Eponymous Movie Titles Trivia Quiz

Answer: Audrey Hepburn

"Sabrina" is a 1954 romantic comedy starring Audrey Hepburn in the title role. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards (Oscars) including a Best Actress nomination for Hepburn, who was only 24 years old at the time.

The only nomination that actually won was for Best Costume Design (1955), which went to Edith Head. This is somewhat ironic because, to save a few dollars, Paramount insisted that Audrey Hepburn should provide her own wardrobe and Hepburn contracted with Hubert de Givenchy for this. Both Head and Givenchy claimed credit for Hepburn's wardrobe.

Throughout her stellar career, Hepburn won numerous acting awards, including the 1953 Best Actress Oscar for "Roman Holiday", as well as many humanitarian awards. In their list of the top female stars of all time, the American Film Institute ranks her as number 3 (after Katharine Hepburn (no relation) and Bette Davis).

Answer: Mark Lester

"Oliver!" is a 1968 movie musical based on Charles Dickens' classic novel, "Oliver Twist". The film earned eleven Academy Award nominations, six of which were winners. Unfortunately there was no nomination for Mark Lester, the child actor who played the role of Oliver Twist. The voice you hear when Oliver sings is that of Kathe Green, daughter of the movie's music supervisor, John Green. John Green was quoted as saying that Lester was "tone deaf and arrhythmic" and thus could not sing.

Mark Lester had an active career in movies and television from the age of 6 (1964) until the age of 19 years, when he retired from acting and became an osteopath. In his last movie, "The Prince and the Pauper" (1977), also known as "Crossed Swords", he played the dual role of the Prince (Edward VI of England) and the Pauper (Tom Canty), based on the classic novel by Mark Twain. The film did not perform well at the box office and drew a lot of criticism, including the alleged miscasting of Mark Lester in the lead role as well as the quality of his performance, perhaps prompting his withdrawal from the film industry.

Answer: Mara Wilson

"Matilda" is a children's novel by Roald Dahl. It was made into the movie of the same name in 1996 and starred Mara Wilson as Matilda Wormwood. Sadly, Mara's mother died of breast cancer during filming. Despite this, Mara finished the movie and it was dedicated to her mother, Suzy Shapiro Wilson.

The book and movie have also spawned a number of adaptations including two musical theatre versions, a two-part radio presentation, a film adaptation of the musical, and inclusion in an animated Netflix series.

Mara Wilson is also known for her roles in the popular movies, "Mrs Doubtfire" (1993) and the remake of "Miracle on 34th Street" (1994).

Answer: Sissy Spacek

"Carrie" is a 1976 horror movie starring Sissy Spacek in the title role. It was based on Stephen King's first novel of the same name, which almost did not see the light of day. Stephen King was unhappy with his literary effort and threw an early version in the trash. His wife, Tabitha, rescued the manuscript, encouraged him to persist with it, and eventually it was published. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Stephen King was very happy with the movie version and stated it was "much better than the book".

The role of Carrie earned Sissy Spacek her first Academy Award nomination. She eventually won an Oscar (Best Actress) for her portrayal of country music singer Loretta Lynn in the movie, "Coal Miner's Daughter" (1980). She also received Oscar nominations for her roles in "Missing" (1982), "The River" (1984), "Crimes of the Heart" (1986), and "In the Bedroom" (2001).

Answer: Michael Caine

"Alfie" was originally a 1963 play by Bill Naughton. In 1966, Naughton adapted his play to create a novel and a screenplay for the movie version. The titular role of Alfie was portrayed by Michael Caine. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards (Oscars), including a Best Actor nomination for Michael Caine, but did not win any. "Alfie" was remade in 2004 with Jude Law playing the title role.

Michael Caine has had a lengthy and successful career in movies. He has won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor - for "Hannah and her Sisters" (1986) and "The Cider House Rules" (1999). In addition to his Oscar nomination for "Alfie", he received nominations for "Sleuth" (1972), "Educating Rita" (1983), and "The Quiet American" (2002).

Answer: Kevin Kline

"Dave" is a 1993 comedy starring Kevin Kline as the titular Dave. Kline actually played a double role - he portrayed the US President William (Bill) Mitchell as well as affable Dave Kovic, who makes his living running an employment agency and taking on side jobs impersonating the president. After Bill Mitchell has a stroke, Dave is hired to stand in for the president by Mitchell's Chief of Staff, who sees this as an opportunity to seize power. The tagline for the movie is "Dave Kovic was an ordinary guy who was asked to impersonate the President. When they gave him a chance to make the country better...he did".

