I Can't Put The Name With The Face - Part 1 Quiz

Answer: James Stewart as Glenn Miller

'The Glenn Miller Story' starred James Stewart as Glenn Miller and June Allyson as Glenn Miller's wife, Helen. The movie was a biography of the great band leader who was on his way to entertain U.S. troops in Europe when his plane went down in the English Channel.
Miller died before I was born but I love swing music and to this day, when I hear Glenn Miller's band or swing music in general, I picture Jimmie Stewart's face. Stewart played a number of American heroes and received an award nomination for his portrayal of Miller.

Answer: Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis

'Great Balls Of Fire', the movie, is named for a very popular Jerry Lee Lewis song. The movie starred Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee and Winona Ryder as Myra Gale Brown, Lewis' third wife who was also his cousin and only 13 years old when they married. Prior to the bad publicity over the marriage and his overall lifestyle, Lewis was known for rock and roll songs like 'Whole Lot Of Shakin' Goin' On' and 'Breathless'.

He played and sang with exuberance, sometimes kicking his piano bench out of the way so he could play standing up. Quaid and the movie received mixed reviews and even though Jerry Lee hated the movie, he praised Quaid for his portrayal. I don't suppose Jerry Lee would be picturing Dennis Quaid when he hears his own name, do you?

Answer: Tyrone Power as Eddy Duchin

'The Eddy Duchin Story' was released in 1956 and starred Tyrone Power. Kim Novak starred as Marjorie, a socialite who later married Duchin and died while giving birth to Peter, Duchin's only son. Eddy blamed Peter for Marjorie's death and eventually left his son to go to war. Eddy died of leukemia at age 41. Tyrone Power knew Duchin personally. Power worked hard to make his piano playing look as realistic as possible.

He also was about the same age as Duchin was when he died and for the first part of the movie, he was playing the role of Eddy Duchin in his twenties. Apparently his makeup and lighting people didn't do Power any favors, nor did his 'good' life and late nights.

Answer: Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin

In 2004, Kevin Spacey played the part of Bobby Darin. Darin's wife, Sandra Dee, was played by Kate Bosworth. Bobby was born in The Bronx, N.Y. but wanted more for himself and his family. His song 'Splish Splash' put him in the limelight and on 'Bandstand' with Dick Clark. Eventually he made his way to Hollywood and the movies where he met and married Sandra Dee. He pushed himself and lived 'hard' because he felt he wouldn't live long, and he was right. He died at age 37.
Kevin Spacey was over 40 years old when he played and sang as Bobby Darin and some thought he was too old but most critics thought he pulled it off. Spacey co-wrote, directed, and co-produced the movie. Spacey received a Golden Globe nomination for the movie.
Darin had many wonderful hit songs but 'Mack The Knife' was my favorite and him singing that song is what I picture when I hear his name.

Answer: Tom Hulce as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

'Amadeus' was released in 1984 and was the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as played by Tom Hulce. The story was told by his peer and rival Antonio Salieri, played by F. Murray Abraham. Salieri plotted revenge against Mozart because he believed God favored Mozart. Salieri was so jealous of Mozart that he wanted him dead, even though that would have gone against God. Tom Hulce was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar but lost to Abraham. Hulce was best known for his performances in Amadeus and as Pinto in 'Animal House'. Talk about dichotomy. I'd never put Pinto's face with the name Amadeus!

Answer: Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash

'Walk The Line' is about John R. (Johnny) Cash, played by Joaquin Phoenix. Although Cash was thought of as an outlaw, was part of a group called Highwaymen, nicknamed The Man In Black, had a severe problem with drugs and alcohol and played for men in prison, he never spent more than one night incarcerated.

He did meet with a U.S. President to advocate prison reform. He won awards in most musical genres and has been honored in many Halls Of Fame. Johnny Cash wrote the book on which the movie was based and approved Phoenix to play him.

Unfortunately, Cash died two years before the movie was released. Reese Witherspoon won Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of June Cash and she and Phoenix sang all the songs in the movie.

Answer: Sal Mineo as Gene Krupa

Sal Mineo had the starring role in the 1959 movie 'The Gene Krupa Story'. Krupa was one of nine children born to a Polish immigrant who planned for his son to become a priest. All Krupa ever wanted was to make music and as a young man, he became a popular drummer and musician in the Chicago jazz scene. In the movie, he moved to New York with a friend and the friend's girlfriend, whom Krupa eventually married. As with so many in this quiz, drugs and alcohol and hard living adversely affected his life. Krupa was 64 when he died of heart failure and leukemia.
Sal Mineo was probably best known for his part opposite James Dean in 'Rebel Without A Cause' but he had many challenging roles and shared the screen and stage with other greats like Yul Brenner, Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson. Mineo moved to California and was one of Hollywood's first to admit to being gay. He had a brief career as a pop artist with a couple of songs on the Billboard Hot 100 charts before taking on the job of flamboyant Gene Krupa. He was stabbed to death at age 37.
'The Gene Krupa Story' was nominated for a Laurel Award (for musicals).

Answer: Cornel Wilde as Frederic Chopin

This movie was released in 1945. Cornel Wilde played Frederic Chopin and Paul Muni was his teacher and friend, Professor Elsner. Chopin's mother and father were talented musicians but he received his first piano lessons from his sister before he reached age seven. He had other teachers but eventually settled with Professor Elsner. After moving to Paris, he became well known and respected in the world of music but didn't actually perform for many people. Most of his money was made giving piano lessons and selling the music he composed for the piano. Chopin died at age 39 but as late as 2011 the cause was still being debated; most think it was tuberculosis.
Cornelle Wilde was best known as the narrator of a World War II movie, 'Beach Red' and as a circus performer in 'The Greatest Show On Earth'.
Paul Muni was best known as a murderous gangster in 'Scarface', released in 1932.
'A Song To Remember' was nominated for six Oscars including a Best Actor nomination for Cornel Wilde.

Answer: Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison

'The Doors' starred Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison and was released in 1991. At that time, the rock legend had been dead for 20 years. He died at age 27 in Paris. The movie was told by Morrison (Kilmer) and took the viewer through most of his life, especially the psychedelic sixties.

It sometimes seemed the band and Morrison succeeded and became even more popular in spite of everything they did. Several famous directors were considered to make this movie but Oliver Stone got the job. Several big name actors and a few well known band members were considered for Morrison's part but Kilmer spent his own money to make a video of himself as Morrison.

He lost weight, learned practically every song The Doors ever recorded and spent time with most of the band members to get a real feel for the face he would portray.

Answer: Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles

The movie 'Ray' was released just a few months after the death of Ray Charles. Ray had a hard young life, losing his eyesight by age seven, and his brother, father and mother before he was 16 years old. He started playing piano to support himself. He was known for mixing jazz and gospel and blues and many other styles or types of music together. Ray used his life lessons and love of music to win many awards, including numerous Grammys, a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, induction into Halls Of Fame, Lifetime Achievement awards and left the world with some of the best music every written or played. The writer/director, Taylor Hackford couldn't find producers or backers for the movie so it was done as an independent film. Jamie Foxx studied Ray to mimic him. Jamie also attended Braille school, wore prosthetics for most of the day while filming so he really couldn't see, and played the piano in all his scenes. All his realism and attention to detail paid off. Jamie won Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Ray Charles Robinson.