Three Clues and a Guess Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joan Crawford

Lucille Faye Lesueur was born on March 23, 1904 in San Antonio, Texas. Joan's mother remarried after her father abandoned the family and her stepfather abused her. She was nineteen when MGM began using her as a flapper in their silent pictures. The movie company started a contest to pick a new name for Lucille Fay Lesueur and her name was changed to Joan Crawford. Joan married four times and adopted five children through a black market ring out of Nevada.

When Warner Bros. hired Joan, she had the idea to turn the book "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" into a movie starring herself and Bette Davis. When the Oscar nominations were released, Bette Davis was the only actress nominated for the movie so Joan called every actress and asked to accept the award in their stead if they won. Anne Bancroft won for "The Miracle Worker" and Joan went onstage to accept the award for Anne. Joan died in 1977 while living in Manhattan.

Answer: Jean Harlow

Harlean "Jean" Harlow Carpenter was born in Kansas City, Missouri on March 3, 1911 to Montclair and Jean Carpenter. When Jean was sixteen she married Charlie McGrew who was seven years her senior. The marriage didn't last long. Her first credited movie was "Why is a Plumber?". Howard Hughes signed her to a five year contract and then loaned her out for more money that what she would make on a film.

During her work with MGM, Jean married Paul Bern, a studio lieutenant. Paul committed suicide one night while Jean was having dinner with her mother. Jean's third husband was a cameraman whom she divorced seven months later. Jean was seeing William Powell at the time of her death. She was working on the 1937 movie, "Saratoga" with Clark Gable when she became ill. Jean only went to the hospital when William took her. Jean Harlow died on June 7, 1938 of cerebral edema.

Answer: Clara Bow

Clara Gordon Bow was born in New York to Robert and Sarah Bow on July 29, 1905. Clara was the only surviving child for Robert and Sarah. When Clara was sixteen she won a small role on a movie from a contest in "Fame and Fortune". Clara's first movie was the 1922 film "Beyond the Rainbow", but Clara was seen as an amateur actress and her scenes were cut. It was only later when her movie career took root that Clara's scenes were put back into "Beyond the Rainbow". She went to Hollywood in 1923. One of the movies Clara did was titled "It" about a woman who had lots of sex appeal. It was after this movie she garnered her nickname.

In 1930, a scandal broke out involving Clara's personal secretary Daisy Devoe. Miss Devoe had been charged with stealing money from Clara. Daisy Devoe was given five years probation for her crime. In retaliation for her sentence and her firing, Daisy divulged Clara's personal and private secrets. When rumors began flying around about Clara's sexual life, she had a breakdown.

In 1931, Clara married Rex Bell and moved to his ranch in Nevada. Clara made two pictures for Fox and retired to her Nevada ranch. She died on the ranch in 1965 and was buried beside her husband, who had passed away in 1962.

Answer: Errol Flynn

Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn was born on June 20, 1909 in Hobart, Tasmania in Australia. When Errol was twenty-four he took part in a documentary about the HMS Bounty called "In the Wake of the Bounty". Flynn worked at the British Northampton Repertory Company before he was let go for allegedly assaulting the director's wife. In 1933, Flynn moved to America to work for Warner Bros. His first American role was in "Captain Blood", but his most recognized role was Robin Hood.

Flynn married three times and had four children. His womanizing and morphine habit broke up his marriages. Flynn wanted to go into the military like many other actors, but was rejected for medical reasons. The movie studio put it out there that it was a heart murmur when in reality it was for venereal disease and tuberculosis. Flynn died while in Vancouver, Canada on October 14, 1959.

Answer: Evelyn Nesbit

Florence Evelyn Nesbit was born in Tarentum, Pennsylvania on December 25, 1884 to Winfield and Evelyn Florence Nesbit. After Winfield died, Evelyn's mother found work at Wanamaker's department store and had her children work there as well. It was there that Evelyn found work as a model. When the family moved to New York, Evelyn used her contacts to get modeling work in New York. Evelyn became the first pin-up girl.

Evelyn became friends and lovers with a man named Stanford White, an architect. At the same time, Evelyn met a wealthy man named Harry Thaw. Harry took Evelyn to Paris where Harry's sadistic mannerisms became known to Evelyn. She returned from Paris and, knowing what Harry was like, still married him in 1905. While at a performance of "Mam'zelle Champagne" at Madison Square Garden, Harry walked up to Stanford White and killed him. After a first trial ended in a hung jury, a second trial found Evelyn's husband insane. Evelyn had one son by Harry named Russell Thaw. Her first movie role came in 1914 called "Threads of Destiny". Evelyn Nesbit Thaw died at the age of eighty-two.

Answer: Lana Turner

Julia Jean Turner was born in a mining community in Idaho on February 8, 1921. It was in 1937 that Julia changed her name to Lana Turner on the advice of a film director. Lana was discovered at a soda fountain. MGM brought her into their fold and talked her into dyeing her hair blonde. Lana never changed her hair color back to its original color. Her first movie was 1937 "They Won't Forget".

