Actors Who Were One-Hit Wonders as Singers Quiz

Answer: MacArthur Park

Although Harris recorded at least eight albums on his own, as well as appearing on several "original cast" albums from musicals, "MacArthur Park", written by Jimmy Webb for The Association (who turned it down), was his only Billboard Top 40 hit, reaching number two in the US and the top 10 in most of the world. Webb wrote two full albums of original songs for Harris to record, "A Tramp Shining" (including both "MacArthur Park" and its B-side, the almost-hit "Didn't We") and "The Yard Went On Forever", without generating another hit -- but no other producer could get him another hit either.

Answer: Anna Kendrick

Despite her singing talent, which enabled her to be cast at age 12 in the Broadway musical "High Society", as of 2020 Kendrick has never recorded a stand-alone album of music. Her 2013 hit "Cups (When I'm Gone)" was recorded for the soundtrack of "Pitch Perfect" and then re-recorded (and extended) for release as a single to promote the movie.

The arrangement of the song used in the movie was developed by Luisa Gerstein of the band "Lulu and the Lampshades", and Kendrick said she learned it by watching a video of a remake of that version on Reddit.

Answer: Wand'rin' Star

The producers had offered the leads of "Paint Your Wagon" the opportunity to lip-sync their songs, but only Jean Seberg, the female lead, opted to do so. Marvin's "Wand'rin' Star" was issued as the A-side of a single, with Eastwood's "I Talk to the Trees" as the B-side, and Marvin's gruff rendition went straight to number one in the UK, beating out The Beatles' "Let It Be". Marvin never released another record.

Answer: Party All the Time

"Party All the Time" was written and produced by James and was recorded at his home studio in Buffalo, NY. The hit enabled Murphy to win a $100,000 bet with Richard Pryor, who claimed that Murphy couldn't be successful as a musical artist. Despite its success in the U.S. (number two on the Billboard Hot 100), the song barely reached the top 90 in the U.K. charts.

Answer: Patrick Swayze

Director Randal Kleiser (of "Grease" fame (or infamy)) ultimately cut the song from "Grandview, U.S.A.", but Swayze still wanted to perform it in a movie and tried to place it in his next movie "Youngblood" without success. While in pre-production on "Dirty Dancing", Swayze again pitched it to the producer and director, who liked it and agreed to add it to the soundtrack -- which proved to be a fortuitous decision for everyone.

Answer: Don Johnson

The song was written by Eric Kaz and Wendy Waldman, and Waldman released in on a 1982 album with no success. Helen Reddy covered it in 1983, also without success. However, fueled by a great music video in the early days of MTV, "Heartbeat" was a huge smash for Johnson. He then recorded two albums, but he never placed another song in the Billboard top 50.

Answer: Bruce Willis

Willis, at the time known only as the star of the TV series "Moonlighting", was a one-hit wonder in the US only, because "Under the Boardwalk", another cover song from his same album ("The Return of Bruno"), went to number two in the UK. However, none of the songs from his follow-up album ("If It Doesn't Kill You, It Makes You Stronger") charted anywhere, while Willis's movie career had taken off, and Willis discontinued his musical efforts.

Answer: Honor Blackman (Cathy Gale)

The song "Kinky Boots" had been commissioned in 1963 by the producer of the British comedy show "That Was The Week That Was" (aka "TW3"). At the time, Blackman's character Cathy had become so popular during the second series of "The Avengers" that the producers wrote out Stevens' character Venus, the alternate female lead, at the end of the series. And, as Cathy dressed almost entirely in leather, the parody song about women's leather boots was seen by Decca Records as a perfect novelty fit for Blackman.

However, Blackman left "The Avengers' later in 1964 to star as leather-wearing "Bond girl" Pussy Galore in "Goldfinger", and the song was considered merely a strange novelty record for 25 years, until a disc jockey on BBC Radio One successfully decided to revive it. Neither Blackman nor Macnee ever recorded another record.

Answer: John Travolta

Although "Let Her In" was Travolta's only Billboard top 30 hit as a solo artist, his duets with Newton-John on "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights" from their movie "Grease" both cracked the top five, with "You're the One That I Want" reaching number one. Unfortunately for Travolta, Newton-John had her own successful solo career, and without her, Travolta was only a one-hit wonder.

Answer: Vicki Lawrence

Lawrence, who was the only female regular other than Burnett on Burnett's show, was married to the song's composer Bobby Russell at the time. After Sonny Bono convinced Cher to turn the song down, Russell had given up on it. Lawrence, who thought the song was a hit, offered to record it herself, and she proved to be right, as the 45 of the song sold over two million copies in the US.

However, her marriage almost immediately broke up as a result (perhaps it would have survived had she been wrong about the song's hit potential), and she never came close to having another hit -- except in Australia, where she took another Bobby Russell song, "Ships in the Night", recorded during the same session, to number 7 on the Kent Music Report.