It Was On the Tip of My Tongue...What Was Her Name Quiz

Answer: Melinda Dillon

Melinda Dillon was cast in the role of Jillian Guiler in Steven Spielberg's 1977 blockbuster science fiction drama "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

In the film, Jillian's young son, Barry, was abducted from their rural home near Muncie, Indiana, by unknown space aliens.

Having heard that Spielberg was having trouble casting the role of Jillian, fellow movie director Hal Avery, who had just completed the film "Bound for Glory" (1976), with Dillon as part of the cast, recommended her for the role. After reviewing film reels featuring Dillon's performances, Spielberg was convinced. Dillon was hired immediately for the role, only three days before the start of principal filming.

Dillon's performance in the film earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1978.

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" went on to become one of the top grossing films of the decade.

Answer: Kelly McGillis

Kelly McGillis starred as Tom Cruise's love interest in the 1987 military action film "Top Gun".

Kelly played the role of Charlotte Blackwood, a civilian contractor with the navy, who worked as an instructor at the navy's elite Fighter Weapons School.
Her callsign was Charlie. What started as her professional interest in Lt. Pete Mitchell's (callsign Maverick) encounter with a Russian MiG-28 fighter jet, ended with a romantic relationship between instructor and student.

During a pre-release screening of the completed film for test audiences, one comment made repeatedly was that the film focused on the action sequences and lacked scenes showing the romantic aspect of the story. The producers contacted McGillis and Cruise and had them return to film extra scenes to be added to the movie. McGillis had already darkened her hair color for her next film project and Cruise was sporting a longer hairstyle than his previous filmed military buzz cut.

In one added nighttime scene, creative lighting used for the shot sufficiently disguised McGillis' hair color. In the famous elevator encounter scene, McGillis was seen wearing a baseball cap that covered her hair. Extremely observant viewers caught a glance of a few strands of her darker hair, neatly tucked under the cap. Tom Cruise's hair was noticeably longer. The scenes were added to the movie before its general release on May 12, 1986.

"Top Gun" was the highest grossing film of 1986.

Answer: Anne Heche

Anne Heche played the love interest of Harrison Ford in the 1998 action comedy movie "Six Days and Seven Nights". Heche's character was Robin Monroe. Ford played the character of Quinn Harris.

In the story, Robin Monroe and her boyfriend Frank Martin (David Schwimmer) hired Quinn Harris, a local pilot, to fly them on the last leg of the trip to their hotel on the tropical island of Makatea.

Quinn piloted an old dilapidated De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, a single engine, propeller-driven airplane.

Robin, who works as a journalist for "Dazzle", a fashion magazine, was called by her boss, asked to put her vacation on hold, and assigned to cover a fashion event in nearby Tahiti. Robin hired Quinn to fly her there. While en route, the plane is damaged in a sudden tropical storm and crash lands on an deserted island. While on the island, the adversarial relationship between Robin and Quinn turned romantic after he saves her life from a snake and an attack from pirates trying to kill them.

Harrison Ford personally picked Anne Heche for the role as his co-star. Nearly a dozen actresses, many with more experience or more recognizable names, were considered for the role, including actresses Julia Roberts, Minnie Driver, Cameron Diaz, Elizabeth Hurley, and Uma Thurman.

Side note:
** Harrison Ford, who is a certified and licensed pilot for both fixed winged and rotor aircraft, did the majority of his own flying for the movie. Ford in fact owns a De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, nearly identical to the one used in the movie.

Answer: Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith played the role of U.S. Justice Department prosecutor Annie Farrell in the 2004 suspense thriller "Collateral".

In the film, Los Angeles based cab driver Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx) was hired to drive a fare, Vincent (Tom Cruise) to an address in the city. Impressed with the cleanliness of his cab as well as Max's apparent superior knowledge of the streets and traffic patterns, Vincent offered Max $700.00 to drive him for the night to five different destinations. The deal would have been a violation of the cab company policy, but was too good to pass on, so Max agreed.

During the course of the evening, Max realized that Vincent was a hired killer, and each stop was for a victim on his hit list. Max pleaded to be released from their arrangement, but Vincent threatened to kill both Max and his elderly mother. Max very reluctantly continued the trip.

