An "Old" Flame Trivia Quiz

Answer: Johnny Cash

June Carter (1929-2003) was born in Virginia. She started singing country songs in 1939 with her parents and also recorded some solo work. At the start of the sixties June wrote the song "Ring of Fire", first performed by her sister Anita Carter in 1962, and one of the greatest hits for June's future husband Johnny Cash in 1963.

Johnny Cash (1932-2003) was born in Arkansas and started his career as singer-songwriter in 1954, the year he also married Vivian Liberto. During his marriage with Vivian Liberto, Johnny Cash had hits such as "I Walk the Line", "Ring of Fire" and "Folsom Prison Blues". But Johnny and Vivian divorced after 12 years, and in 1968 Johnny married June.

This second marriage proved to last longer: Johnny and June were a couple for 35 years, and during this period they released hits such as "A Boy Named Sue", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" (for Johnny solo), "Keep on the Sunny Side" (for June only) and "If I Were a Carpenter" (a duet).

Answer: Jean-Paul Sartre

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was born in Paris and studied philosophy at the Sorbonne. During her years at the university, she met Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), who proposed marriage to her in 1929. De Beauvoir refused, but the two authors agreed to a non-married romantic relation without living together and without (sexual) exclusivity. This relation endured for 51 years, until Sartre's death. Simone de Beauvoir is best known for her duology "Le deuxième sexe" ("The second Sex"), a milestone in feminist philosophy. She also wrote the highly philosophical novel "She Came to Stay". De Beauvoir was nominated for the Nobel Literature Prize thrice.

Sartre, on the other hand, is best known for his essay, "L'être ou le néant" ("Being and Nothingness") and his theatre play, "Huis clos" ("No Exit"). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, but declined. Sartre and de Beauvoir also worked together on editing the political journal "Les temps modernes" ("Modern Times", but without the humorous intake of Chaplin's eponymous movie).

Answer: Salvador Dali

Elena Diakonova (1894-1982) was born in Russia into a wealthy family. In 1912 she went to a Swiss sanatorium to cure her tuberculosis, and there she met Paul Eluard, a French poet, and other members of the early Surrealist movement. Diakonova then chose to be called Gala instead of Elena. In 1917 Gala married Paul Eluard, but the marriage did not last long. From 1929 onwards, Gala was the love interest of the Spanish painter Salvador Dali, whom she married in 1934. The couple stayed together until Gala's death in 1982, about 48 years later. Gala started her career as a model. Although not creating artworks, she inspired many Surrealist painters and poets, including her two husbands, Paul Eluard and Salvador Dali.

Dali (1904-1989) is, of course, well known for his Surrealist paintings, including "The Persistence of Memory" (with the melting clocks) and "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" (with the characteristic elephants on spindly paws). My personal favourites are "Dream Caused by a Bee Seconds before Awakening" and "Eggs on a Plate without the Plate". Look these up and admire.

Answer: Paul McCartney

Linda Eastman (1941-1998) was born in New York and started a career as photographer for magazines such as "Rolling Stone". In 1962 she married Joseph Melville, who taught her to play the piano. But the marriage didn't last long; a divorce was pronounced in 1965. In 1967 Linda met Paul McCartney (born 1942) a few days before the launch of the Beatles' album "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band", and they married in 1969.

Paul McCartney had by then gained worldwide fame as one of the Beatles, the most popular band from Liverpool. Alas, the Beatles split in 1970, and Paul was quite depressed as a consequence. His wife Linda helped him to start a new career with the band Wings. Wings (Paul McCartney, Linda Eastman, and bass guitarist Denny Laine) stayed together until 1981. Most of the time the band was completed by one or two other musicians who did not last the full time.

Answer: Spencer Tracy

Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003) was born in Hartford, Connecticut. She started her acting career in 1932, and won her first Oscar as Best Actress in 1934 for "Morning Glory". Later on, Katharine would win three Best Actress Oscars ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" in 1968, "The Lion in Winter" in 1969 and "On Golden Pond" in 1982). She was the first with four Oscars as Best Actress. In 1928 she married Ludlow Ogden Smith, but they divorced in 1934. And after a few flirts with various men, Katharine met Spencer Tracy in 1941.

Spencer Tracy (1900-1967) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and started acting in 1930. He won Oscars as Best Actor in 1938 for "Captains Courageous" and the next year for "Boy's Town". Spencer Tracy married Louise Treadwell in 1923, and they separated in 1933, but neither ever filed for divorce. So, in 1941 Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy started a love affair that would last until his death, 26 years later, while he still officially remained married to Louise Treadwell. Katharine and Spencer only lived together for a few years at the end of the sixties.

Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy starred together in nine movies, of which "Adam's Rib" (1949) and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967) were perhaps the best known. Spencer was posthumously nominated for his role in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner".

Answer: Laurence Olivier

Joan Plowright (1929-2025) was born in Lincolnshire, and studied acting at the Old Vic. In 1948 she debuted on stage, which was perhaps the medium in which she gained most fame. In 1961 she won a Tony Award for her role in "A Taste of Honey". Other famous theatre plays in which she starred were "The Crucible", "Uncle Vanya", and "Much Ado About Nothing". Plowright debuted on the little screen in 1951 in the TV series "Sara Crewe". In 1992 she played a supporting role in the TV movie "Stalin", for which she won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy. On the silver screen Plowright debuted in 1956 in "Moby Dick". In 1960 she starred in "The Entertainer", where she met her future husband Laurence Olivier. Plowright was nominated for an Oscar for "Enchanted April" (1992).

