They Died November 2025 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Fashion design

Marina Yee was born in 1958.

In 1980-1981 six young talents attended the fashion academy in Antwerp: Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs and Marina Yee. In 1986 they decided to work together on a collection, rented a van, and drove their output to London - where the fashion reporters had difficulty pronouncing most of their names - and so the group adopted the name Antwerp Six.

Marina Yee did not pursue fashion design during all her career. For a few years, she owned a sandwich bar. In one interview she would have said she didn't approach fashion design in a rational way, she was more a "prutskous" (Dutch for "tinkering sock"). In 2024 Marina Yee was awarded the Jury Prize at the Belgian Fashion Awards.

Answer: Diane Ladd

Diane Ladd was born as Rose Diane Ladner in Mississippi in 1935. She started her acting career in 1953 on stage. She was a guest star in several TV series, but is best remembered as a movie actress.

Her film debut was in 1961 on "Something Wild". In 1974 she played the waitress Flo in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. When a few years later this movie inspired the TV series "Alice", Diane Ladd did not reprise her role as Flo but played another waitress in the diner where Alice worked.

Diane Ladd was nominated for another Oscar as Best Supporting Actress in "Wild at Heart" (1990). And the next year, she was once again nominated Best Supporting Actress (while her daughter Laura Dern was nominated Best Leading Actress) for "Rambling Rose".

Elina Salo (1936-2025) was a Finnish actress, died November 4. Barbara Ptak (1930-2025) was a Polish movie costume designer, died November 5. And Sulakshana Pandit (1954-2025) was an Indian playback singer and movie actress, who died November 6.

Answer: Upstairs Downstairs

Pauline Collins was born in Devon in 1940. She debuted on stage in 1962, on TV in 1963 and in movies in 1963.

In 1971-1973, she played the maid Sarah Moffat in the TV series "Upstairs, Downstairs" - a costume drama set in the period 1903-1930. Other well-known stars in the series included Gordon Jackson as the butler Hudson and Lesley-Anne Down as the Marchioness Georgina Worsley. Pauline Collins also recorded a music single based on Sarah Moffat's catchphrase "What Are We Going to Do with Uncle Arthur?".

In 1988 she starred on stage with the monologue "Shirley Valentine", a role which she reprised in the eponymous 1989 movie. This role gave her the only Oscar nomination, as Best Actress.

Pauline Collins did not appear in the other British series mentioned as red herrings: the history drama "The Onedin Line" (1971-1980), the comedy series "Dad's Army" (1971) nor the crime series "Father Brown" (1974). Pauline Collins died November 5, 2025. 

Answer: Lee Tamahori

Lee Tamahori was born in 1950 and started his career in the sound department in 1977. In 1983 he got his chance as first assistant director, and he debuted as director in 1989.

Tamahori's first feature film, "Once Were Warriors" (1994), was a major success. It sketched a Maori family troubled with domestic violence, alcohol abuse, and major depression. Tamahori died November 7, 2025.

Robert Taylor (died November 4) was a New-Zealand guitarist. Susan Skerman (died November 9) was a New-Zealand artist. And Donald Macintyre (died November 13) was an opera singer from New Zealand.

Answer: "Top Gear" (1978-2001)

I've added the year to specify it was the original "Top Gear" series - not the restart from 2002 onwards with Richard Hammond, James May and the Stig besides Jeremy Clarkson.

Quentin Wilson was born in 1957. He started his career as car dealer and motor journalist. In 1991 he joined the original "Top Gear" series presenting all kind of automobile news. Due to failing audience appreciation, the BBC terminated the program in 2001. But soon another series "Top Gear" started, this time with (among others) the Stig rejoining Jeremy Clarkson.

Wilson was one of the first to draw attention to the fact that new cars were significantly more expensive in the UK than in continental Europe, leading to a European initiative to reduce import blocking regulations. Quentin Wilson was also a consultant for the British Safety Institute, mainly dealing with road safety. Wilson died November 8, 2025.

Answer: Tatsuya Nakadai

Nakadai was born in Tokyo in 1932, with the first name Motohisa (which he later changed to Tatsuya).

