Leading Ladies Trivia

1. She acted on stage in London in "The World of Suzie Wong" to great success, which made her famous in England. Which actress appeared in the James Bond films, "You Live Only Twice" in 1967 and "Casino Royale" in 2006?

From Quiz Chinese Female Celebrities

Answer: Tsai Chin

Tsai Chin (Zhou Caiqin), or Irene Chow, was born in 1933 in Shanghai. Her acting career spanned more than 60 years beginning in the late 1950s. She was the first Chinese student to study at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Her best known role was in the "Joy Luck Club" in 1993 as Auntie Lido. Her single, "The Ding Dong Song", recorded by Decca in 1960, was top of the charts in Asia. In 2005, she played the role of Auntie in "Memoirs of a Geisha". After the Cultural Revolution, she was the first actress to be invited to teach acting in China.

From Quiz Chuckles from Leading Ladies

Answer: With a blank page

What can one say about Ethel Merman that could sum that feisty gal up in a few words? She was big, brassy, loud-mouthed, sometimes very vulgar, in your face and talented, with that extraordinarily powerful voice which paved the road to fame for her in musical theatre and film. Born in Queens, New York, in 1908, Ethel Merman died in 1984, and if a lifetime of talent could be inscribed on a headstone, hers would read starring roles in eighteen stage productions, eighteen films, twenty-two television appearances, and twelve hit records - plus four marriages, two children and a host of friends and enemies. The film most associated with this talented, loud-mouthed, vulgar, and very funny woman is the 1954 "There's No Business Like Show Business", in which she plays part of a husband and wife Vaudeville team that become famous and successful, along with their three talented children and a host of family problems. With a lifetime of hilarious quotes that this talented woman made about anyone and everything - most of which aren't suitable for this site - she did the reverse when discussing her explosive marriage to Ernest Borgnine. It lasted less than two months and, in her 1978 autobiography "Merman", under the chapter regarding that marriage - to which she devoted only one page - she left the entire page blank.

From Quiz Finding Mr. Right

Answer: Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton has been married for over 50 years to the same man, and although she does not use the last name Dean professionally, it is her legal last name. Dean owned an asphalt pavement in Nashville, rarely accompanies Dolly Parton on tours, and stays mainly out of the public eye. They have no children. Dolly Parton has said about the marriage "We're really proud of our marriage. It's the first for both of us. And the last."

From Quiz Those Who Have Won a Best Actress Oscar

Answer: Japan

Born Olivia Mary de Havilland and Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland in Tokyo, Japan in 1916 and 1917 respectively, the sisters were both nominated for Best Actress in 1941. Joan Fontaine, who had adopted her step-father's surname when she started acting professionally, had been nominated for her performance in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" the previous year. In 1941, she won for her role in another Hitchcock film, "Suspicion", whilst de Havilland was nominated for "Hold Back the Dawn". Fontaine was nominated again, in 1943, for "The Constant Nymph". De Havilland also won when she was nominated for the second time, in 1946, for "To Each His Own". She earned her third nomination in 1948 for "The Snake Pit" and her fourth a year later in the title role of William Wyler's "The Heiress", for which she also won.

From Quiz Natalie Portman

Answer: The Other Boleyn Girl

Scarlett Johansson played Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's sister in the movie. The movie began with Anne first meeting Henry VIII and ended with her death. The movie focused a lot on Anne's relationship with her sister, Mary, who had been involved with Henry VIII before Anne was.

From Quiz Nine Ladies Dancing

Answer: Lucille Ball

With a career that spanned 57 years, Lucille Ball was a pioneer in several areas. She was the first woman to head a major television studio in Hollywood, one of the first winners of the Women in Film Crystal Award, and her production company initiated several changes in filming techniques. Her company, Desilu, also made an unprecedented deal with CBS which gave the rights to the "I Love Lucy" show back to Desilu after the episodes were aired. She was nominated for numerous awards and won several, including four Emmy Awards. In 1960 she earned two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - one for film, one for television. And, Lucille Ball was not a natural redhead - she was a brunette.

