They Died in October 2024 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Candy Devine

Faye Guivarra adopted the stage name Candy Devine. Her date of birth is generally listed as 1956, although at least one source states she was born in 1938 or 1939. She appeared in one episode of the Australian TV series "Skippy" in 1968, and then moved to Ireland, where she married in 1970.

I found only one of her songs, "Hallelujah", which she performed in the animated movie "All dogs Go to Heaven" (1989). Her most important occupation was being a radio broadcaster for Downtown Radio in Northern Ireland, from 1976 until 2011. In 2013 Candy migrated back to her home country Australia, following the death of her first and only husband. Candy was awarded an MBE in 2014 for her radio work. She died October 31, 2024.

The red herrings all are aliases for male radio broadcasters from the USA.

Answer: Sandokan the Great (1963)

Giovanni Cianfriglia started his career as a stuntman in "Helen of Troy" (1956), but his first credit as stunt performer came only twenty years later - for "Napoli Violenta" (1976). That is the fate of many stunt performers: they seldom are mentioned in the end credits.

As an actor, Cianfriglia started his career in 1958 in "Il pirata dello sparviero nero" - an Italian pirate movie. He was first credited for "La Guerra di Troja" (1961), in which he portrayed the Greek warrior Diomedes.
Cianfriglia sometimes used the stage name Ken Wood, as in for instance "Superargo contro Diabolikus" (1966) and "L'Invincibile Superman" (1968).
He established a quite long career, also appearing as stunt performer in "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988) and even in "Zoolander 2" (2016).

Giovanni Cianfriglia died October 30, 2024.

Answer: Teri Garr

Teri Garr was born in 1944 in California. Her official first name was Terry, but she slightly changed the orthography for her stage name. She took ballet classes and graduated from the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

Her first roles were various dancers, especially in Presley movies such as "Viva Las Vegas" (1964). She also appeared in one episode each in TV series as "Batman" and "The Andy Griffith Show".

In 1968, she gained fame in one episode of "Star Trek" and also had her first speaking role in the movie "Head". But her major breakthrough came only in 1974 with "Young Frankenstein", in which she played Inga, assistant to Dr. Frederick Frankenstein.

Steven Spielberg cast Teri Garr as Ronnie Neary, the wife of the protagonist Roy in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977). And in 1982, Teri played an aspiring actress (Sandy Lester) who asked Michael Dorsey (role by Dustin Hoffman) for assistance preparing an audition for a soap opera "Southwest General". When Sandy failed at the audition, Michael decided to have a go for the role in the disguise of Dorothy Michaels - and he succeeded. Teri Garr was nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA award for her role as Sandy Lester.

Jessica Lange was the lead actress in "Tootsie". Madeline Kahn played Frederick's wife Elizabeth in "Young Frankenstein". And Melinda Dillon had a role in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" as Jillian Guiler, a single mother who had the same experience as Roy Neary.

Answer: Hong Kong

The movie I selected to introduce this actress is one of thousands typical Hong Kong movies specialized in eastern martial arts. Li was indeed born in Hong Kong and joined the Shaw Brothers Acting School in 1961, with lessons in Mandarin, dance, ballet, and martial arts.

Lily Li debuted in 1964 as a dancer in "Da Ji" ("The Last Woman of Shang"). Her first main role was in "You Xia Er" ("The Wandering Swordsman", 1970). In "Hong Xi Guan" ("Executioners from Shaolin"), Lily starred as a Crane style fighter named Wing Chun. Her husband Hung Hsi Kuan, a Tiger style fighter (role by Kuan Tai Chen) swore to kill the legendary Pai Mei (played by Lieh Lo), but it was finally their son Hung Wen Ding (role by Yue Wong) who avenged the Shaolin students.

She also starred in many TV productions, for which she won a lifetime achievement award by the television company TVB. Lily Li died October 27, 2024.

Lucy Liu was born in New York City in 1968. Awkwafina was born as Nora Lum in Stony Brook in 1988. Janel Parrish was born in Honolulu in 1988.

Answer: Jadwiga Baranska

Jadwiga Baranska was born in Lodz (Poland) in 1935. She married a Polish movie director named Jerzy Antczak, and starred in a few movies they produced together. Jadwiga Baranska started as a stage actress, and debuted on screen in 1956 in the movie "Wraki".

