I Didn't Know They Could Sing Too Quiz

Answer: Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow was born on 27 September 1972 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She acted with some top stars in her early movies, such as John Travolta in "Shout" (1991), Dustin Hoffman in "Hook" (1991) and with her mother, Blythe Danner, in "Cruel Doubt" (1992). She has won numerous awards including the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1999 for her portrayal of Viola de Lesseps in "Shakespere In Love". In 2008 she launched Goop, which was a weekly lifestyle newsletter, which has since expanded into a web-based company.

"Cruisin'" was written by Smokey Robinson/Marv Tarpli. It was sung by Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis in the 2000 movie "Duets". It was number one in Australia and New Zealand and peaked at number four in Iceland. It was number one on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart.

"Duets" is a road trip movie co-produced and directed by Bruce Paltrow and written by John Byrum. Among the cast are Maria Bello, Andre Braugher, Angie Dickinson, Paul Giamatti and Scott Speedman. The movie is concerned with the world of karaoke competitions and the characters who inhabit it.

Question submitted by shipyardbernie.

Answer: Joe Morton

Joseph Thomas Morton Jr. was born October 18 1947 in Harlem, New York, New York, USA. His father was in U.S. Army intelligence and Joe spent some of his childhood in West Germany and Okinawa. He graduated from Andrew Jackson High School and studied drama at Hofstra University. He made his debut on Broadway in "Hair", and has appeared in over 70 movies, which include "The Brother from Another Planet" (1984), "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991) and "Speed" (1994). On TV he appeared in 76 episodes of "Eureka" (2006-2012).

Joe Morton stars as Cabel Chamberlain, the illegitimate son of Curtis (Cab Calloway), who Elwood Blues considered his surrogate father. Highly insulted when Elwood asks him to join the band (he's a Police Commander for the Illinois State Police), he changes his mind when Reverend Cleophus (James Brown) makes him "see the light".

After the film's release, Joe was offered other roles as a singer, but declined, saying that he would rather act instead of sing.

Question submitted by kennell.

Answer: Denis Quilley

Denis Quilley, OBE (1927-2003), was determined to be an actor from an early age, despite having no theatrical history in his family. In the 1950s he starred in several musicals and in 1960, toured the USA with the Broadway production of "Irma La Douce". In 1993 he played Judge Turpin in the musical "Sweeney Todd".

It was mainly for his 'English hero' roles that he was most famous. His film credits include "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974), "Privates on Parade" (1983), and "Rich Tea & Sympathy" (1991).

Question submitted by Waitakere.

Answer: Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood made his name in the TV series "Rawhide" which ran for 217 episodes from 1959 to 1965. He then gained international success with a trilogy of spaghetti westerns in the 1960s directed by Sergio Leone. He then cemented his fame with the five "Dirty Harry" movies in the 70s and 80s, in which he played Inspector Harry Callahan.

Lee Marvin hit number one on the UK Singles Chart on March 7, 1970, with "Wand'rin' Star". The flipside was "I Talk to the Trees", sung by Clint Eastwood, so it was a number one single by default. Both songs were from the musical "Paint Your Wagon", which starred Lee Marvin as Ben Rumson, Clint Eastwood as Sylvester Newel/Pardner, Jean Seberg as Elizabeth, and Harve Presnell as Rotten Luck Willie.

Both Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin received gold records for sales in excess of 250,000 copies in the UK. Clint Eastwood has made other recordings; he sang "Beers to You" over the credits of "Every Which Way You Can", and he recorded a duet, "Smokin' the Hive", with country star Randy Travis on his album, "Heroes and Friends".

Question submitted by Desimac.

Answer: Christopher Lee

Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was born on the 27 May 1922 in Belgravia, London, England. Apparently, he could trace his lineage back to Charlemagne through his mother, who was an Italian Countess. That's what led him to make the concept albums which chronicle the Holy Roman Emperor's life. Lee proudly described the style as symphonic metal and underlined the fact that he could also sing opera.

Lee who was knighted for services to drama and charity in 2009, credited three films for making his name as an actor, "The Curse of Frankenstein" (1957), "Dracula" (1958) and "A Tale of Two Cities" (1958).

Lee's discography is wide and varied, ranging from the folky "The Tinker of Rye" on "The Wicker Man" soundtrack, to heavy metal versions of classic Christmas songs on two 'Heavy Metal Christmas' eps. What varies less is his instantly recognisable deep, booming voice. Orson Welles provided a narration on "Dark Avenger" on heavy metal group Manowar's album "Battle Hymns" in 1982. Interestingly, when they re-recorded the album as "Battle Hymns MMXI" in 2010, they had Christopher Lee do it. Vincent Price featured on two tracks on Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare" album, but it was spoken rather than sung. And he also speaks on Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Gary Oldman played Count Dracula in "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992).

Question submitted by thula2.

