I Think I Nose You Trivia Quiz

Answer: George Washington

Released in 1958, this is a film about the chase of an innocent man across the United States by members of an anti-American spy organisation. It stars Cary Grant, Eva Marie-Saint and James Mason, and is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most exciting thrillers.

The National Parks Service refused to grant Hitchcock permission to film this scene on Mount Rushmore itself - and rightly so - so the great producer and director had a replica set built in Hollywood instead. The very idea of Grant clinging to the hairs in President Washington's nostrils! It would have served him right if the great man had sneezed.

Answer: Tim Strawn

This was such a good movie, entertaining right from its opening scene. It featured a cast of great names, including Lee Marvin who played the dual roles of Tim Strawn, alias Silvernose - and Kid Shelleen, a drunken gunfighter. It was Shelleen who had bitten Strawn's nose off some time earlier. Other greats who appeared in the movie included the lovely Nat King Cole who died before the movie was released, and Jane Fonda as the beautiful daughter of a man who was fighting to save his ranch from being taken over by developers. For me, however, the real star of the movie was Smoky, the drunken horse, ridden by the equally drunken Kid Shelleen. It was as hilarious as the tin nose worn by the villain Silvernose throughout the film.

Marvin won an Oscar for the movie - and Smoky also took out an award for the best animal actor in a movie. The image of Jane Fonda (Cat Ballou) with the noose around her neck, when she is about to be strung up at the conclusion of the film, was used some years later against her, when people were calling for her mock execution. The reason for that was that Fonda had become known as Hanoi Jane for her support of the communist Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. She was the subject of overwhelming criticism for her visit to Hanoi during this war, and for her ten anti-American broadcasts during this visit. She also referred to returning POWs as hypocrites and liars when stories of their torture and starvation by the Viet-Cong began to emerge. It created a stink then, and still does today. One can accept her anti-war sentiments, but not her attacks on the battered boys returning home. That really left a bad smell under one's nose.

Answer: Stroking the nose with the finger

Starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, this film won a total of seven Oscars out of ten nominations. It tells the story of two conmen, Gondorff and Hooker, trying to "sting" the head of a crime gang, Doyle Lonnegan, out of a large sum of money, in revenge for the murder of Hooker's former partner, Luther Coleman.

The film is also memorable for the ragtime music of the American composer Scott Joplin (1867-1917) featured throughout. This includes the excellent piece "The Entertainer" which went on to become number one on the radio charts of the 1970s. Rubbing their noses to signal each other isn't exactly the most subtle form of communication, but for the purposes of the film, it conveniently works.

Answer: The Blue Fairy

This happens when the Blue Fairy has come to ask Pinocchio why he had disobeyed Geppetto and failed to return home the previous day. Instead of telling the truth - that he had spent the day with the villainous Stromboli - Pinocchio lies. And his nose begins to grow, and grow, and grow with every lie he adds to his tale.

The 1940 movie "Pinocchio" was based on the 1883 children's book by Carlo Collodi. The only thing Pinocchio ever wants out of life is to become a real boy. This he eventually does and they all live happily ever after, splinters and all. The character has appeared in various books, television shows and movies ever since he first appeared on the screen. The first time I saw that film as a child, it scared me witless, and I've been scared of donkeys and whales ever since.

Answer: Roxanne

The original Bergerac was a French writer who lived from 1619 to 1655. Many of his plots were based on events of his own life. This included the 1897 play by the French writer Edmond Rostand. Called "Cyrano de Bergerac" it tells the tale of a man with a very large nose, one that people travel from miles around to see. Poor man must have felt like an elephant. Bergerac himself led an adventurous life and his works reflect this. They were a combination of romance and early science. For example, his "States and Empires of the Moon" revolves around a trip to moon using a rocket powered by firecrackers. That's not too bad at all for someone who lived 400 years ago.

The 1987 movie "Roxanne" starring Steve Martin and Darryl Hannah is the story of a fire chief with a very large nose. He lives in a small American town and falls in love with one Roxanne, but is too sensitive to reveal his love because of the size of his hooter. Of course it ends happily, nose and all. Cyrano de Bergerac himself was said to have a large nose. Perhaps not quite the size of the ones introduced in the various spin-offs of the original tale, but large, nevertheless. His was no romantic ending though. There is doubt about the manner of his death. It was either the result of attempted murder when an enemy was said to have dropped a large wooden beam on him from above - or, confined to an asylum, he was taken out by syphilis and ended up stark raving mad. Who nose?

Answer: My Little Chickadee

In the 1940 comedy-western "My Little Chickadee", which also starred Mae West as Flower Belle, Fields plays a bumbling conman (Cuthbert J. Twillie) with a bag full of purloined cash. Meeting Flower Belle on a stage coach, they're attacked by Indians. While Flower Belle drives them off with her pistols, Twillie ineffectually fires at them with a slingshot. Spotting his bag of cash, she then convinces the besotted Twillie to marry her in a fake wedding. After many comical incidents, one of which includes the confused Twillie being made town sheriff, he is accused of being a masked bandit and is about to be strung up. Saved at the last minute by Flower Belle, the two amicably part - swapping the signature lines which are forever associated with their names. Twillie says "Come up and see me some time" and Flower Belle responds with "Mmm, I will, my little chickadee".

