Ten More Great American Leading Men Quiz

Answer: John Wayne

John Wayne (1907-1979) was born Marion Morrison in Iowa. He began playing bit parts in silent films in the 1920s. Wayne played the Ringo Kid, an escaped prisoner seeking vengeance in 1939's "Stagecoach", Confederate Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards, who is searching for his kidnapped niece in "The Searchers" (1956), drunken, one-eyed Federal Marshal Rooster Cogburn in 1969's "True Grit", and J.B. Books, a notorious gunfighter dying of cancer in his last film, 1976's "The Shootist".

Answer: Clark Gable

William Clark Gable (1901-1960) was born in Ohio. He began acting on the stage at 21, and began his film career as an extra in silent films in the 1920s. Gable played mutineer Fletcher Christian in the 1935 film "Mutiny on the Bounty", Southern rogue Rhett Butler in "Gone With the Wind" (1939), hunter Victor Marswell in "Mogambo" (1953), and, in his final role, aging cowboy Gaylord Langland in 1961's "The Misfits".

Answer: James Stewart

James Stewart (1908-1997) was born in Pennsylvania. He began acting while in college, and made his film debut in 1935. Stewart played troubled banker George Bailey in the 1946 film "It's a Wonderful Life", a man whose best friend is an invisible rabbit in "Harvey" (1950), a retired police detective hired to follow a friend's wife in "Vertigo" (1959), and a Western lawyer who builds a career on a gunfight in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962).

Answer: Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro, born in New York City in 1943, became interested in acting while in grade school, and De Niro got his first bit parts in film in the mid 1960s. De Niro played the young Vito Corleone in 1974's "The Godfather Part II", psychotic Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver" (1976), boxer Jake LaMotta in "Raging Bull" (1980), and a mobster in "Goodfellas" (1990).

Answer: Tom Hanks

Born in California in 1956, Tom Hanks began acting in plays while in high school. After college, he moved to New York to pursue his career, appearing in television shows and on the stage. Hanks made his first film appearance in 1980. His breakout role was as a man in love with a mermaid in "Splash" (1984). Hanks played the title character in 1994's "Forrest Gump", astronaut Jim Lovell in "Apollo 13" (1995), and he was U.S. Army Captain Miller in "Saving Private Ryan" in 1998.

Answer: Clint Eastwood

Born in California in 1930, Clint Eastwood began acting in bit parts in films beginning in 1954. After struggling in film work, he also began appearing on television shows. Eastwood played The Man with No Name in the 1966 spaghetti western "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", a rogue San Francisco police detective in 1971's "Dirty Harry", a retired outlaw out for one last job in "Unforgiven" (1992), and a former Detroit autoworker who befriends his Hmong neighbors in 2008's "Gran Torino".

Answer: Gary Cooper

Born in Montana as Frank James Cooper, Gary Cooper (1901-1961) began his film career as a stunt rider and extra in silent films in 1925. Cooper was soon a Western star, but began branching out into other roles in the 1930s. He played Longfellow Deeds, a small town man who inherits a fortune and moves to New York City in 1936's "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", American World War I soldier Alvin York in "Sergeant York" (1941), an American colonial soldier in "Unconquered" (1948), and a sheriff facing an impending showdown in 1952's "High Noon".

Answer: Steve McQueen

Born Terrence Stephen McQueen in Indiana in 1930, Steve McQueen served in the U.S. Marines and took up acting in the early 1950s. After stage and television roles, McQueen made his first film in 1956. He played gunfighter Vin Tanner in "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), American captain and escape artist Virgil Hilts in 1963's "The Great Escape", gunboat sailor Jake Holman in "The Sand Pebbles" (1966), and San Francisco police lieutenant Frank Bullitt in "Bullitt" (1968).

Answer: Jack Nicholson

John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson was born in New Jersey in 1937. Nicholson was interested in acting as a child and began by playing small roles in television and theater in the mid 1950s. He made his film debut in 1958 in a low-budget teen drama film. Nicholson played private detective Jake Gittes in "Chinatown" (1974), mental patient Randall McMurphy in 1975's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", a novelist who slowly goes insane in an isolated hotel in 1980's "The Shining", and an Irish mobster in "The Departed" (2006).

Answer: Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda (1905-1982) was born in Nebraska and began acting there in community theater in his early twenties. Fonda made his film debut in 1935. He played American farmer Gil Martin in the 1939 film "Drums Along the Mohawk", a Depression-era Oklahoma farmer relocating to California to find work in 1940's "The Grapes of Wrath", a U.S. Navy officer in "Mister Roberts" (1955), and a juror holding out to acquit a teenager murder suspect in the 1957 film "12 Angry Men".