From Quiz She's a Character

Answer: Marie Dressler

Marie Dressler (1868-1934) was a star of stage and screen. She played comic roles but also brought a sensitivity to roles as well. Although physically unattractive, she stole scenes from the younger and more beautiful Jean Harlow (1911-1937) in 'Dinner at Eight' (1933).

From Quiz Know Your Role? (The Feminine Edition)

Answer: Sigourney Weaver

Sigourney's birth name was Susan. She played Ellen Ripley in four movies from the original "Alien" (1979-1997) series. She played the ultra-tough battler of evil aliens with acid for blood. Dana Barrett is from the "Ghostbusters" (1984-1989) movies. She plays Bill Murray's significant other. They tell the story of men who capture ghosts. Katharine Parker is from "Working Girl" (1988), which tells the story of an ambitious secretary.

From Quiz Leading Ladies of Hollywood's Golden Age

Answer: Doris Day

Doris Day was a major star of Hollywood in its prime. She starred in many popular films like "Pillow Talk" (1959), her most successful, with Rock Hudson. She started off as a dancer until she shattered her leg in a car accident, and during recovery discovered her ability to sing. She became a vegetarian whom friends nicknamed Clara Bixby. Interesting note: Her son, Terry, was actually the intended victim of Charles Manson's cult killings. His old home was sold and belonged to Sharon Tate.

From Quiz Classic Movie Queens From A to Z

Answer: Jean Arthur

Jean Arthur was delightful to watch, starring in movies opposite Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart and Edward G. Robinson. Eve Arden was best known for the TV show "Our Miss Brooks", but she did well in movies also, usually playing the best friend to the female lead. Mary Astor had a long career in movies, and starred opposite Humphrey Bogart in "The Maltese Falcon". Gracie Allen was one-half of the popular comedy team, Burns and Allen, with her husband George Burns.

From Quiz MGM's Golden Girls

Answer: made the money to pay for them both

Joan was under contract with MGM from 1925-1943. In that time she made 51 movies for MGM - most of them making a profit for the studio. Norma Shearer had most of her movies hand selected by her husband Irving Thalberg. He preferred to have her star in the costume dramas which were quite costly. Garbo only made 24 films in the United States, all of which were for MGM. The last one, "Two-Faced Woman" in 1941 was a flop.

From Quiz Crawford, Dietrich, Shearer or Garbo?

Answer: Norma Shearer

An entry in Anne Frank's diary, July 11, 1942 states, "Up to now our bedroom, with its blank walls, was very bare. Thanks to father, who brought my entire post-card and movie star collection here beforehand -- and to a brush and a pot of glue, I was able to plaster the wall with pictures." Norma Shearer was among these.

From Quiz Popular Actresses

Answer: October 3, 1973

She was born in Canada.

From Quiz Movie Femme Fatales

Answer: Jane Russell

The film was 'The Outlaw'. It was considered quite racy in its day.

From Quiz Chinese Female Celebrities

Answer: Nancy Kwan

Born in 1939 in Hong Kong, she studied dancing at England's Royal Ballet School. At the age of 18 she was spotted by producer Ray Stark, and was given the role in "The World of Suzie Wong". In 1961 she followed up with a musical film, "Flower Drum Song" and became one of Hollywood's most sought after Asian actress.

From Quiz Ladies With an Attitude - The Stars of Vogue

Answer: Something's Got to Give

"Something's Got to Give" was planned as a remake of the 1940 film "My Favorite Wife", starring Monroe and Dean Martin. Made at a time when Monroe was struggling with both health and addiction problems, the star had repeated absences for sickness over the course of her time on set, which led to her being fired in June 1962. Although she was subsequently re-hired, she died before shooting could resume. The film was eventually made as "Move Over, Darling" (1963) with Doris Day and James Garner.