Kline won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the 1988 movie, "A Fish Called Wanda". His other notable films include "Sophie's Choice" (1984), "The Big Chill" (1983), "Silverado" (1985), and "Wild Wild West" (1989).

Answer: Tom Hulce

"Amadeus" is a 1984 movie based on the 1979 stage play of the same name by Peter Shaffer. It is a fictional account of the alleged rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Italian composer Antonio Salieri, Mozart's teacher. Mozart was portrayed by Tom Hulce and Salieri by F. Murray Abraham.

"Amadeus" was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won eight of them. Unusually, the film received two Best Actor nominations for Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham. F. Murray Abraham beat Tom Hulce, Jeff Bridges, Albert Finney, and Sam Waterston for the coveted Best Actor Oscar.

Tom Hulce appeared in National Lampoon's "Animal House" (1978), "Parenthood" (1989), and "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" (1994). After a 34-year acting career in movies, television and theatre, he retired from acting to pursue a new challenge in producing and directing. He produced "A Home at the End of the World" (2004) and "The Seagull" (2018).

Answer: Aileen Quinn

The 1982 movie, "Annie", was based on a newspaper comic strip, "Little Orphan Annie", which in turn was based on a 1885 poem "Little Orphant (sic) Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley. The comic strip spawned a radio show, a Broadway musical and a number of film adaptations.

Aileen Quinn played the title role in the 1982 movie version after an extensive search across two continents for a suitable young actress who had acting, singing and dancing skills and "tons of personality". With the exception of an uncredited role as "little girl at park" in the highly forgettable movie, "Paternity" (1981), it was essentially Aileen Quinn's movie debut.

"Annie" received two Academy Award nominations in 1983 for Best Art Direction and Best Original song score, but did not win either. For her role as Annie, Aileen Quinn received two nominations for a Golden Globe and two nominations for a Golden Raspberry (Razzie), for Worst New Star and Worst Supporting Actress, and won the latter award, which was rather unkind considering she was barely 11 years old when she made the movie.

Strangely, after the success of "Annie", movie roles were few and none were notable. Quinn then focused on her theatre career, becoming an adjunct theater professor at Monmouth University and a Spanish, drama, and dance teacher at Hudson Catholic Regional High School in New Jersey. She also has an interest in music and has her own band, Aileen Quinn and The Leapin' Lizards.

Answer: Dudley Moore

"Arthur" is a 1981 romantic comedy starring English actor/comedian Dudley Moore in the role of Arthur Bach, an alcoholic, immature millionaire. Arthur is being pressured by his family to marry upper-class Susan, under the threat of losing his inheritance, but Arthur falls in love with working-class Linda - no prizes for guessing who he ends up with.

In the 1982 Academy Awards, the film was nominated for four awards - Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screen Play (Written Directly for the Screen) and Best Original Song. The two successful nominations were Best Supporting Actor (John Geilgud) and Best Original Song for "Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)". Dudley Moore's Best Actor nomination was unsuccessful, losing out to Henry Fonda for his performance in "On Golden Pond".

Moore is also remembered for his roles in "Bedazzled" (1967), "Foul Play" (1978), "10" (1979), "Micki and Maude" (1984), and the sequel "Arthur 2: On the Rocks" (1988).

Answer: Philip Seymour Hoffman

Truman Capote (1924-1984) was an American novelist who wrote a best-selling non-fiction book, "In Cold Blood", which dealt with the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Kansas. Richard Hickock and Perry Smith were arrested for the crime and later executed by the state of Kansas. It took Capote six years of research and hundreds of interviews, including interviews with Hickock and Smith, to produce his book. Although based on fact, the book is written in the style of a novel. It has been lauded as a masterpiece in this genre and it has also been denigrated as containing a lot of inaccuracies or untruths.

In the movie, the title role of Capote is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won a Best Actor Oscar (2006) for his portrayal, as well as a number of other awards, including a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and BAFTA award. He was also nominated for Oscars for his performances in the movies "Charlie Wilson's War" (2007), "Doubt" (2008), and "The Master" (2012).