After the first four victims are killed by Vincent, along with three street thugs who happened to pick the wrong person (Vincent) to try and rob, Max realized that he could no longer go along with the agreement.
Max intentionally crashed his cab to escape from Vincent.

After the crash, Max comes to realize that the fifth and final target on the hit list was Annie Farrell, the fare he drove and made friends with at the beginning of his shift. also seeing that Vincent has survived and escaped from the crash, Max went to warn Annie of Vincent's intentions.

Each of the four previous victims were witnesses scheduled to testify against
drug lord Felix Reyes Torreno, who hired Vincent to eliminate the witnesses. Annie was the prosecutor assigned to the case.

Side notes:
** Jamie Foxx is the professional stage name of Eric Marlon Bishop.

** Jada Pinkett Smith married rapper-actor-musician Willard Carroll
"Will" Smith (also known as The Fresh Prince) on December 31, 1997.

Answer: Rene Russo

Rene Russo played Secret Service Agent Lilly Raines, the love interest of Secret Service Agent Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) in the 1993 movie "In the Line of Fire".

The story involved an unlikely love relationship between two secret service agents, an older veteran agent (Horrigan) and a much younger agent (Raines), that developed while both were assigned to the protection detail for the President of the United States (codename: Traveler) from a deranged former government operative (John Malkovich) who presented a very credible threat against the life of the President.

The role of Lilly Raines was first offered to both Glenn Close and Sharon Stone.
Both actresses turned the role down due to previously scheduled performance commitments.

"In the Line of Fire" was the eighth highest grossing film of 1993.

Answer: Rene Russo

Rene Russo played hard-charging Lorna Cole, an Internal Affairs Division investigator with the LAPD. Her character first appeared in the third movie of the police action drama movie franchise "Lethal Weapon" in 1992.

Sgt. Cole's first contact with Officers Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) came in "Lethal Weapon 3", when she shared an elevator ride with the pair in the police building. Riggs glanced at a file folder she was carrying, realized that she worked in Internal Affairs, and started a bogus conversation, meant to be overheard by Cole, implying that he and Roger had been involved in some unethical police activities.

Cole first despised Riggs, but in the course of the movie developed a working relationship, trust, admiration, and finally a romantic relationship.

The movie "Lethal Weapon 4" (1998) began with Lorna Cole being on maternity leave from the police department, awaiting the birth of her child with her live-in boyfriend, Martin Riggs.

One of the more memorable scenes came when Riggs suggested that they get married:

Riggs: "You wanna get married, don'tcha?"
Lorna: "Yes I do."
Riggs: "Why didn't you tell me?"
Lorna: "I didn't want to put any pressure on you, Riggs. I mean if you want to some day, that'd be great. If you don't, I love you. I'll take you any way I can get you, Riggs."

In the end, Lorna and Martin become man and wife before the birth of their child.

In the early 1970s, Rene Russo was one of the more popular fashion models. She graced the covers of "Vogue" and "Cosmopolitan" magazines, just to name a few.

Starting her movie career in the late 1980s, she became one of the most sought actresses to play the love interest in films opposite many of Hollywood's "A" list talent, including Tom Berenger, John Travolta, Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, Pierce Brosnan, Dennis Quaid, and Tim Allen.

Rene Russo also played the female lead opposite Mel Gibson in the 1996 crime thriller "Ransom".

Answer: Liv

Liv Tyler played Grace Stamper, the rebellious teenage daughter of master oil driller Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) in the 1998 action drama film "Armageddon".

In one of the movie subplots, Grace was romantically involved with A.J. Frost (Ben Affleck), a member Harry's oil drilling crew. Harry objected to the relationship because as a single father raising a daughter in the environment of oil drilling, he felt that his "little girl" deserved a much better life than an oil driller roughneck could provide.

Liv Tyler's most memorable scene came near the end of the film in her tearful, gut-wrenching final conversation with her father before the climatic ending of the film.

Liv Tyler is the daughter of musician Steven Tyler, the lead singer for the rock band Aerosmith, and fashion model Bebe Buell. Buell was also featured as the Playmate of the Month in the November, 1974 issue of "Playboy" magazine.

The role of Grace Stamper was offered to and turned down by actresses Milla Jovovich and Robin Wright. Liv Tyler turned down the role twice before being convinced to accept it.

