Who Said That? - Quotes of Yesteryear [1] Quiz

Answer: Woody Allen

A controversial figure in Hollywood film making, Allen was an immensely popular auteur director/writer beginning in the 1970s; his 1977 film "Annie Hall" won Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director. Though he would continue to be prolific into the 21st century, his near annual movie releases would rarely reach the popularity of classics like "Manhattan" and "Hannah and Her Sisters", even if they continued to get Oscar nods.

As far as filmmakers go, he's always been highly-quotable, likely a by-product of having come up with the comedians of 1960s New York City.

Answer: W. C. Fields

W. C. Fields, an entertainer through and through, brought his talents to the people in different ventures as early as the 1900s, soon acting on Broadway and making the transition into silent films, radio, and talkies. In his later years, Fields was known to have a significant drinking problem and it led to his death at the age of 66.

Many of his most famous quotes were about drinking, and his propensity to imbibe led filmmakers and costars to beg him to stop while he was behind the camera.

Answer: Zsa Zsa Gabor

Most of the Gabor sisters managed to hit it big in Hollywood through their connections. While Eva Gabor started acting in the early 1940s, her sister Zsa Zsa had just been crowned Miss Hungary. By the time Zsa Zsa headed to Hollywood herself, she was set to be brought into socialite circles.

She would go on to act, herself, for the next fifty years. She's also known for having married nine times, once to hotel empire creator Conrad Hilton and once to Jack Ryan, who helped bring Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels to prominence in Mattel. Zsa Zsa Gabor passed away in 2016 at the age of 99, less than three months shy of her 100th birthday.

Answer: Groucho Marx

Groucho received the Honorary Oscar along with his actor brothers for their contributions to comedic films of the silent and talkie eras. The ceremony in which he was awarded was one of his last major public appearances; he passed away a few years later after a long period of ill health.

He was only outlived by Zeppo. Besides film, Groucho was famous for his humour and for hosting the radio and TV game show "You Bet Your Life". The famous practical joke glasses-- the dark frames with a plastic nose and moustache -- are known for being based on his appearance.

Answer: Sir Winston Churchill

Former UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who saw Britain through the Second World War, was known for his political legacy as well as his sense of humour, being considered by many to have some of the most quotable comebacks during his time in office. Notably, Churchill relied on alcohol while he led the British Isles through WWII; he's said to have enjoyed champagne and whiskey, particularly.

In 1953 he would win the Nobel Prize in Literature, mostly for his speeches and memoirs; he was a brilliant orator and a master of the written word.

It comes as no surprise that he could drop one-liners as well.

Answer: Bette Midler

The Divine Miss M herself is the one responsible here, and it's one in a long list of quotable lines from the entertainer who's won Grammy Awards, Tony Awards, Golden Globes, and Emmy Awards (and she's been nominated for Oscars too!). Midler has never been shy of success, transferring her live performance skills, talent, and wit into numerous ventures including singing, dancing, acting, and eventually, for a spell, a Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace. Midler was also a frequent guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", making eleven appearances between 1970 and 1992.

She was his final guest.

Answer: Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal often had opinions he wasn't afraid to voice. Boosted by a status in upper-class circles and strong with the written word, Vidal became a controversial writer of both fiction and non-fiction in his day, creating works that poked at general understandings of gender roles, politics, corruption, capitalism, and Hollywood. For a brief spell he was also a screenwriter and a playwright; he ran for the House of Representatives and the Senate; he also briefly lived in Italy and was the President of the Venice Film Festival jury in 1990.

He passed away in 2012.

Answer: Andy Rooney

One of the American journalistic greats of the twentieth century, Andy Rooney was a consistent fixture as an essayist and radio/TV personality most famously as the final anchor on CBS' news program "60 Minutes", where he would appear from time to time to muse on the topic du jour, often an irreverent take on something less newsworthy, but occasionally dipping into the political. Rooney was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2003 and he passed away in 2011; his last appearance on TV was a month earlier.

He had quite a few nice things to say about dogs; he did a piece on the Westminster Dog Show in 2006 and claimed they were more dependable than most people.

Answer: Robert Frost

A four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Robert Frost was highly-celebrated in his lifetime, becoming one of the preeminent figures in the medium through most of the first half of the twentieth century. Interestingly, Frost was put forth as a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature nearly three dozen times in his life, failing to attain the prize. Nevertheless, his works helped shape the nation, depicting American lives and speech with verisimilitude celebrated to this day.

It's unsurprising, this considered, that he had something to say about how frustrating it can be to go to a banking institution.

Answer: Gypsy Rose Lee

The topic of the 1959 film "Gypsy", this famous American entertainer and burlesque performer had a fair bit to say about relationships and the women in her life. Married and divorced three times, she and her sister supported their mother for years until her death before her death and the siblings' estrangement. Nevertheless, both would still find fame with June shifting from film and TV to Broadway and Lee penning a memoir and starring in her own shows.

She would go on to be a significant regular panelist on "Hollywood Squares", which should go a long way in highlighting her wit.