"Ran" was a Japanese retelling of Shakespeare's "King Lear". The protagonist, Daimyo Ichimonji Hidetora (played by Nakadai) decided to divide his realm in three parts and grant each of his sons one third, but as the youngest seemed ungrateful, he was exiled. Meanwhile the other two sons conspired against Hidetora.

Nakadai's movie career started with an uncredited role in "The Seven Samurai" (1954), directed by Akira Kurosawa. Technically he debuted with another movie completed in 1953 but only released in 1956. Nakadai was quoted as saying his best movie was "Seppuku" (1962), directed by Masaki Kobayashi (another director with whom Nakadai worked frequently).

Simonov was a Russian stage and screen actor. Preven was a TV producer. Cybulski was supervisor of movie scripts.

Answer: A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

Lewycka was born in Kiel (Germany) in 1946, to Ukrainian parents. The family soon moved to England, where Lewycka spent the rest of her life. She completed a bachelor study in English and philosophy but did not complete her PhD study. However, she was appointed lecturer in media studies at Sheffield Hallam University.

In 2005 she published her debut novel "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian". Despite it having a quite boring title, it was a critical success. The plot is about an aging farmer Nikolai marrying a salacious young woman, and Nikolai's daughters plotting to force a divorce upon the couple. To find incriminating evidence, the daughters peruse Nikolai's writings and discover family secrets about the era of Stalin's purges. Marina Lewycka died November 11, 2025.

"The Good Earth" was by Pearl S. Buck. "The Cherry Orchard" was a play by Anton Chekhov. And Laura Esquivel wrote "Like Water for Chocolate".

Answer: The Simpsons

Dan McGrath was born in New York in 1964. He started his writing career for "Saturday Night Live" (1991-1992) and was offered a job with "The Simpsons" (1992-1994). He also produced a number of episodes of "The Simpsons" between 1996 and 1998.

"Mission Hill" (1999-2002) and "King of the Hill" (2002-2010) were two other series for which Dan McGrath wrote scripts and produced some episodes. Dan McGrath died November 14, 2025.

"Tom and Jerry" (1940-1967) and "The Flintstones" (1960-1966) were concocted by William Hannah and Joseph Barbera. And "South Park" (starting 1997) was written and produced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Answer: Assisted suicide

Alice and Ellen Kaessler were born in 1936 in Sachsen (Germany). They joined the Leipzig Opera child ballet in 1947.

In 1952 the Kaesslers moved to West-Germany, and the twin sisters performed in Dusseldorf and later the Lido in Paris. In 1959 Alice and Ellen Kessler represented West-Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest.

They also acted in several movies, especially movie versions of well-known operettas ("Der Bettelstudent" in 1956, "Der Graf von Luxemburg" in 1957 and "Gräfin Maritza" in 1958). Their last performance was a guest role in an episode of the crime series "Tatort" in 2011.

In 1962 Alice and Ellen Kessler moved to Italy, with a long-running collaboration with the RAI television. They also had success in the USA in the "Danny Kaye Show" and in the "Ed Sullivan Show".

The twins never married nor had any children. As their quality of life was dwindling (loss of smell, perhaps a stroke) and they abhorred nursing homes, they called a doctor and lawyer to perform assisted suicide (a type of euthanasia). Their entire estate was bequeathed to various good works, such as Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF.

Answer: Rebecca Heineman

Rebecca Heineman was born in 1963 in California (as William Heineman) and grew up with arcade games. She couldn't afford buying software for her console Atari 2600, so she taught herself to copy software cartridges and programming games.

In 1980 she was hired as programmer at Avalon Hill, and created her first game "London Blitz". In 1983 Heineman and three of her colleagues founded the video game company Interplay Productions, leading up to three instalments of the sci/fi role playing game "The Bard's Tale". She went on founding three other video game companies, meanwhile transitioning to a woman. Rebecca Heineman died November 17, 2025.

Pajitnov is the programmer of "Tetris". Sid Meier created the "Civilization" series. And Tajiri is the father of the "Pokémon" franchise.