An Ending Trivia Quiz

Answer: Robbie Coltrane

Anthony Robert McMillan was born on the 30th March 1950 in Scotland. He took the stage name Robbie Coltrane as a tribute to the jazz musician John Coltrane, who he greatly admired. Over the years, the larger than life actor made numerous appearances both on television and film.

He is probably most famous for his portrayal of Dr Edward Fitzgerald, the flawed yet brilliant criminal psychologist in the television series "Cracker" and the half giant Rebeus Hagrid in the "Harry Potter" series of films.

In later life he suffered from osteoarthritis and Type 2 diabetes. He died on 14th October 2022, at the age of 72.

Answer: Angela Lansbury

Angela Brigid Lansbury was born on 16th October 1925 in London, England but moved to America with her family during the Second World War to avoid the Blitz. She had a long list of stage, film and television appearances to her name and received many awards during her prestigious career. She is one of the few performers to receive nominations for an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award, and the only one she did not achieve was the Grammy.

She is probably best remembered as the murder solving crime writer Jessica Fletcher on the television show, "Murder She Wrote". Her film credits include "Gaslight" (1944), "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962), "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1971) and "Mary Poppins Returns"(2018). Her last television appearance was in the television mini-series "Little Women" in 2017. She died peacefully in her Los Angeles home on 11th October 2022, at the age of 96.

Answer: Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier was born in Florida on the 20th of February 1927, but grew up in the Bahamas. As he was born in America it gave him automatic US citizenship, so he moved to Miami when he was 15 to further his acting career. He was nominated for an Oscar for the film, "The Defiant Ones", in 1958 as the escaped prisoner Noah Cullen.

He won the Oscar for Best Actor in the comedy drama film "Lilies of the Field" where he played Homer Smith, a traveling worker who helps a group of nuns build a chapel. This made him the first person of colour to win the award for a leading role. Other notable works include "A Raisin in the Sun" (1961), "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967) and "In the Heat of the Night" (1967). In 1974 he was granted an honorary Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. He died at his home in Beverley Hills on 6th January 2022. He was 94.

Answer: James Caan

James Edward Caan was born in the Bronx, New York on 26th March 1940 to a Jewish immigrant family from Germany. He began his career on the stage before moving into television, his first appearance being 1961 in an episode of the police series "Naked City" entitled "Bullets Cost Too Much". His first film role was an uncredited soldier in the 1963 "Irma la Douce".

In 1972 he was cast as Santino "Sonny" Corleone in the film "The Godfather" for which he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. In 1990 he played the role of Paul Sheldon in the film "Misery" where he was a writer being held captive by an obsessive fan. He played the lead role in the 1975 science fiction film, "Rollerball", for which he won a Saturn Award for Best Actor. James Caan died at the age of 82 at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles on 6th July 2022.

Answer: HRM Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on 21st April 1926 in Bruton Street in Mayfair, London, England. She was the eldest daughter of Prince Albert, Duke of York and his wife Elizabeth. After her uncle Edward abdicated as king her father became king, taking the regnal name of George VI, she became heir presumptive to the throne. After her father's death in 1952 Elizabeth became queen at the age of 25. Her reign lasted for over 70 years, making her the longest reigning monarch in British history. She married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in 1947, and the marriage produced four children - Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward.

In 2022 she celebrated her Platinum Jubilee which marked 70 years since she came to the throne. Unfortunately, due to her declining health, she had to miss many public engagements. The Platinum Party took place on Saturday 4th July 2022, and Queen Elizabeth appeared in a sketch with Paddington Bear. She passed away at the age of 96 at Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, on 8th September 2022.

Answer: Taylor Hawkins

Oliver Taylor Hawkins was born on February 17, 1972, in Fort Worth, Texas. He performed as Canadian singer Alanis Morisette's drummer from 1995 until 1997, when he was approached by Dave Grohl, founder of the band Foo Fighters, to be their drummer. He officially joined the band in 1997 replacing the original drummer, William Goldsmith.

Along with drumming, Hawkins also played guitar and piano as well as providing vocals. In 2022 Hawkins' final performance with the band was at the Lollapalooza Argentina Festival. The paramedics were called to the Four Seasons Casa Medina Hotel in Bogata, Columbia, on 25th March 2022, where Hawkins as staying. They found him unresponsive, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Hawkins was 50 years old. Several substances were found in his body during the postmortem, and he had a severely enlarged heart. He left behind a wife and three children.

On 3rd September 2022, a tribute concert was held for Hawkins at Wembley Area in London. Shane, Hawkins' son, took the role of drummer, and played a version of the Foo Fighters song, "My Hero".

Answer: William Hurt

William McChord Hurt was born in Washington DC on March 20, 1950. After he left school he intended to study theology, but instead decided to turn to acting, attending the Julliard School in New York. His first major film role was in the 1980 film "Altered States", where he played the character Dr Edward Jessup, an obsessive university psychopathologist.

The film "Kiss of the Spider Woman" was released in America in 1985, with Hurt playing a homosexual who was in prison for corrupting an underage youth. For this role he received the the Best Actor Oscar award. The film was based on Argentinian author Manuel Puig's book, "El Beso de la Mujer Araņa". In 2018 Hurt was diagnosed with prostate cancer and he died on 13th March 2022 at his home in Portland, Oregon, at the age of 71.

Answer: Meat Loaf

Marvin Lee Aday was born in Dallas, Texas, on 27th September 1947. Allegedly he got his moniker, Meat Loaf, after his father saw him soon after he was born and said that he looked like "nine pounds of ground chuck". He met Jim Steinman in 1972, and they started working together on the seminal album, "Bat Out of Hell". The album was released in October 1977, and became one of the best selling albums of all time, selling an estimated 43 million copies. The album, "Bat Out of Hell II", was released in 1992, and the single from the album, "I'll Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)", reached the number one spot in over 20 countries.

Meat Loaf appeared in several films, including "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975) as the character Eddie, "Fight Club" (1999) as Robert Paulsen and "The 51st State" as "The Lizard". Meat Loaf died on the 20th January 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. Although no official cause of death was released it has been suggested that he died of Covid-19 complications. He was 74.

Answer: Olivia Newton-John

Olivia Newton-John was born on 26th September 1948 in Cambridge, England, to a Welsh father and a German mother. Her family relocated to Australia in 1954. Her ambition was to be a veterinarian, but she felt she was not clever enough to pass the tests. She represented the United Kingdom in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the song, "Long Live Love". She finished fourth behind the winning song, "Waterloo", by the band, Abba.

In 1978 she appeared in the film "Grease" as the character Sandy Olsson, opposite John Travolta as Danny Zuko. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. The cancer went into remission but returned in 2013. In 2017 she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. She eventually succumbed to the disease on 8th August 2022 at the age of 73.

Answer: Nichelle Nichols

Grace Dell Nichols was born on 28th December 1932 in Robbins, Illinois. When she was young, she expressed a dislike for her name, so she was renamed Nichelle, meaning "victorious maid". She began her professional life as a dancer and occasional model.

She first appeared in her seminal role as Lt Nyota Uhura on 19th January 1967 in the "Star Trek" episode, "Arena". She was tempted to leave the series, but was persuaded to stay by Martin King Jr. She shared the first interracial kiss on television with William Shatner as Captain James Kirk in the "Star Trek" episode "Plato's Stepchildren" in 1968. In her later days she had a recurring role in the HBC series "Heroes". Nichols died of heart failure on 30th July 2022. Her ashes are due to be sent into space.