From Quiz Australian Leading Ladies

Answer: 'A Passage to India'

Judy Davis trained at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, and was a student with Mel Gibson. Her first major role was in 'My Brilliant Career', based on the book by Miles Franklin. 'A Passage to India' was her first major international role, and she was nominated for an Academy Award, losing to Sally Field for 'Places in the Heart' (this is the ceremony where Sally Field made her famous 'you really like me' acceptance speech. Judy Davis continues to have a successful career, with her most recent role as of 2016 being in 'The Dressmaker'. 'A Passage to India' was set in India in the 1920s. Judy's character, Adela attends a picnic hosted by an Indian Doctor, named Aziz, with the aim of visiting some famous caves. Adela's future mother-in-law and chaperone becomes unwell and leaves Adela and Aziz to explore the caves with a guide. Aziz stops to smoke a cigarette and Adela disappears, to reappear shortly after running down the hill, blood stained and dishevelled. Aziz is charged with attempted rape, but at trial, Adela changes her mind and Aziz is exonerated. Both 'Howards End' and 'Room with a View' by EM Forster were made into movies with Emma Thompson winning a Best Actress Award for her role in 'Howards End', while 'Room with a View' won Academy Awards for Art and Costumes. Please note that this is the correct spelling of 'Howards End'. There is no apostrophe.

From Quiz Chuckles from Leading Ladies

Answer: Rita Rudner

Actress, comedian and writer, Rita Rudner was born in Florida in 1953. She began her entertainment career as a dancer, appearing in several successful stage productions during the late 1960s and early 1970s, before switching to performing in her own stage comedy shows from the age of twenty-five. That funny remark above is from one of her routines. By the 1990s, Rita had moved further along in her career to appearing in various television shows, and from that to screen writing and acting in movies such as the 1992 "Peter's Friends". The plot of this film is centred around a reunion between six friends, ten years after they first acted together in a comedy troupe at Cambridge University - and the loss of love and life that became their finale. Most unlike her normal entertainment persona, Rita stars as the American wife of a big name producer whose marriage is in trouble. A couple of other funny quotes attributed to Rita include the following: "In Hollywood, a marriage is a success if it outlasts milk". "My grandmother was a very tough woman. She buried three husbands - and two of them were just napping". "Men do cry - but only when assembling furniture". "I was a vegetarian until I started leaning toward the sunlight". "I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult".

From Quiz Bewitching the Men

Answer: Elizabeth Taylor

Portraying Cleopatra VII in the movie "Cleopatra" (1963), Elizabeth Taylor ended up marrying her costar Richard Burton. They later divorced and then decided to remarry and try again. It didn't work. Taylor began her career as a child actress in "National Velvet" (1944). Acclaimed in a number of films, Taylor won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for "BUtterfield 8 in 1960. She received another for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in 1966. In the 1980s she promoted HIV and AIDS programs.

From Quiz Those Who Have Won a Best Actress Oscar

Answer: Claudette Colbert

Émilie "Lily" Chauchoin was born in the eastern Parisian suburb of Saint-Mandé. The family moved to New York City when she was just three years old and she began performing on Broadway in the early 1920s using the name Claudette Colbert, and made her film debut in 1927. Her performance as the pampered socialite Ellen "Ellie" Andrews in the 1934 Frank Capra comedy "It Happened One Night" earned Colbert her first Oscar nomination and her only win. The film also became the first to win Oscars in all five major categories (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay), a feat since repeated by "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in 1975 and "The Silence of the Lambs" in 1991. Colbert received two more Best Actress nominations -- in 1935 for "Private Worlds" and in 1944 for "Since You Went Away".

From Quiz Who's That Girl?

Answer: Kelly McGillis

Kelly McGillis, in her breakout role, played an Amish woman against Harrison Ford's hard-nosed Philadelphia detective, John Book in "Witness" (1985). She played a radically different role as Maverick's fiery girl in "Top Gun" ("Take my Breath Away" - Berlin (1986)). Meg Ryan had a small role as Carole wife of ("ER"'s Anthony Edwards) Goose in the same movie. Lea Thompson played opposite Cruise in "All the "Right Moves" (1983), and Shelley Long played opposite Cruise in one of his less memorable movies, "Losin' It" (1983).