Fields (1880-1946) was actually a non-drinker for most of his life. It was only towards the close of it that he began drinking. It was this that saw the waning of his career, and eventually killed him. His film persona was that of a hard-drinking misogynist who also didn't care for children. He played this character so well that people often confused the real Fields with his stage creation. In reality he was described as a rather gentle man in real life, he fond of children and particularly adored his grandchildren, and he was certainly very fond of the ladies.

As a child, his home life was happy enough, but William Claude had a propensity for trouble always. It was this that caused his nose to develop the way it did. He was always being punched on it by the victims of his pranks or mischief, and the more it was punched, the wider it spread. He used it to his advantage however and built up a fine career as an actor and comedian. He died in 1946 from what is described as a stomach haemorrhage related to his drinking. The nurse attending him in the hospital said that Fields smiled at her, winked, put his finger to his lips - and died. What an excellent exit. Fields, and his nose, lives on in old black and white films that can still be seen occasionally on late night television. They're worth watching. His comedic timing was impeccable.

Answer: Only a Nose

Jeanette MacDonald (1903-1965) was one of the most famous sopranos of the 20th century. She was known for her concerts, recordings, operas, radio appearances, movies, musicals, television appearances and her war work. Dennis King (1897-1971) had a relatively successful career in stage musicals and one or two films, but never reached the dazzling heights that MacDonald did in her career.

He had somewhat of an ego, however, and liked to appear in as many scenes as possible, whenever possible. In the film they appeared in together, he played the role of the French king and MacDonald played the role of the young girl who sacrificed herself to save the dill, nose and all.

Answer: The Great Man Votes

The 1939 drama "The Great Man Votes" revolves around the story line of a once brilliant professor who has, over the years, turned into a total alcoholic. Yet he has to pull himself together long enough to make a decision regarding his casting vote in a locked election battle for the position of mayor of a big city.

Barrymore was a member of the famous acting family members who have graced the movie theatre screens for three generations. It was said that he first rose to fame because of his distinguished nose. That's so peculiar. All the photographs of this great American actor reveal that he was certainly handsome, and with an equally handsome profile - but it's just a nose, when all is said and done. There is nothing startling or unique about it. Barrymore was born in 1882 and died in 1942. He was a great actor, initially beginning his career in light comedies, before graduating to dramatic movie roles and then to excellent Shakespearian productions. His personal life makes as fascinating reading as any role he played on the big screen. Perhaps even more so.

His acting skills were said to be unrivalled. His film career totalled sixty movies, with as many scenes as possible featuring that nose-able profile. He married four times, collapsing while on his honeymoon with his third wife. Nobody nose why, but it was believed that it was related to his over-consumption of illegal poisonous alcohol during the prohibition era. Oh, but sadly, the brilliant career of this handsome, colourful actor and personality began to dim in the last twelve years of his life, when, at the very early age of 47, he was already displaying early signs of the terrible Alzheimer's disease. By the late 1930s he couldn't remember any of his lines and had to read from cue cards. He gave his last notable performance in the 1939 film, "The Great Man Votes", but following that, his dwindling appearances degenerated into that of caricatures of a once brilliant actor. Barrymore, the paternal grandfather of modern actress Drew Barrymore, collapsed and died while appearing in a radio talk show in 1942. She has his same straight nose, but in a much smaller, abridged version. A third generation nose that graces the screens once more.

Answer: Chinatown

Nicholson (born 1937) is one of the greatest actors Hollywood has ever produced. He exudes overwhelming screen magnetism, whether one hates or loves him. In "Chinatown" which appeared on the screens in 1974, he plays the role of a private detective hired by a woman (Dunaway) to keep tabs on her husband. That's the basic plot, but it isn't the real wife of the man he's supposed to be watching - and the movie develops from there.

It's an engrossing film but quite frankly, it's very ugly, and leaves one with a dirty taste in the mouth. Early into the action, Nicholson is attacked by Polanski with a knife and has his handsome nose slashed.

As a result, from then until the end of the movie, the nosey private investigator appears looking like an overworked boxer.

It should be amusing, but bearing in mind the dark theme of the movie, it isn't. The scene involving the knife wielding Polanski's cameo appearance is played with such relish and enjoyment that, given the terrible events that happened to his wife, Sharon Tate, makes one shudder.

Answer: The nose was considered anti-Semitic

Based on British author's book, "Oliver Twist" the film, produced by the great David Lean, is now considered a classic. But then, oh my goodness, that nose created a real stink! Following protests by the oldest Jewish organisation in the world (B'nai B'rith) and the New York Board of Rabbis, the film was banned in America until 1951. When it was finally allowed to be shown, seven minutes of Guinness's profile shots had been removed entirely, as had several other scenes in which he appeared. It also received no Oscar nominations as a result - in spite of being hailed by the critics as a brilliant work.

Oh dear - this is awfully funny, but I shouldn't laugh. The film was completely banned in Israel because it was considered so anti-Semitic. HOWEVER, it was also banned in Egypt. Would you like to know why? They banned it there because they said the film had portrayed Fagin in too complimentary a fashion.