Answer: Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brosnan is an Irish actor known for playing the title character in the TV series "Remington Steele" (1982-87), and for playing the role of James Bond in four films. He received mixed reviews on his Bond portrayal in "GoldenEye" (1995), "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), "The World is Not Enough" (1999), and "Die Another Day" (2002), but all four were considered box office successes.

Although "Mamma Mia!" is a musical and all four main actresses had prior musical experience, not one of the male leads did! Meryl Streep, trained in opera, sang the duet "SOS" with Pierce Brosnan with mixed reviews for him. It appears people either loved or hated his voice.

In an interview for an oral history of the film by "Vulture" magazine, co-star Christine Baranski commented that teaching the three older male stars to sing and dance was like trying to teach them rocket science.

Question submitted by dekeaunt.

Answer: Vincent Price & Peter Cushing

Vincent Price (1911-1993) was an American actor who enjoyed several decades of fame between 1938 and 1993 playing many sinister roles, some with a definite touch of humour. He played Sir Walter Raleigh in "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" (1939), Shelby Carpenter in "Laura" (1944), and Baka in "The Ten Commandments" (1956). From the late 50s he starred in many horror movies. His singing voice got him the role of an eccentric artist in the Broadway musical, "Darling of the Day" (1968). He also spoke on Michael Jackson's single "Thiller".

Peter Cushing, OBE (1913-1994) was an English actor who starred in 22 horror films for Hammer Studios, portraying Dr Frankenstein and Van Helsing. He also played Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who. A vegetarian with a great love of animals, birds, and other wildlife, he also painted water colours and was a keen war-gamer. He was alumnus of the Guildhall School of Music, and appeared on UK TV with British comic duo Morecambe and Wise, singing "A Couple Of Swells".

Question submitted by Waitakere.

Answer: Sacha Baron Cohen

Sacha Baron Cohen began his career in British television, and was named Best Newcomer at the 1999 British Comedy Awards for "The 11 O'Clock Show". He shot to fame playing a character from that show, Ali G. Ali G was a fictional type of British male who imitated urban black British hip hop culture and British Jamaican culture.

He has sung professionally a number of times, often under the guise of one of his comedic creations. On the soundtrack of the film, "Ali G Indahouse" (2002), Cohen released a duet with Shaggy entitled "Me Julia". He also sang songs in character as Borat in "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" (2006), "Brüno" (2009) and "The Dictator" (2012), as Admiral General Alahadeen.

Question submitted by TriviaTempest.

Answer: Robert Mitchum

Robert Mitchum was as rough and tough in real life as he was on screen. Expelled from more than one school he left home and traveled the country hopping freight cars. At 14 years of age he was arrested for vagrancy in Georgia and ended up on a chain gang. He got his break in movies playing villains in "Hopalong Cassidy" movies in 1942-1943.

"The Ballad Of Thunder Road" was written by Jack Marshall/Robert Mitchum. It peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 for Robert Mitchum in 1958. On re-release It peaked at number 65 in 1962. Robert Mitchum had one more chart entry on the Billboard Hot 100 when "Little Old Wine Drinker Me" peaked at number 96 in 1967.

Not only did Robert Mitchum sing the title song for the movie "Thunder Road", he co-wrote it. He also wrote the story for the movie and produced it. Mitchum's real son, James, played Mitchum's movie brother Robin Doolin. Elvis Presley was offered the part by Mitchum and wanted to play it, but his manager Col. Tom Parker demanded too much money and Elvis lost the chance to act in a real movie.

Question submitted by shipyardbernie.

Answer: Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1925. He first came to prominence on the BBC Radio comedy series "The Goon Show", in 1951. The show ran from 1951 to 1960 and featured Peter Sellers, Spike Milliga, Harry Seacombe, and Michael Bentine, who left the show after two seasons. His breakthrough movie roll was in the 1954 movie "Orders Are Orders". He made many movies after that, but will always be remembered for portraying Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the Pink Panther series of movies.

Despite being acceptable by the standards of the time, Sellers' stereotyped Indian character Dr Ahmed el Kabir in "The Millionairess" eventually fell out of kilter with consciousness of ethnic identity in later years. As a result, the song "Goodness Gracious Me" (number four on the UK Singles Chart in 1960) lent its name to a 1990s British Asian radio and TV comedy show, originally meant to be called "Peter Sellers is Dead". The rather caustic title was dropped, as the comedians in the show actually liked much of Sellers work and have been quoted as saying that the character was at least shown in a positive light professionally.

The follow-up single, "Bangers and Mash" (number 22 on the UK Singles Chart in 1961), was also a hit. It had Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren swapping comedy Italian and Cockney accents half-way through, to great comedic effect for my money.

Sellers and Loren apparently got on like a house on fire and even released an album called "Peter and Sophia", although it only had four songs with them both singing.

All the red herrings have also played characters belonging to ethnic groups other than their own.

Question submitted by thula2.