The subplot involving the relationship between Grace and A.J. was originally going to only be referenced to, but near the end of the scheduled filming, the producers felt that the relationship angle would strengthen the film's overall appeal to a younger audience demographic, so several love scenes were quickly scripted, filmed, and added to the movie.

"Armageddon" was released on July 1, 1998, Liv Tyler's 21st birthday.

"Armageddon" was the number one, worldwide top grossing film of 1998.

Answer: Michelle Rodriguez

Michelle Rodriguez was cast for the role of Police Officer III Chris Sanchez in the 2003 action-crime-thriller "S.W.A.T.", starring Samuel L. Jackson.

Chris Sanchez was a well qualified officer, working in the elite LAPD Metro Division, from where potential S.W.A.T. officers are selected. Past records indicated that despite receiving top ratings on evaluations, Sanchez had applied for, and had been turned down on three previous occasions for S.W.A.T. The reason became clear when Sgt. Dan "Hondo" Harrelson (Jackson) located Chris Sanchez for an interviewed. Chris was short for Christina, and as an unwritten rule, female officers were excluded from working S.W.A.T. Hondo offered her a position on the S.W.A.T. team element that he was recruiting and training. Over the objections of his commanding officer, Captain Thomas Fuller, (Larry Poindexter), Sanchez would be accepted for training with the stipulation that if she or the team members failed to qualify after receiving training, and he was sure that they would, Hondo would resign from the police department.

Sanchez along with Hondo's other S.W.A.T. selectees successfully completed the training and final test exercise and became full-fledged S.W.A.T. team officers.

The central plot was the team's assignment was to deliver an arrested major drug lord to a federal correction facility, a job which presented a number of logistical challenges.

For her performance in the film, Michelle Rodriguez was awarded the 2003 Imagen Foundation Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Film. The award is honors performers who promote encouraging and positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry.

"S.W.A.T." ranked as number 18 of the top 100 grossing films of 2003 list.

Answer: Helen Hunt

Helen Hunt played Kelly Frears, the love interest of Tom Hanks' character, Chuck Noland, in the 2000 adventure drama film "Cast Away".

In the film, Kelly and Chuck were in a long-term relationship which was to lead to marriage. Chuck, a systems engineer for a mail express company, was unexpectedly called to go to Malaysia to address a business concern. En route to his destination, his flight encountered a violent storm over the ocean, and crashed. Chuck, the lone survivor, washed up on the shores of an uninhabited island, where he would remain for four years before being rescued. Upon his return, he learned that he had been presumed killed in the crash. Kelly, after a period of mourning, had "moved on" with her life and married another man. When Kelly and Chuck finally reunited, they tearfully professed their love for each other. Kelly explained to Chuck, "I always knew you were alive. I knew it and everyone said that I had to quit saying that, that I had to let you go. I love you. You're the love of my life". Realizing that the intervening circumstances made the continuation of their relationship impossible, they sadly parted ways.

"Cast Away" was the second highest grossing film of 2000, beat only by "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".

Side note:
While on the island, Chuck developed a friendship with Wilson, a volleyball that was inside one of the packages on the plane that washed up on shore. Using his own blood, Chuck drew a face on the volleyball to make conversations with him easier.

The 6th Critics' Choice Awards, honoring the best filmmakers of 2000, named Wilson as the Best Inanimate Object in a movie.

Answer: Cameron Diaz

Cameron Diaz played Tina Carlyle, the eventual love interest to Jim Carrey's character in the 1994 fantasy-slapstick, action comedy film "The Mask".

The movie marked the feature film debut of Cameron Diaz in a leading role, and helped establish her to filmmakers and producers as a "bankable commodity" in the industry.

In the film, Tina, a nightclub singer, is sent by her mob enforcer boyfriend to check out the routine activities of a small bank he plans on robbing. While in the bank, she catches the eye of a quiet, unassuming bank clerk named Stanley Ipkiss, who is immediately smitten by her looks.

After placing a Loki mask he found on his face, Stanley is transformed into an uninhibited, cartoon-like character who eventually steals Tina's heart.

Before being cast for the role, a number of other actresses were considered for the role, including Vanessa L. Williams, Kristy Swanson, and Anna Nicole Smith.

"The Mask" was one of the ten top moneymaking films of 1994.

Answer: Helen Hunt

Helen Hunt played the role of Carol Connelly, the tolerant waitress, in the 1997 movie "As Good as It Gets".

