Actors Who Hit the Charts Trivia Quiz

Answer:

John Leyton appeared in 'The Great Escape' (1963) as Willie Dickes, the 'Tunnel King' and in 'Von Ryan's Express' along with Frank Sinatra in 1965. 'Johnny Remember Me', produced by Joe Meek, reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in 1961, so his acting and musical careers overlapped. Noel Harrison was much better known for his acting rather than his singing. His film career lasted from the 1960s until the 1990s, although is rather outshone by that of his father, Rex. 'The Windmills of Your Mind' was the theme tune of the 1968 version of 'The Thomas Crown Affair', with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway and was sung by Harrison for the film. It won the Oscar for Best Original Song and reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart for Harrison. A version by Dusty Springfield did rather better in the USA.

'What If' was the theme song for the 2001 film 'Christmas Carol: The Movie', in which Kate Winslet provided the voice of Belle, the first love of Ebenezer Scrooge. The song provided Kate with a hit, reaching the charts (and as high as number one) in several European countries. It reached number six on the UK Singles Chart. Nicole Kidman makes the quiz thanks to her duet with Robbie Williams in a remake of 'Somethin' Stupid', the song mostly associated with Frank and Nancy Sinatra The Williams/Kidman version reached number one in the UK at Christmas 2001.

'Heartbeat', which is not the Buddy Holly song of the same name, was originally released as a single by Wendy Waldman without success, at least on the charts. Don Johnson's cover version in 1986 was much more successful, reaching number five on the US Billboard Hot 100. It reached the top ten in some countries but made no impact in the UK. By contrast, David Soul was rather more popular in Britain than in his home country, at least as far as his musical career went. He did reach number one in both countries, and others, with his first single, 'Don't Give Up on Us', in 1976 but the follow up the next year, called 'Silver Lady', was much more popular on the British side of the Atlantic. He had three other top twenty hits in the UK as well.

The next two actors decided to stick to the spoken word. The Peter Sellers version of 'A Hard Day's Night', the hit by The Beatles, was especially unusual. The style used by Sellers to perform the words was a take-off of Laurence Olivier's performance of Richard III in the 1955 film of the Shakespeare play. Sellers dressed up in a similar costume and reproduced Olivier's acting style and voice - videos of his performance are available on the internet. Surprisingly, the song, for want of a better word, reached the top twenty on the UK Singles Chart. Telly Savalas also felt speaking was a better option than singing when covered the Bread song 'If' in 1975. The original version of the song, written by David Gates, came out in 1971 and the Savalas version became a number one on the UK Singles Chart.

Richard Harris's version of 'MacArthur Park' reached the charts in 1968 after he asked composer Jimmy Webb to come up with a song for him to record. While nobody would say Harris had the best singing voice, his performance of the song was a success and reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the UK Singles Chart. A later, disco, version by Donna Summer in 1978 was also a big hit. 'She's Like the Wind' is one of the songs from the cult film 'Dirty Dancing'. Released as a single in 1987 and featuring vocalist Wendy Fraser, the song reached number one in the USA and number seventeen in the UK.

The final two actors made their names on British television, using their success to get at least one hit song. Dennis Waterman appeared in shows such as 'The Sweeney' before co-starring with George Cole in 'Minder'. The theme song from the latter show gave Waterman chart success 'I Could Be So Good for You' reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in the 1980s with Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland also buying enough copies for it to hit their top tens. Anita Dobson played the role of Angie Watts, opposite Leslie Grantham as 'Dirty Den', on 'EastEnders' for three years from 1985 until 1988. Her recording of 'Anyone Can Fall in Love' used the very recognisable theme tune from EastEnders with words suppled by Simon May. It reached number four on the UK Singles Chart.