Big Bad Bob Trivia Quiz

Answer: Robert Walker

"Strangers on a Train" (1951) was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and involved a plot imagined by Bruno Antony (Walker) wherein he would kill someone for tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger), and Haines would kill someone for Bruno. Because they were strangers, no one would suspect the truth. The problem? Only Bruno took the plot seriously.

Robert Hudson Walker (1918-1951) died far too young, leaving a body of work that also included "Bataan" (1943), "The Clock" (1945) and "Till the Clouds Roll By" (1946). His sons Robert, Jr. and Michael also became actors.

Answer: Jim Pierce in "High Noon"

Jim Pierce (Wilke) was one of the gang of bad guys waiting at the train station for their boss to arrive, after which the plan was to take down Marshal Kane (Gary Cooper). Kane was left with the choice of leaving town with his brand new bride (Grace Kelly), or staying to meet his fate. "High Noon" (1952) played out in real time and featured an Oscar-winning performance by Cooper and an Oscar-winning song.

Dude and John T. Chance were played by Dean Martin and John Wayne in "Rio Bravo" (1959).

Robert Joseph Wilke (1914-1989), sometimes billed as Bob Wilke, had one of those faces that was always turning up in westerns, most of the time as one of the bad guys. His acting career spanned the years 1936 to 1981, when he appeared as a general in the Bill Murray movie "Stripes".

Answer: Robert Wagner

The original of "The Pink Panther" (1963) also starred David Niven as Sir Charles Lytton and Peter Sellers as the bumbling police inspector. George Lytton (Wagner) and his uncle were both trying to steal the title gem, and the consequences were amusing. Uncle and nephew were more likeable rogues than villains, but their illegal activities qualified them for this quiz.

Robert John Wagner Jr was born in Detroit in 1930, and began his acting career in 1950. He progressed from the young doomed soldier-lover in "What Price Glory" (1952) through suave George Lytton to the even suaver Anthony DiNozzo Sr in the television series "NCIS", starting in 2010.

Answer: Robert Vaughn

The movie was "Bullitt" with McQueen in the title role, and Vaughn as Senator Chalmers, the type of smarmy villain that he perfected in the second half of his career. The plot had policeman Bullitt protecting a witness for Chalmers, but being thwarted by circumstances that might have been brought about at the senator's bidding.

Robert Francis Vaughn (1932-2016) might have been best known as Napoleon Solo, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (1964-1968) on television, but he also had a distinguished career in movies. He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for "The Young Philadelphians" (1959) and was memorable as the timid Lee in "The Magnificent Seven" (1960). He played yet another smarmy senator in "The Towering Inferno" (1974). He died before the release of his final film, "Gold Star" (2017).

Answer: Robert De Niro

It was probable that Bickle's mental health had been affected by his service in Vietnam, in this 1976 movie. He was left with a strong need to right what he saw as wrongs in the world, though this intention was not always clear to others. De Niro was Oscar-nominated for this film, as was Jodie Foster for her supporting role as the young prostitute, Iris, whom Travis tried to 'save'.

Robert Anthony De Niro Jr was born in New York City in 1943, and has won Oscars for "The Godfather Part II" (1974) and "Raging Bull" (1981). Besides serious roles in films such as these, he has been capable of making audiences laugh in such comedies as "Analyze This" (1999) and "Meet the Fockers" (2004).

Answer: Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger

Scarred, vengeful Freddy Krueger (Englund) first appeared in "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984) and reappeared in numerous movies, TV series and video games over the next 30 years or so. The thing about Freddy was that if you fell asleep he could make it so you never woke up, as quite a number of characters discovered over the course of those films. One of his victims in that first film was played by Johnny Depp, in his movie debut.

Robert Barton Englund was born in California in 1947, and started acting in the mid-1970s, including an uncredited role in the Barbra Streisand version of "A Star Is Born" (1976). His many appearances as Freddy were recognized in 2010 by the New York City Horror Film Festival with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Answer: Frank & Jesse (1995)

"Frank & Jesse" followed the usual story of Frank (Bill Paxton) and Jesse (Lowe) James coming home from fighting with Quantrill's Raiders in the civil war, only to take to a life of crime because of the dastardly deeds of the big bad railroad. For the record, the actors who played Jesse in the other listed films were Tyrone Power (1939), Ray Stricklyn (1960) and James Keach (1980).

Robert Hepler Lowe was born in Virginia in 1964, and was a member of the Brat Pack of the 1980s. His movie credits include "The Outsiders" (1983), "St Elmo's Fire" (1985) and "The Invention of Lying" (2009). On TV he has been a regular on "The West Wing" (1999-2006) and "Code Black" (2016-18), amongst others.

Answer: Robert Carlyle in "Trainspotting"

"Trainspotting" (1996) took a strong stomach to watch, delving as it did into the darkest reaches of the Edinburgh drug scene, as one young man, Renton, (Ewan McGregor) tried to break away from it. Other members of the group were played by Carlyle, Kevin McKidd, Jonny Lee Miller and Ewen Bremner.

Robert Carlyle was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1961, and started acting on British TV in the late 1980s before appearing in "Trainspotting", and then in "The Full Monty" (1997). He had the title role in TV's "Hamish Macbeth" (1995-97) and was Rumpelstiltskin in "Once Upon a Time" (2011-2018).

Answer: Robin Williams

Usually known for his comedic roles, Robin Williams made a very chilling villain in this movie from 2002. His character's obsession with the mother and son of one family who regularly brought their films to be developed at his photo service became darker and more frightening as the film progressed.

Robin McLaurin Williams (1951-2014) was born in Chicago, and got his first big break on television, as Mork from Ork, first on "Happy Days" and then in "Mork & Mindy" (1978-1982). In the movies he will be remembered for "Good Morning, Vietnam" (1987), "Mrs Doubtfire" (1993), "Jumanji" (1995) and many more.

Answer: Bob Newhart

The premise of "Horrible Bosses" was that three friends all had such dreadful bosses that they plotted to kill them all, and thus improve their lives. Not everything went according to plan in this dark comedy, and the final scene introduced Lou Sherman (Newhart), seemingly an even more awful boss than the originals. One source stated that the director wanted the person least likely to play a horrible person for the scene, and that Newhart was first choice.

George Robert (Bob) Newhart was born in 1929 in Illinois. His first movie was "Hell Is for Heroes" (1962) in which he performed one of his trademark telephone monologues in order to fool the enemy soldiers who were listening on a supposedly hidden microphone. Subsequent films included "Catch-22" (1970) and "Elf" (2003). He has starred in at least three television series as characters named Bob between the 1970s and 1990s, and has appeared several times on "The Big Bang Theory" as Professor Proton/Arthur Jeffries beginning in 2013.