Lana was married and divorced eight times and had a daughter with husband Stephen Crane (whom she married twice). Lana became involved with a mob affiliated man named Joseph Stompanato. Her relationship with Stompanato was abusive. Lana's daughter would later stab Stompanato to death after he abused Lana. Stompanato's death was found to be justifiable homicide. Lana would pay Stompanato's family in a civil suit.

Lana's movie "By Love Possessed" was the first movie shown on an airline flight. Her last role would be in a two-part 1985 episode of "The Love Boat". Lana died of throat cancer on June 29, 1985. She was seventy-four years old.

Answer: Charlie Chaplin

Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr. was born to Charles and Hannah Chaplin in London on April 16, 1889. Charlie's father abandoned the family and his mother had to be institutionalized for syphilis. When he was thirteen, Charlie quit school and began his comedy act. He moved to America at twenty-four and went to work for Keystone Studios. His first movie for Keystone was eleven minutes long and titled "Making A Living". When Charlie was denied a raise, he left Keystone and joined Essany Film Manufacturing Company. They gave him the raise he had asked Keystone for and the chance to produce his own films.

Charlie was forced to marry the sixteen year old girl he got pregnant named Lita Grey. They remained married for three years. At the age of fifty-two, Charlie was taken to court for transporting an underage girl over the state line for sex in violation of the Mann Act. When it was discovered that someone else bought the girl her train ticket, Charlie was found innocent.

Charlie was listed as one of the Elite Ten suspected of spreading communism in his films. J. Edgar Hoover revoked his visa after Charlie went to London for a movie premiere. Charlie moved to Switzerland where he remained until he returned to America in 1972 to accept an honorary Oscar. Charles Chaplin, Jr. died in 1977.

Answer: Thelma Todd

Thelma Alice Todd was born on July 29, 1905 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. She was crowned Miss Massachusetts in 1925. Besides, "Ice Cream Blonde", Thelma also carried the nickname "Hot Toddy". Hal Roach helped Thelma transition from silent films to talkies and she became a comedic legend. She had a clause in her contract known as the potato clause which said that Thelma couldn't gain weight for risk of being fired.

Thelma was married to Pat DiCicco for two years before they divorced. Besides acting, Thelma opened a cafe in Los Angeles. She was found dead in the car of her married lover, Roland West, on the morning of December 1, 1935. Thelma's death was ruled as accidental carbon monoxide poisoning by the police. In 1952, when Thelma's lover, Roland West, was on his death bed he allegedly confessed to a friend that he murdered Thelma.

Answer: Roscoe Arbuckle

Roscoe "Fatty" Conkling Arbuckle was born in Kansas on March 24, 1887 at sixteen pounds. When his mother died and his father abandoned him, Roscoe got a job at a hotel where he was heard singing while he worked. During a talent show, Roscoe became a comedic hit with people when he ended his show by somersaulting off the stage and into the orchestra pit. Roscoe married Minta Durfree in 1908. He went to work in the Keystone Cop movies. His pairing with the diminutive Mabel Normand set the basis of husband/wife pairings like Ralph and Alice Kramden as well as Doug and Carrie Heffernan. When he went to work for Paramount, Roscoe became the first Hollywood actor to earn one million dollars.

In 1921, Roscoe went to trial for the death of Virginia Rappe during a Labor Day party. Her cause of death was ruptured bladder and peritonitis. His first trial held on November 4, 1921 would end in a deadlock. The second trial held on January 11, 1922 would also end in a deadlock. He was found innocent of Virginia Rappe's death at his third trial on March 13, 1922. Days after his acquittal, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America banned Roscoe from working again in movies. The public didn't stand for the harsh treatment and Roscoe's ban was lifted before the year ended. Even with the ban lifted, no studio wanted to take a chance on him so Roscoe went to work behind the scenes under the name William B. Goodrich.

Roscoe married two more times after his divorce from Minta. On June 29, 1933, Roscoe died of a heart attack while in New York, one day after marrying his third wife. He had just signed a contract with Warner Bros. to start a movie career.

Answer: Mae West

Mary Jane "Mae" West was born on August 17, 1893 to John and Matilda West in Brooklyn, New York. Mae started singing in vaudeville at the age of fourteen. Her mother became her manager. Mae worked for the Hal Clarendon Stock Company. In 1925, Mae wrote a Broadway play titled "Sex". It was the longest running Broadway play in 1925, but critics bashed it. Mae was arrested for corrupting moral youth. She spent her sentence at a workhouse known as Welfare Island. While she was there, Mae became good friends with the warden and his wife until her release in 1928.

Mae's first film was "Night after Night" in 1932. By 1935, Mae West was the highest paid woman in the United States. Mae married Frank Wallace in 1911. Their marriage didn't last long, but the divorce wasn't finalized until 1943. While separated from Frank, Mae met and married accordion player Guido Deiro in 1913. That marriage would also end in divorce.

The Allied Forces used her name to describe their life vests. She was also on the cover of the Beatles album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club". Mae West died at the age of 87 on November 11, 1980.