From Quiz Natalie Portman

Answer: Israel

Natalie was born in Jerusalem. Natalie Portman was born June 9, 1981. Natalie's father is a doctor and her mother is an artist and Natalie's agent. Natalie never had any siblings. She moved to the United States in 1984. Once in the United States Natalie lived in Washington DC, moved to Connecticut in 1988 and finally moved to New York in 1990.

From Quiz She's a Character

Answer: Blanche Yurka

Blanche Yurka (1887-1974) could play great ladies as she did in '13 Rue Madeleine' (1946) with James Cagney (1899-1986) as well as frightening monsters like Madame Defarge in 'A Tale of Two Cities' (1935). During her stage career, she was a favorite of both Jane Cowl (1884-1950) and Katherine Cornell (1893-1974).

From Quiz Know Your Role? (The Feminine Edition)

Answer: Jamie Lee Curtis

Jamie Lee Curtis's parents are Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Ophelia was a prostitute in the comedy "Trading Places" (1983). It tells the story of a fired employee out to get back at his former bosses. Wanda Gershwitz is from the comedy "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988). It's about a jewel robbery and the aftermath. She played Laurie Strode in the original "Halloween" (1978-2002) movies. They tell the story of Laurie trying to escape her evil killer little brother.

From Quiz Leading Ladies of Hollywood's Golden Age

Answer: Irene Dunne

Irene Dunne was a big star in the '30s and '40s. She was often cast in roles that allowed her to sing, but she also starred in screwball comedies. Some of her movies included "The Awful Truth" (1937) and "Show Boat" (1936). She died in 1990 of heart failure.

From Quiz Classic Movie Queens From A to Z

Answer: Tallulah Bankhead

Tallulah Bankhead was one of the first actresses to be considered for the part of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind", but was finally considered to be "too old" for the part. Lauren Bacall was sultry, glamorous, dynamite in films with Humphrey Bogart...and she finally won her Oscar in 1977. Lucille Ball began as a model and played in many films (Top Hat", "Stage Door") before hitting it big with "I Love Lucy". Ingrid Bergman was born in Sweden, and starred in many important movies, winning three Oscars, for "Gaslight", "Anastasia", and "Murder on the Orient Express". "Casablanca" is probably her most unforgettable film.

From Quiz MGM's Golden Girls

Answer: Joan Crawford

In 1925 Norma was the current darling at MGM. Joan was new to Hollywood and looking for good parts. She was pleased to be cast in a movie with a recognized star, until she found out all the audience would see of her was the back of her head. Thus began her competition with Norma. When casting started for "The Women" in 1939, Joan campaigned and won the part of the mistress who stole Norma Shearer's character's husband. After the movie was made, a publicity photo shoot was scheduled. Neither woman wanted to be the first to show up. Both ladies told their respective chauffeurs to drive around the block until the other got out first. After a few laps Howard Strickling (MGM's publicity chief) went out into the middle of the street and stopped the limos, telling both ladies to get out. Norma walked in first while Strickling held Joan from trying to squeeze in too.

From Quiz R You Sure?

Answer: Bud Cort

What an odd but wonderful film! A May/December romance beyond logic, it was (or maybe that should be January/December romance). Gordon may be most widely known for her Oscar winning turn in "Rosemary's Baby" [1968] but she and her husband Garson Kanin were prolific writers and came up with many a good script long before, but young Cort, who liked funerals in the movie, played Harold.

From Quiz Women of the Golden Age of Hollywood

Answer: Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall met Humphrey Bogart on the set of "To Have and Have Not" in 1944. The pair married in 1945. Bogart passed away in 1957, and Bacall died in 2014.

From Quiz Crawford, Dietrich, Shearer or Garbo?

Answer: Greta Garbo

Her first (and famous) speaking line was, "Gimme a viskey with ginger ale on the side and don't be stingy, baby." The film was "Anna Christie", 1930. The film was also made in German in the same year.

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