November Spawned a Monster Trivia Quiz

Answer: Burt Lancaster

Burt Lancaster was born November 2, 1913 in New York City as Burton Stephen Lancaster.
At first he worked as a circus acrobat. During WW II he worked as an entertainer in the "Special Services" division, and after the war he started his movie career.
Burt debuted in the movies "The Killers" (1946) and "Desert Fury" (1947), the latter being completed first but broadcast only later. His first great success (and a first Oscar nomination) was "From Here to Eternity" (1953).
Other highlights of Burt's career were "Elmer Gantry" (1961, with an Oscar), "Il Gattopardo" (1963) and "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1963).
In "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (1977) Burt Lancaster played the title role, a scientist who retreated to an island to experiment with genetic manipulation (crossing wild animals with humans).

Answer: Charles Bronson

Charles Dennis Buchinsky was born in Pennsylvania on November 3, 1921. When his acting career began to soar at the end of the 1950s, he adopted the pseudonym Charles Bronson.
After having worked for some time in the coal mines, Bronson enlisted in the US Air Force and flew several missions as an aerial gunner during WW II.
After the war, Bronson followed acting courses and started his movie career with "You're in the Navy Now" (1951). He broke through as Bernardo O'Reilly in "The Magnificent Seven" (1960). Other great movies in which Bronson starred, include "The Great Escape" (1963) and "Once Upon Time in the West" (1968).
But Bronson will always be remembered for his role as the architect Paul Kersey in the "Death Wish" franchise - in which the pacifist architect turned into a vengeful vigilante after some muggers fatally wounded his wife and repeatedly raped his adult daughter. Bronson would reprise his role as Paul Kersey in four sequels ("Death Wish II" until "Death Wish V"), almost each time starting a major killing spree after one of his beloved was threatened by scums.

Answer: Dolph Lundgren

On November 3, 1957, a certain Hans Lundgren was born in Sweden, near Stockholm. He followed martial arts training and aspired a career in music, but graduated as a chemical engineer. And he finally landed in yet another career - that of movie actor, for which he adopted the first name Dolph.
Dolph Lundgren debuted as one of several KGB assassins in "A View to a Kill" (1985) and starred as Ivan Drago in "Rocky IV" (1985). In 1987 he played He-Man in "Masters of the Universe".
The role of Andrew Scott I've selected, is the main antagonist in the "Universal Soldier" franchise.
"Universal Soldier" (1992) told how the mortally wounded Vietnam soldiers Luc Deveraux (played by Jean-Claude Van Damme) and Andrew Scott were resurrected in a secret experiment, equipped with bionic enhancements. The experiment also involved a complete memory wipe-out, but this failed on Luc Deveraux who then turned against Colonel Perry (head of the experiment) and the other Universal Soldiers.
Lundgren would reprise his role as Andrew Scott in the movies "Universal Soldier: Regeneration" (2009) and "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning" (2012), opposite Van Damme as Luc Deveraux once more.

Answer: Tilda Swinton

Katerine Matilda Swinton was born in London on November 5, 1960. For her acting career she shortened her first names to just Tilda.
In 1984, Swinton started an acting career with the Royal Shakespearean Company. In 1986 her first movie was broadcast: "Caravaggio". Some highlights of her career include "We Need to Talk about Kevin" (2007) and "Suspiria" (2018).
In three movies based upon "The Chronicles of Narnia" Swinton played the main protagonist, the White Witch Jadis - a tall princess who turned evil and plunged Narnia in a never-ending winter. Jadis only feared the Pevensie children Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy - the true kings of Narnia.
Swinton starred as Jadis in "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" (2005) and "Prince Caspian" (2008), and briefly appeared as Jadis' ghost in "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" (2010).

Answer: Lou Ferrigno

Louis Jude Ferrigno Sr. (Lou) was born November 9, 1951 in New York. He made a career as bodybuilder and then switched to acting, where he of course took roles of muscular characters.
Ferrigno played the title character in the live-action movie "Hercules" (1983) - at that time poorly welcomed, but several years later he was praised for this role.
But the role for which Ferrigno is best known, is the Hulk: a green giant monster with incredible strength, being the alter ego of the feeble scientist Bruce Banner. As a result of a lab accident in which Banner received too much gamma radiation, he transforms into the Hulk whenever he gets angry; thus the catchphrase "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry".
Ferrigno played the Hulk opposite Bill Bixby as Bruce Banner in the TV series "The Incredible Hulk" (1978-1982) and several TV movies (1977-1990). Between 2003 ("Hulk") and 2017 ("Thor: Ragnarok") Ferrigno also voiced the Hulk in six theatrical movies in the Marvel universe.

