Characters in 'Citizen Kane' Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jerry Thompson

The film opens with the death of Charles Foster Kane (while holding a snow globe and uttering his final word, "Rosebud") before proceeding to a newsreel to make us aware of some of the highlights of his life. The producer of that newsreel then asks Jerry Thompson (William Alland) to do some digging, and unearth the meaning of that final utterance. To do this, he interviews many of the people who were seen or referred to in the newsreel.

His quest is the thread which ties together all the incidents to follow.

Answer: Susan Kane

The first time Thompson tries to talk to Susan Kane (Dorothy Comingore), she refuses to talk to him, and the movie moves on to earlier parts of his life. We later find out much more about their relationship, which started as an affair while he was still married to his first wife (and, as will be made clear later, ended his political career).

Their marriage had a rocky start, with him wanting to allow his wife to fulfil a dream (actually her mother's dream) by building an opera house specifically so she could sing there despite her lack of actual musical talent. When he published a negative review in his paper, she wanted to give up the attempt, but he insisted on having her finish the advertised season. Only when she attempted to commit suicide did he allow her to abandon her ill-fated operatic career. A long and unhappy marriage followed.

Answer: Mary Kane

Going back to Kane's childhood, Thompson discovered that his mother Mary (Agnes Moorehead) had inherited a substantial business interest when he was eight, and arranged to have it put in trust for him. At the same time, she asked the banker who set up the trust, and was to manage it, to act as his guardian, which was agreed on.

However, when the boy was told he was going to live elsewhere, he demonstrated his unwillingness by hitting the banker with his sled and running away before eventually being 'kidnapped'.

His mother was responsible for setting him up with financial security, and also for leaving him emotionally crippled by his sense of rejection.

Answer: Walter Parks Thatcher

When Thompson failed in his first attempt to meet Susan Kane, he went to the archives of Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris), where he found the story behind Thatcher's involvement with Kane - he was the guardian appointed to oversee the money he was to inherit from his mother when he reached the age of 25.

He was clearly an excellent choice for the position, as Kane became one of the richest men in the world, and promptly put the money to work in the publishing world. He ran the 'New York Tribune', purchased with Thatcher's assistance, from 1892 until the stockmarket crash of 1929 saw him forced to sell the newspaper to Thatcher.

Answer: Herbert Carter

While Kane was turning the 'New York Inquirer' into one of the leading examples of tabloid journalism, he moved into the office and took charge, causing the previous editor, Herbert Carter (Erskine Sanford), to resign. Kane decreed that his paper would be a voice for the underprivileged and downtrodden, and proceeded to publish articles attacking the interests of Thatcher (who he still resented) despite the fact that they were actually detrimental to his own investments.

The muckraking drew an audience, and the paper actually became politically significant - including participating in the exaggerations that pushed the United States into a war with Spain in 1898.

Answer: Mr Bernstein

Mr Bernstein (Everett Sloan) was Kane's personal assistant in the early years of his publishing career, and remained faithful to him through everything that followed. By the time Thompson interviews him, he is Chairman of the Board of Kane's empire. He provides information about Kane's time at the 'New York Inquirer' and his first marriage, before suggesting that Leland might have more information about later stages of Kane's personal life.

Answer: Jedediah Leland

One of the people Kane recruited to help him run the 'New York Tribune' was Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten), a friend from college. Leland shares Kane's idealism - and his grows stronger even as Kane becomes increasingly cynical and manipulative over the years.

By the time of Susan Kane's disastrous opera debut, he has not talked to Kane in years, but is the drama critic assigned to review her performance. He pulls no punches, so Kane fires him - but still publishes the scathing review. When Thompson interviews him, he is in a retirement home. Leland provides further information about Kane's two marriages, including the start of the affair with Susan, and its impact on both his first marriage and his political career.

Answer: Emily Kane

Kane meets Emily Monroe Norton (Ruth Warwick) on a trip to Europe, and marries a former president's niece in 1900. (Which president is her uncle is deliberately unclear.) Kane's obsession with his newspaper, and his attacks on her uncle, create a poor basis for a relationship.

By the time he is running for governor in 1916, there is not much left; the revelation during that campaign of his affair with Susan Alexander is the last straw. She divorces him - and he marries Susan a few weeks later.

Answer: Jim W Gettys

In 1916 Charles Foster Kane ran for governor of New York against Jim W Gettys (Ray Collins), a corrupt politician whom he promises to have imprisoned if he wins. Unfortunately for him, Gettys discovers his affair with Susan, and attempts to make him drop out of the race to avoid a scandal. Egotistically confident of his popularity, Kane refuses to resign.

The resulting publicity puts paid to his campaign and his marriage. It is on the night of his defeat that the final break with Leland comes, as the divergence of their paths has become clear.

Answer: Raymond

Following his second interview with Susan, which covers their life after her opera debacle until their separation when Kane slapped her during an argument, Thompson interviews the butler at Xanadu, Raymond (Paul Stewart). Raymond describes Kane's rampage following Susan's departure, which came to an abrupt conclusion when he discovered a snow globe. On finding it, he calmed down and said (wait for it), "Rosebud". And so we come full circle, returning to the opening scene and its mysteries.

Thompson concludes that Rosebud is a mystery that will never be solved. SPOILER ALERT: If you are one of the handful of people who would take a quiz on this movie who does not yet know what happens in the final scene, you may want to stop reading until you have seen it.

As we see workers packing up everything in Xanadu, one of them tosses an old sled into the furnace to be burned. Through the flames, we see the word Rosebud written on it. After all those years, it was the joy of his simple childhood, sledding in the snow, that meant the most to him; its loss was his biggest regret.