Her best known role was Barbara Niechcic in the 1975 movie "Noce I Dnie" ("Nights and Days") and in the TV series of the same title (1978). She co-wrote the script for "Chopin: Pragnienie milosci" ("Chopin: Desire for Love", 2002), in which she played the composer's mother. In 1976 the Berlin Film Festival awarded her the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her role as Barbara Niechcik.

Anyone who recently saw the movie "Schindler's List" (1993) has immediately recognized the three red herrings: they are three of the characters who were seen honouring Oskar Schindler's grave with a stone, in Jewish tradition. Emilie Schindler (1907-2001) was Oskar's wife, and Mila Pfefferberg (1921-2008) and Manci Rosner (1910-1993) were two of the employees of Oskar's factory.

Answer: Emmanuelle (1974)

Christine Boisson was born in Provence in 1956. She started her movie career as one of the guests at a wedding ceremony in "Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob" (1973).

In "Emmanuelle" Christine Boisson played a minor role: a teenage girl in a very vivid sexual fantasy about Paul Newman. Sylvia Kristel played the main role in this erotic movie. Boisson further appeared in "Identificazione di una donna" (1982).

"Last Tango in Paris" starred Maria Schneider. Catherine Deneuve starred in "Belle de Jour". And Roman Polanski directed Kristin Scott Thomas in "Bitter Moon".

Answer: Paper

Isabelle was born in 1946 as Isabelle Jacobs. She enrolled in the art academy at age 14, and designed dresses and accessories. In 1975 she married Count Werner de Borchgraeve d'Altena.

After a visit to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1994, she decided to create fashion in paper. She gained world fame for her paper dresses, such as a dress worn by Queen Fabiola of Belgium to the wedding of her distant relative Prince Felipe of Spain.

Isabelle de Borchgraeve died October 17, 2024.

Believe it or not: there is indeed a Belgian artist who uses chickens for his art installations. Koen Vanmechelen's artistic project involves cross-breeding chickens and enhancing their health statistics.

Answer: Liam Payne

One Direction had five members: the four aforesaid choices and Zayn Malik. They formed in 2010 and were very successful until 2015, when Zayn Malik left the group. Some of their greatest hits include "What Makes You Beautiful" and "Little Things". In 2016, all members embarked on their solo careers.

Payne scored a hit with "Strip That Down", and was compiling a first LP, with a second to follow shortly after. In October 2024, Payne traveled to Argentina, and on October 16 he fell off a balcony in Buenos Aires to his death - possibly under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol - but the police did not confirm these rumours. Whether Payne's deadly fall was an accident or suicide, has not been ascertained. The police think it could have been a mere accident.

Answer: Armenia

Garbis Aprikian was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1926, after his parents left Armenia. He started studying piano and composition at age 10, while also singing in the choir of the Armenian Church in Alexandria.

In 1953 Aprikian moved to Paris to complete his study of classical music under the French composer Olivier Messiaen. The Armenian mixed choir Sipan-Komitas contacted him to replace their conductor, and he accepted. Aprikian continued to conduct his choir for over fifty years.

A characteristic of Aprikian's compositions is the mix of western classical music with Armenian folk songs. An example is his "Orchestral Prelude", an orchestral work in western style to accompany an Armenian poem.

Answer: Godzilla

Keizo Murase was born in 1935 in a small community in Japan. He took up costume design and sculpting, and started his movie career with "Bijo to Ekitai Ningen" (1958), which would translate to something as "Beauty and the Liquid Human". Murase developed the special effects to view a liquid man on screen.

In 1962 Murase designed Varan, a spiked sort of dinosaur, for "Varan the Unbelievable". He then applied similar effects to create Godzilla in various films: "King Kong vs. Godzilla" (1963), "Mothra vs. Godzilla" (1964), "Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster" (1964), "Terror of Mechagodzilla" (1975), "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah" (1991) and "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (1992).

Murase's last movie was "Kami no Fude" ("Brush of the God", 2024), which he also directed.

The special effects for Yoda ("Star Wars episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back", 1980, and other movies from the same franchise) were developed by the puppeteer Frank Oz. The Italian Carlo Rambaldi designed the major special effects for "ET the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982). And Peter Jackson's company Weta FX transformed the actor Andy Serkis into the movie character Gollum ("Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", 2001, and other movies based upon Tolkien's works).