The role won her, and her co-star, Jack Nicholson, top honors as Best Actress and Best Actor in a leading role Academy Awards, Golden Globes, SAG Movie Awards, and MTV Movie Awards in 1998. This also represented one of the few times that both Best Actress and Best Actor Oscars were awarded to lead performers in the same film.

Before Helen Hunt was cast as the female lead, the role was offered to, and declined by, Melanie Griffith, Courtney Love, and Holly Hunter.

The film's plot involved an award-winning author suffering severely from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and the waitress at the restaurant he frequented. He always ate his meals there, and Carol was the only server who would tolerate his unusual and often annoying behavior.

They were thrown together by a series of tragic and unusual events which involved a mutual friend, which resulted in a mutual understanding and respect for each other, which in time led to a romantic connection.

Since starting he acting career in 1973, Helen Hunt has amassed over 90 movie and television performance credits, including lead roles in the movies "Twister" (1996) with Bill Paxton, "Cast Away" (2000) with Tom Hanks, and "What Women Want" (2000) with Mel Gibson.

Helen Hunt also starred as the female lead on the long-running television series "Mad About You" (1992-1999) with Paul Reiser.

Answer: Candy Clark

Candy Clark played Kate, the girlfriend of Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider) in the 1983 action thriller "Blue Thunder".

In the story, Frank Murphy was a police helicopter pilot suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) encountered from his combat experiences in the Vietnam war. He was selected as the test pilot for a "special" government program to fly a high-tech helicopter gunship as part of his routine police patrol duties. The program was actually a cover for a project known as THOR, developed illegally by government, military, and high-ranking police officials. THOR (Tactical Helicopter Offensive Response) was a plan to use an armed military combat helicopter as a means to quell civil disobedience incidents in the city. Upon taping evidence of the true nature of the program while using Blue Thunder's sophisticated surveillance systems, the vital evidence is hidden in a trash bin. Kate is asked by Murphy to retrieve the hidden evidence and deliver it to a news media source who would publicly reveal the illegal plan.

One of the most dramatic scenes in the movie involved Kate driving through the city, evading police while trying to deliver a package for Frank.
While driving over a bridge, her vehicle is overtaken and eventually stopped by a pursuing police car. As the two officers approach her car with their guns drawn, she calmly asked, "Is there a problem, officer?" One officer sarcastically responds (commenting on her appearance and car), "Oh yeah, a den mother in a Vega, right? Now play it very cool. I need your license and registration". Kate starts to search her purse for the requested document, when the frustrated officer, while still pointing his gun at her commanded, "Why don't you get out of the car?" With the look of defeat and resignation on her face, Kate starts to exit her car when her attention, and that of the officers, is drawn to a sound coming from the other side of the street. The officers are shocked to see the Blue Thunder helicopter rising from under the bridge, with its high-powered weapons trained on them. The incident allows Kate to get back into her car and escape.

Side note:

** His role in "Blue Thunder" was one of final performances for Warren Oates. Oates passed away shortly before the film was released. Warren Oates played Captain Jack Braddock, Frank Murphy's immediate boss. A dedication text displayed on screen following the ending credits read, "For Warren Oates with love for all the joy you gave us".

In the film, the helicopter originally did not have a name. It was referred to only as "The Special". During the initial introduction of the aircraft at the demonstration site, Captain Braddock commented on how loud the engines were, asking one of the government agents, "What do you call that thing, an ear buster?". The government agent replied, "It's a Special, but somebody hung a nickname on it, Blue Thunder".

Candy Clark began her acting career in 1972. Among her over 60 movie credits are roles in "Zodiac" (2007), "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (1976), and "American Graffiti" (1973).

Answer: Uma Thurman

Uma Thurman was cast for the role of Mia Wallace in Quentin Tarantito's 1994 cult film classic "Pulp Fiction".

Her performance brought her international prominence as an actress. The role also brought her nominations for an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also received a Best Actress in a Leading Role for a BAFTA Award.

