesday to be Thursday.  Even my not getting up at 5:30 so I can drive to Columbus (like I'm doing today, maybe even as you read this) didn't trigger that it was still Wednesday.

Quick trivia for you kids today.  As you've figured out already, I love film.  Don't have much respect for awards shows or, for that matter, the awards themselves.  However, film and trivia?  Sign me up. 

All of the following actors have won academy awards portraying real people.  The added bonus?  Each of them portrayed a person who was still alive at the time these films were released.

• Spencer Tracy - Father Edward Flanagan in Boys Town (1938)
• Gary Cooper - Alvin C. York in Sergeant York (1941)
• Patty Duke - Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962)
• Jason Robards - Benjamin Bradlee in All the President's Men (1976)
• Robert De Niro - Jake La Motta in Raging Bull (1980)
• Sissy Spacek - Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
• Jeremy Irons - Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune (1990)
• Susan Sarandon - Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking (1995)
• Geoffrey Rush - David Helfgott in Shine (1996)
• Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich in Erin Brockovich (2000)
• Jim Broadbent - John Bayley in Iris (2001/I)
• Jennifer Connelly - Alicia Nash in A Beautiful Mind (2001)
• Helen Mirren - Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006)

Now, the quiz.  You didn't think I'd let you off that easily, did you?

1)  Two of the actresses listed above have released albums - one a compilation from one of her films, the other a novelty album released under a fake name.  Identify the actresses and albums.

2)  Which two of the actors listed above actually died before the characters they portrayed?

See?  Two questions.  Easy-peasy.  Show your work, kids, and spelling counts.