Our Favourite Movies/Stars Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Robe

"The Robe" had an all-star cast including Richard Burton, Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Michael Rennie and Richard Boone. As a boy around eight years old I was impressed by the advertising poster "CINEMASCOPE IS COMING". The movie further impressed me as it went along with what I was being taught at catholic school. (I intended to be a priest, but alas I discovered girls and turned to the dark side.)

"Demetrius and the Gladiators" was released in 1954 and was a sequel to "The Robe", with Victor Mature and Michael Rennie reprising their roles as Demetrius and Peter respectively. "Quo Vadis" was released in 1951. "The Ten Commandments" was released in 1956.

Question submitted by Desimac

Answer: Fredric March

In the 1964 movie "Seven Days In May", Fredric March plays the US president Jordan Lyman. He is under pressure from USAF General James Mattoon Scott, played by Burt Lancaster, with Kirk Douglas as USMC Colonel Martn 'Jiggs' Casey.

General Scott is planing a coup d'état but Colonel Casey who is not part of the plot to overthrow the US government takes his fears directly to president Lyman. This sets in motion a plan the foil the plot and force General Scott to resign before he can set his plan in motion.

Question submitted by shipyardbernie

Answer: Rob Reiner

Actor and director Rob Reiner,is the son of Hollywood icon Carl Reiner. All three of my favorite movies, having been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" have Rob either acting or directing them. They are "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984), "The Princess Bride" (1987), and "When Harry Met Sally" (1989). Rob Reiner has a diverse history in Hollywood. He was co-writer for the first episode of "Happy Days", played Meathead in "All in the Family" and has a storied directorial career spanning decades.

Question submitted by James Free

Answer: Zulu

"Zulu" is a chronicle of the true story of The Battle of Rorke's Drift, a missionary station in Southern Africa. The battle happened over two days, January 22-23, 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War. A small unit of 150 British soldiers, led by Lieutenants John Chard of the Royal Engineers and Gonville Bromhead of the 24th Regiment of Foot, successfully defended mission station Rorke's Drift against an attack by about 4,000 Zulu warriors. The battle followed the crushing defeat of the British force at Isandlwana. This successful defense became a significant moral victory for the British. A total of 11 Victoria Crosses, the highest military award, were earned that day by those involved.

Question submitted by esspee

Answer: Apollo 13

The movie "Apollo 13", released in 1995, was based on the book "Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13" written by former astronaut Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.

Apollo 13 was manned by astronauts Commander Jim Lovell, Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert, and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise. Two of the astronauts were supposed to land the lunar module on the moon but due to a major malfunction involving the explosion of an oxygen tank, the moon landing could not happen. The mission began April 11, 1970 and the module safely returned to Earth April 17 1970. It was originally supposed to return on April 21, 1970.

This mission is considered by many to be a successful failure in that the moon landing did not take place, but in spite of considerable damage to the command module, the crew was able to safely return to Earth.

Question submitted by dekeaunt

Answer: Martin Balsam

One of my favourite character actors, Martin Balsam played private investigator Milton Arbogast in the 1960 movie "Psycho". He played white house chief of staff Paul Girard in the 1964 movie "Seven Days In May". He played Admiral Husband E. Kimmel in the 1970 movie "Tora! Tora! Toral!". He played antique dealer Tommy Haskins in the 1971 movie "The Anderson Tapes".

He also appeared in "12 Angry Men" (1957), "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), "The Bedford Incident" (1965), "Catch-22" (1970) and "All the President's Men" (1976) and many, many more. Among his awards were an Oscar and a Tony. He was also a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Emmy award nominee.

Question submitted by shipyardbernie

Answer: Charles Bronson

Charles Bronson appeared as Bernard O'Riley in "The Magnificent Seven", as Danny the tunnel king in "The Great Escape" and as Wadislaw in "The Dirty Dozen".

James Coburn and Steve McQueen appeared in both "The Magnificent Seven" and The "The Great Escape". Yul Brynner only appeared in "The Magnificent Seven".

Charles Bronson went on to appear in many movies after "The Magnificent Seven" including "The Battle of The Bulge", "The Mechanic", "Red Sun", "Once Upon a Time in the West" and of course the "Death Wish" series of five movies. At the summit of his career in the mid to late 1970s Charles was the highest paid actor in the world.

Prior to appearing in "The Magnificent Seven", Charles had appeared in more than 30 films and many TV shows including "Man With A Camera" which ran for 29 episodes in 1958-59.

Question submitted by Desimac

Answer: Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett plays the friend of Frankie Fane (Stephen Boyd), an actor who everyone hates because he treats everyone like dirt and uses them for his own ends. Fane unexpectantly gets nominated for an Oscar and his enemies gather round for the fall.

The movie features a Who's Who of stars, some as characters in the movie and some in cameos as themselves. To name but a few, Frank Sinatra, Broderick Crawford, Merle Oberon, Joseph Cotten, Elke Sommer, Ernest Borgnine, Eleanor Parker, Walter Brennen, Bob Hope, Ed Begley, Milton Berle, Nancy Sinatra and Jill St. John.

It was the last movie that Tony Bennett ever made as an actor. He appeared in a few cameos as himself. He did however win an award, the Golden Turkey Award for Worst Performance by a Popular Singer.

Question submitted by shipyardbernie

Answer: The Hunt for Red October

The 1990 film "The Hunt for Red October" was the first in a series of films featuring the books of Tom Clancy and his character Jack Ryan. In the film Jack Ryan was played by Alec Baldwin. Later films had Harrison Ford and Chris Pine playing Jack.

Question submitted by esspee

Answer: John Wayne

"The Shootist" was loosely based on the 1975 novel of the same name, written by Glendon Swarthout. This film saw John Wayne take a starring role in his last film appearance before his death in 1979.

Question submitted by esspee