Who Played Me in "Miracle on 34th Street"? Quiz

Answer: Edmund Gwenn

Gwenn, born on September 26th, 1877 in Wandsworth, London, England was cast as Kris Kringle. Mr. Kringle was hired to be the Santa at a Macy's store, located on 34th Street in Manhattan, and he took a liking to his job. One day, Mr. Kringle proposed to a customer that she could get a certain toy at a store down the street, after she complained that nobody had them.

The customer told a manager that she liked the idea of putting the Christmas spirit ahead of the commercialization and complimented the manager on the store's great Santa.

In a later scene, Mr. Kringle was committed to Bellevue after it was believed that he was a danger to others. There was a trial in the film to determine if Mr. Kringle was insane, due to his claiming that he was the real Santa Claus.

At the end of the movie, Mr. Kringle, and the others at the retirement home where he stayed, threw a Christmas party. Gwenn starred in the movies, "It's a Dog's Life", "The Rocket from Calabuch" and "The Trouble with Harry". In 1948, Gwenn won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role of Kris Kringle in "A Miracle on 34th Street".

Other Oscar nominees for Best Supporting Actor that year were Charles Bickford for "The Farmer's Daughter", Thomas Gomez for "Ride the Pink Horse", Robert Ryan for "Crossfire" and Richard Widmark for "Kiss of Death".

Answer: Maureen O'Hara

O'Hara, a native of Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland played Dorrie Walker. Dorrie was a supervisor for the Macy's store on 34th Street in Manhattan and she spoke with Kris Kringle the day of the Thanksgiving Day Parade. At first, Dorrie thought that Kris was the Santa she hired for the parade so she told him to get suited up. Kris then informed her that the Santa Claus she hired for the Macy's parade was inebriated so Dorrie went to go talk to the Santa she hired. Dorrie asked Kris at the last minute if he could be the Santa Claus so Kris said he could do it.

A little bit later, Dorrie returned home and spoke to her daughter, Susan, about what she thought of the parade. Susan said she felt it was better than last year's and that she liked the Santa Claus better so Dorrie informed her the Santa Claus was a last minute replacement. Throughout the movie, Dorrie spoke about how Susan needed to know the truth about certain things, Santa being one of them, and she insisted that Susan continue to not believe in Santa.

However, Dorrie was convinced, by the time the film ended, that Santa was real and that Kris Kringle was indeed Santa Claus. O'Hara was in the films, "Big Jake", "How Do I Love Thee?" and "Spencer's Mountain".

Answer: Gene Lockhart

Lockhart, born in 1891 in London, Ontario, Canada played Henry X. Harper. Mr. Harper was a judge for a court in New York and was in charge of presiding over the trial which would determine if Kris Kringle was insane. In one scene, Judge Harper was at home with his two grandchildren and he asked them to give him a hug but they refused, since he was presiding over Mr. Kringle's trial. Judge Harper's wife also said she would not hug him either, had she been his grandchild.

At the end of the trial, Judge Harper ruled that Kris Kringle was Santa Claus and, after the trial commenced, Kris Kringle went up to him and wished him a Merry Christmas. Judge Harper smiled at him and wished him the same. Lockhart was seen in the movies, "Meet John Doe", "Steel Against the Sky" and "Juke Girl".

In 1939, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film, " Algiers", but lost to Walter Brennan for "Kentucky". Other Oscar nominees for Best Supporting Actor that year were John Garfield for "Four Daughters", Robert Morley for "Marie Antoinette" and Basil Rathbone for "If I Were King".

Answer: Natalie Wood

Wood landed the role of Susan Walker. Susan was first seen at her apartment with a family friend, Fred Gailey, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and it was there that she mentioned to him she knew Santa Claus was not real. In a later scene, Susan went to Macy's one day with Fred to visit Kris Kringle, who was their Santa, and she sat on his lap.

She mentioned that he looked much more like Santa Claus than previous Santa's who worked at Macy's and said his beard looked very real. Kris told her it was real so she tugged on it and realized that was his beard.

When Kris asked her what she wanted for Christmas, Susan said nothing since her mom got her everything she wanted. Midway through the movie, Susan spent some time with Kris and he told her she should use her imagination and then taught her how to impersonate a monkey.

When Susan got into her bed, Kris asked her if she truly wanted something for Christmas so Susan said she would like a house. She gave Kris a picture of the home she wanted and informed him that, if he was the true Santa Claus, he could get it for her. If he could not get it, Susan said he was not Santa Claus and simply a nice old man with a beard like her mother told her. Wood had roles in the films, "Rebel Without a Cause", "Brainstorm" and "Meteor".

In 1964, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the film, "Love with the Proper Stranger", but lost to Patricia Neal for "Hud". Other Oscar nominees for Best Actress in a Leading Role that year were Leslie Caron for "The L-Shaped Room", Shirley MacLaine for "Irma la Douce" and Rachel Roberts for "This Sporting Life".