The film was presented in vignettes style, featuring seven separate but interconnected stories. The bulk of Uma's performance was part of the third story called "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife". Marsellus (Ving Rhames) was described as a big time gangster and boss. He ordered Vincent Vega (John Travolta) to escort his wife while he was out of town. When Mia wanted to go dancing, Vincent escorts her to a theme nightclub, where they entered and won the twist dance contest. The evening was going well until Mia passed out after accidentally overdosing on heroin she found in Vincent's jacket pocket, and mistakenly thought it was cocaine. Vincent panicked knowing that his life would be in serious jeopardy if he let anything happen to Mia. To save her life, Vincent had to inject a syringe full of adrenaline directly into her heart. He did and Mia was immediately revived.

Miramax Films, the company that produced and distributed the film, originally wanted to cast either Holly Hunter or Meg Ryan for the role of Mia, but after a single meeting between Thurman and Tarantino, he insisted on Thurman for the role.

Answer: Jamie Lee Curtis

Jamie Lee Curtis played Helen Tasker in the 1994 action film "True Lies".

Helen was the wife of Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a computer salesman. Unknown to Helen was the fact that for the past 17 years, Harry had led a double life as a spy for The Omega Sector, a top secret government anti-terrorism agency.

Through a series of strange, unusual, and humorous events, Helen, who works in what she considers to be a boring job as a legal secretary, is brought into Harry's secret world, and ends up assisting him in destroying a terrorist faction.

Jamie Lee's performance in the film as a naïve housewife is highlighted by a sensual striptease dance she performs for who she thinks is a terrorist agent, but is actually Harry in disguise. Later in the film after becoming a full-fledged spy herself, she performs a dramatic tango dance number with Harry while the two are working undercover.

Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Actress for both the Golden Globe Awards and The Saturn Awards for her performance.

For 1994, "True Lies" was the third highest grossing movie, surpassed by only "The Lion King" (#2) and "Forrest Gump" (#1).

When released on July 15, 1994, "True Lies" was the most expensive movie ever made, and the first film to have a $100 million dollar production budget.

Side notes:
** In one of the film's most dramatic scenes, Helen is rescued by Harry when from a helicopter, he grabs her hand and pulls her from an out-of-control car seconds before it drives off the edge of a bridge and into the ocean. The scene ends showing Helen holding Harry's hand as she dangles beneath the helicopter over the ocean. At her insistence, Jamie Lee Curtis was allowed to do the dangerous stunt herself.

** For her seductive striptease dance scene, Jamie Lee Curtis worked very hard at getting her body in perfect condition for the scene. She was agreeable to stripping down completely for the scene, but the producer vetoed her request, feeling that stripping down to bra and panties would be sufficient and more ratings-friendly.

** Jodie Foster was originally cast for the role of Helen Tasker, but had to withdraw due to previous movie commitments.

** 14 different actresses were considered for the Helen Tasker role. Included on the list were Kim Basinger, Geena Davis, Melanie Griffith, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Madonna, and Demi Moore.

** Featured in the film as part of Harry's team were Tom Arnold as Albert "Gib" Gibson, and Grant Heslov as Faisal.

Answer: Margot Kidder

Margot Kidder was cast for the role of Lois Lane for the film "Superman", sometimes referred to by the title "Superman: The Movie".

For the highly coveted role, more than 100 of the most talented actresses were considered. During March and May of 1977, the top candidates were screen tested for the role. They included Anne Archer, Susan Blakely, Leslie Ann Warren, Deborah Riffkin, Stockard Channing, and Margot Kidder. The final choice was between Channing and Kidder.

From comic books and previous movie and television productions, nearly everyone was familiar with the "Daily Planet" and their feisty reporter Lois Lane.
The movie followed the basic formula of previous Superman projects. Superman fought for "truth, justice, and the American way", managed to rescued Lois Lane when she was in trouble, and hid his secret identity merely with a pair of eyeglasses. The open romantic connection between Lois and Superman was the only element that was significantly different from past plot lines.

Margot Kidder reprised the role of Lois Lane in three sequel movies, "Superman II" (1980), "Superman III" (1983), and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987).

Best known and remember for her Lois Lane role, Margot Kidder also performed in over 130 television and movie projects.

Side notes:
** On May 27, 1995, Christopher Reeve suffered serious injury when he was thrown from his horse while preparing for a dressage competition. In the fall, Reeve destroyed the first and second cervical vertebrae, causing permanent paralysis from the neck down.

** Canadian-born actress Margaret Ruth "Margo" Kidder became a naturalized U.S. citizen on August 17, 2005, in Butte, Montana, near her home in Livingston, Montana.