Laurence Olivier (1907-1989), born in Surrey, started acting on stage in 1925 and on the silver screen In 1930. On stage, he starred in most of the great Shakespearean tragedies and histories, including "Romeo and Juliet", "Othello", and "Anthony and Cleopatra". Olivier played the title roles in the movies "Hamlet" (1944), "Henry V" (1948), and "Richard III" (1957), all of which he also directed. He won the Oscar for Best Actor in "Hamlet" and an honorary Oscar for "Henry V".

Laurence Olivier also played in the televised theatre plays "The Moon and Sixpence" (1959), "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (1972) and "King Lear" (1983) - all of which earned him an Emmy award. In 1930 Laurence Olivier married Jill Esmond, but they divorced after ten years. His second marriage (to the actress Vivien Leigh) lasted twenty years until 1960. And in 1961 Olivier married Joan Plowright, and this marriage lasted 28 years until his death. Olivier and Plowright worked together in the movies "The Entertainer" (1960) and "Uncle Vanya" (1963), the TV movie "The Merchant of Venice" (1973), and the TV miniseries "Wagner" (1983).

Answer: Paul Newman

Joanne Woodward was born in 1930 in Georgia, USA. She started acting in various television series starting in 1952. Her movie career started in 1956 with the western "Count Three and Pray". Meanwhile she also took up stage productions, and on the set of one of them ("Picnic",1953-1954) she met Paul Newman. Woodward won an Oscar for "Three Faces of Eve" (1957), in which she played a triple personality convincingly. From that moment on, she concentrated mostly on movie roles.

Paul Newman (1925-2008) was born in Ohio. He already had a role on stage in 1935, but studied acting until 1953, when he debuted on stage with "Picnic". Meanwhile he had already appeared in several TV series since 1949. Paul Newman had about a dozen great movie successes. Let's name only "The Hustler" (1961), "The Verdict" (1982, for which he was nominated for an Oscar), and "The Color of Money" (1986, his only Oscar for Best Actor). Paul Newman also took up directing, and several times directed his wife. Some of these movies include "Rachel, Rachel" (1971), "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" (1972), and "The Glass Menagerie" (1987).

Newman was first married to Jackie Witte in 1949, but they divorced in 1958. Soon after the divorce, Newman wed Woodward, and they remained together until his death, fifty years later.

Answer: Christopher Lee

Birgit Kroncke (1935 -2024) was born in Denmark and was credited with a minor role in the Danish movies "Een blandt mange" (1961, as a mannequin) and "Rikki og maendene" (1962, as a prostitute). These movies had no international release, so there are no official titles in English available. In 1960 Birgit met Christopher Lee (1922-2015), whom she married in 1961. They stayed a couple until his death.

Christopher Lee started his acting career already in 1948. In 1957 he started working at Hammer studios with iconic roles as the monster of Frankenstein, Dracula and Kharis the Mummy. Later on he would also play Francisco Scaramanga, the title person in the James Bond movie "The Man with the Golden Gun", as well as Saruman in "The Lord of the Rings" and Count Dooku in two episodes of "Star Wars". In 1981, Christopher Lee played Count Baldasar, a minor role in the European detective movie "The Salamander", while Birgit played Princess Baldasar.

Answer: George Passmore

This couple would be more recognizable using only their first names, as they created their art performances under the name Gilbert and George. Gilbert Prousch was born in 1943 in northern Italy and grew up speaking Ladin, a regional dialect of Italian. He studied art in Italy, Austria, and Germany before moving to England.

George Passmore was born in Plymouth in the UK in 1942, and studied art at Oxford. In 1967 Gilbert and George met while studying sculpture, and they shared a home since 1968. Marriage only followed in 2008 because of the legal restrictions. The first same-sex marriage legislation was adopted in the Netherlands in 2001, and in England there were only some local authorities who authorized same-sex marriages following the Dutch example, until a national law was crafted in England and Wales in 2014.

Gilbert and George started their career as "singing and living sculptures" in 1969; they dressed up in very colourful suits, climbed a table, and sang and danced to the tunes of jazzy music. All their following performances and art works were made together, frequently using the same suits as in their first performance. And thus this loving couple added colour to the British contemporary art for over 55 years.

Answer: Peter Jackson

Dame Frances Walsh was born in 1959 in Wellington. She originally intended to become fashion designer, was active in a music band for a few years, but ended up graduating in English literature in 1981. In 1983 she started writing scripts for television, and she met Peter Jackson while writing the script for "Bad Taste" (1987), the first full feature movie Peter produced and directed. Since then they have collaborated on many movies Peter Jackson directed - all movies up till the moment this question was written.

Fran (as she shortened her first name) not only wrote the script for Peter's movies, but for most of those she also was producer, and for the series "The Lord of the Rings" she composed three songs. Fran was appointed Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002 and promoted to Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2019. She won three Oscars for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003) - Best Picture (shared with Peter), Best Writing (shared with Peter) and Best Music.

Sir Peter Jackson was born in 1961 in Wellington. He left school at 16 and taught himself various aspects of film making, including special effects, make-up, and editing. After a short movie in 1976, his first full-feature movie was the sci-fi horror "Bad Taste" (see above). Peter was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002, promoted to Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2010, and awarded the title of Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand in 2012.

Peter and Fran were nominated for their first Oscar for Best Writing for the 1994 movie "Heavenly Creatures". In 2001 - 2003 Peter and Fran released their famous epic series "The Lord of The Rings". The first installment, "The Fellowship of the Ring", won four Oscars and was nominated for nine more (including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay). "The Two Towers" (2002) gained only two Oscars and was nominated for four others (including Best Picture). "The Return of the King" won all eleven Oscars for which it was nominated.