Answer: Jerome Cowan

Cowan, born on October 6th, 1897 in New York City was cast as Thomas Mara. Thomas was the District Attorney in the jurisdiction where the film took place and was in charge of trying to prove that Kris Kringle was crazy and needed to stay at Bellevue Hospital. Throughout the trial, Thomas interviewed some witnesses regarding the case but it was Kringle's attorney, Fred Gailey, who brought his son into the courtroom to testify on the defense's behalf. Fred asked Mr. Mara's son if he believed Santa Claus was real and he replied yes since his dad told him. Fred then said his dad would never lie to him and Mr. Mara's son stated that his dad would never tell him something that was untrue.

When Mr. Mara's son got finished testifying, he walked up to his dad and told him goodbye. Cowan guest starred on the TV series', "Green Acres", "Here's Lucy" and "Daniel Boone".

Answer: John Payne

Payne, a native of Roanoke, Virginia played Fred Gailey. Fred was an attorney and a friend to both Dorrie and Susan. When Fred spoke with Susan in his first scene, he mentioned to her that it was strange how Susan was a young girl but yet did not believe in fairy tales or Santa Claus. Dorrie mentioned to Fred that she wanted to be honest with her children since she felt that was the best policy.

When Dorrie saw Fred and Susan paying Kris Kringle a visit at Macy's one day, she spoke to Fred about how he should not have taken her to visit him since then she might believe there is a Santa Claus.

After Kris was committed to Bellevue Hospital, Fred went to go see him and he agreed to take on Kris's case to prove that he was sane and indeed the real Santa Claus. Near the end of the trial, Fred had a bunch of letters brought in from the U.S. Post Office which were address to Santa Claus and showed his address being at the courthouse. Fred stated the U.S. Post Office was an agency with the United States Government and therefore the letters implied that the post office recognized Kris as Santa Claus. Fred won the case and Kris was released from Bellevue. Payne guest starred on the TV shows, "Gunsmoke", "Columbo" and "Studio 57".

Answer: Philip Tonge

Tonge, born in 1897 in England, portrayed Julian Shellhammer. Mr. Shellhammer worked at Macy's in the toy department and was seen one day hearing a compliment from a customer. She informed Mr. Shellhammer that their Santa, Kris Kringle, told her where to get a toy which was not in Macy's store and said it was nice he put the spirit of Christmas ahead of the commercialization. Mr.

Shellhammer then thought up a policy for the store which would involve sending customers to another store should their store not carry a certain item they wanted. Mr.

Shellhammer thought it over seriously before proposing the idea to the store owner, Mr. Macy. Mr. Macy liked the idea and congratulated Mr. Shellhammer for telling him about it. Tonge had guest starring appearances on the TV series', "The Best of the Post", "Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond" and "Northwest Passage".

Answer: Alvin Greenam

Greenman landed the role of Alfred. Alfred was first seen mopping floors at Macy's and he met the new store Santa, Kris Kringle. Alfred and Kris struck up a friendship and were seen once eating lunch at a local restaurant. While there, Alfred informed Kris that the store counselor, Mr. Sawyer, spoke to him about an issue which disturbed Kris. Alfred said that he informed Mr. Sawyer of his desire to want to be Santa Claus and how Mr. Sawyer responded with an implication that there was something wrong with his wanting to be Santa. Kris told Alfred how he did not appreciate what Mr. Sawyer said to him and he would confront Mr. Sawyer about it. Greenman starred in the films, "The Frisco Kid", "Miracle on 34th Street" (1994) and "Mr. Belvedere Goes to College".

Answer: Porter Hall

Hall, born on September 19th, 1888 in Cincinnati, Ohio was cast as Granville Sawyer. Mr. Sawyer worked for Macy's as a counselor and he was in charge of issuing intelligence tests to people who were employed there. Mr. Kringle went to see him one day to take his test and Mr. Sawyer informed both Dorrie and Mr.

Shellhammer that he passed his test. However, he did state to them that Mr. Kringle lacked concentration but this did not persuade Dorrie to fire him. In one scene, Mr. Kringle spoke to Mr. Sawyer about some advice he gave to Alfred, which he felt was unacceptable. Mr. Kringle hit Mr. Sawyer on the head with his cane and left his office.

When Mr. Sawyer saw some people outside his office, he pretended to have been knocked out by the force of Mr. Kringle's cane.

He spoke to Mr. Shellhammer and Dorrie about what happened and then he had Mr. Kringle committed to Bellevue Hospital. Mr. Macy blasted Mr. Sawyer for what he did and demanded that he reverse his decision to have Mr. Kringle committed. Hall had guest starring roles on the TV shows, "Fireside Theatre", Life with Luigi" and "The Bigelow Theatre".

Answer: Percy Helton

Helton, a native of New York City, played a drunken Santa Claus in "Miracle on 34th Street". The drunken Santa Claus, WHO was seen right before the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, started having some alcohol and Kris Kringle came over to talk to him. He told the drunken Santa Claus that he was not using his whip right and showed him how to properly use it.

When he saw that the Santa Claus was drunk, he told him he should be ashamed of himself for getting drunk on a day when many children came to see him.

The drunken Santa Claus said he had to find a way to keep himself warm and drinking was it. Mr. Kringle spoke to Dorrie about this so she fired the drunken Santa Claus and asked Kris Kringle to be their Santa Claus for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Helton guest starred on the TV series', "Mission: Impossible", "Nanny and the Professor" and "Medical Center".