Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. This British double Oscar winner (Best Supporting Actor) was also a director and an Oscar nominated writer (for "Hot Millions" (1968)). His ancestors came from a mixture of countries including the Russian nobility and Ethiopian royalty. His two acting Oscar successes came in "Spartacus" (1961) and "Topkapi" (1965). In 1978 he starred as the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in "Death on the Nile".
2. This British writer had early success with novels such as "Runway Zero-Eight", "The Final Diagnosis" and "In High Places". He went on to write other blockbusters such as "Hotel", "Airport", "Wheels" and "The Moneychangers". Several of them were of course turned into major dramatic films.
3. This American actor was born in Illinois. In the 1930s, he had a series of jobs on local radio stations as a football broadcaster, staff announcer and baseball reporter. He would make up ball-by-ball commentaries of games based on the sketchy descriptions the station received by wire while the game was in progress. He eventually broke into films. He said his favourite role was as a double amputee in "King's Row" where he utters the line "Where's the rest of me?" which he later used as the title of his autobiography. He became president in 1947 (of the Screen Actors Guild).
4. After graduating from high school, this actor attended Cornell University while working as a professional actor. While there, he was one of two students selected to study at New York's famous Julliard School of Performing Arts. The other one was Robin Williams. He was still a relative unknown when selected to play the role of Kal-El in a 1978 film which made him a star.
5. This singer/pianist was the son of Aretha and Bailey Robinson. He started to lose his sight at just five years old and was blind by the time he was seven. In school, he was taught only classical music but he loved to play jazz and the blues as heard on the radio. He was about seventeen when he started to wear dark sunglasses. He was married twice and had 12 children with ten different women.
6. This actress was discovered by retired actress Norma Shearer who saw her photograph on the front desk of a hotel where her father worked. She borrowed it and a screen test with MGM was the result, and her first film followed shortly after. She made over 50 movies in total but will always be remembered for a role in the first 45 minutes of a 1960 Hitchcock film.
7. This actor was born in the Bronx. He got lots of work in musicals which was a bit of a problem later as he was often overlooked for TV roles because of his musical background. He won a Tony Award in 1969 for his performance as Chuck Baxter in the musical "Promises, Promises". He had two other Tony Award nominations for musical performances in 1965 ("Guys and Dolls") and 1976 ("Chicago"). He played the character Lennie Briscoe in five different TV series.
8. This actor was a major star in the golden age of film musicals. He is known for "Annie Get Your Gun" (1950), "Show Boat" (1951), "Calamity Jane" (1953), "Kiss Me Kate" (1953) and "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954). When the public love of musicals died down, he moved into routine action fare. He became a household name on TV in 1976 when he joined a show following the death of an actor playing an important role in the series.
9. Widely regarded as one of the greatest movie actors of all time, this person won two Best Actor Oscars and was nominated on six other occasions. He popularised "the Method" technique of acting. He became a star from his performance in "A Streetcar Named Desire" on Broadway in 1947. He was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar in four consecutive years, winning once for "On the Waterfront".
10. This English soccer player/manager was a prolific goal scorer before being forced to retire following a knee injury at the age of 29. In 1967 he took on the manager's job at 2nd Division Derby County. In the 1968-9 season they were promoted and three years later were England champions. In 1976, he became manager of Nottingham Forest. They were promoted to the top-flight in 1977 and they were England champions the following year.
Source: Author
Spontini
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