Answer: Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio was born in Los Angeles on November 11, 1974. He started his acting career with "Critters 3" in 1991, after a few episodes in various TV series.
After a noted role in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (1993), his major international breakthrough was the role of Jack Dawson in "Titanic" (1997). He also starred in several other major movies, such as "Inception" (2010), "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013) and "The Revenant" (2015), for which movie he won his first Oscar.
I chose as his "villain" role Frank Abagnale Jr., the protagonist in "Catch Me If You Can" (2002). Although not a violent character, Frank Abagnale was labelled one of the "most wanted" persons by the FBI - pursuing him for many con schemes. Indeed: Abagnale pretended to be a lawyer, a doctor and a commercial airline pilot - meanwhile embezzling millions of dollars. The veracity of some claims is however disputed.
Could one categorize Frank Abagnale Jr. as "a monster"? Well, the FBI officer responsible for the pursuit may have thought in these terms.

Answer: Yaphet Kotto

Frederick Samuel Kotto was born in New York on November 15, 1939. As soon as he started his movie career, he chose the first name Yaphet.
Yaphet Kotto debuted in 1964 in "Nothing But a Man". On TV he is best known for his work as Lieutenant Al Giardello in "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993-1999).
Some famous movies he starred in were "Alien" (1979) and "Midnight Run" (1988).
But the role I picked for this match quiz was in the "James Bond" movie "Live and Let Die" (1973), in which he portrayed Dr. Kananga, dictator of the (fictional) Caribbean island San Monique and meanwhile operating as a drugs dealer named Mr. Big in New Orleans.
Other actors born in November who played James Bond adversaries include Sophie Marceau (born November 17, 1966) as Elektra King in "The World is not Enough" (1999) and Famke Janssen (born November 5, 1964) as Xenia Onatopp in "Goldeneye" (1995).

Answer: Danny DeVito

Danny DeVito was born as Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. in New Jersey on November 17, 1944.
He started his movie career in 1970 with "Dreams of Glass". On TV DeVito rose to international fame as Louie in "Taxi" (1978-1983).
DeVito played in several comedies, including "The War of the Roses" (1989) and "Twins" (1988). He also directed some movies , such as "Matilda" (1996) and "Erin Brockovich" (2000).
For his role as a villain, I could have selected Owen Lift in "Throw Momma from the Train" (1987). But instead I chose Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin in "Batman Returns" (1992), a mob boss usually dressed in a top hat and formal suit.

Answer: Adam Driver

Adam Douglas Driver was born in California on November 19, 1983. He studied dramatic arts at the Juilliard in New York and started his career acting on stage. His debut in a full-length feature movie was the role of Walter Lyle in the biopic "J. Edgar" (2011).
Driver would also appear in "Marriage Story" (2019) and play the title role in "Paterson" (2016) and "Ferrari" (2023).
But the role for which he gained international fame, is Kylo Ren in the "Star Wars" sequel series. Kylo Ren was born as Ben Solo, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, and strong with the Force. He was trained by Luke Skywalker but then defected to the Dark Side, adopting the name Kylo Ren.

Answer: Boris Karloff

On November 23, 1887 was born in London a certain William Henry Pratt. He studied for diplomat, but left school without graduating and started a traveling life with several jobs. In Canada he started acting, and chose the stage name Boris Karloff.
Karloff's movie debut was in 1919, with movies as "The Lightning Raider", "The Masked Rider" and "His Majesty, the American". His first major role was in "The Hope Diamond Mystery" in 1921. Some of his major villain roles include Imhotep in "The Mummy" (1932), Hjalmar Poelzig in "The Black Cat" (1934) and the title role in "The Mask of Fu Manchu" (1932).
But Karloff's best known role is "The Monster" in three "Frankenstein" movies: "Frankenstein" (1931), "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935) and "Son of Frankenstein" (1939). The titles of this trilogy refer indeed to the life of Henry Frankenstein (role by Colin Clive) and his son Wolf (played by Basil Rathbone), not of his android creation played by Boris Karloff.