Up the Down Staircase Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sandy Dennis

Dennis won her Supporting Role Oscar at the 1967 Academy Awards for her performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966). Her role as the neurotic dinner guest found her scene stealing from Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

The film drew high marks from the critics but only did so-so at the box office. "Up the Down Staircase" won her the Best Actress Award at the Moscow Film Festival. In addition Dennis won two Tony Awards for "A Thousand Clowns" (1963) and "Any Wednesday" (1964).

Sandy Dennis died young of ovarian cancer.

Answer: To Sir, with Love

Sidney Poitier plays the teacher. Students find respect by little things such as addressing each other formally, hence the "Sir". Popular singer Lulu doubles as student Babs Pegg and sings the title song that rocketed to the top of the pop charts. At the end, he finally gets his long-awaited engineering job but tears the appointment letter up to stay at the school.

The year 1967 was a banner year for Poitier because in addition to "To Sir, with Love" he also starred in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and "In the Heat of the Night".

Answer: Blackboard Jungle

Glenn Ford gets more than he bargained for as he enters an inner-city high school as a teacher. There are disruptive classrooms, violence against teachers and staff, and a general sense of hopelessness.

Bill Haley's Comets introduced the film with "Rock Around the Clock". It was a recording the group had made earlier to moderate success but now became a smash hit of 1955.

Rock music was not brought into the artistic world without torment. Many schools, for instance, banned R&R as degenerate and inappropriate. In fact, there were several instances of riots where the film was shown and some banning and censorship. Nevertheless, it was tremendous step in bringing R&R into the main stream. "Rock Around the Clock" sold 25 million copies. Dick Clark called it 'The National Anthem of Rock'n'Roll'.

Sidney Poitier, age 27, and Vic Morrow, age 26, were cast as teenagers in the film. Anne Francis, age 25, played Ford's wife. It was nominated for four Academy Awards but won none.

Answer: "Good Will Hunting" and "Dead Poets Society"

In "Good Will Hunting" Williams plays a junior college psychology professor who agrees to take on Will Hunting (Matt Damon) in psychotherapy to find the mathematical genius under his tormented exterior. Robin Williams took home the Best Supporting Actor award.

In "Dead Poets Society" he plays an English teacher at an exclusive private school whose unusual methods and carpe diem philosophy charm his students but raise faculty, board, and parent hackles. Williams was nominated for Best Actor at the 1989 Academy Awards.

Answer: Mr. Holland's Opus

Mr. Holland did not like the music of John Coltrane but loves it after he studies it closely. The same goes for him in teaching, love, and life. The climax of the film is his retirement from teaching and his old students returning to play his "Opus".

The film was released in a time when because of economic reasons many school districts were either reducing to eliminating aesthetics such as music and art. In 1996 "Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation" was formed to keep music and art alive in public schools.

Answer: Royal Dano

Royal Dano had few starring roles. In 1952 he played "Mr. Lincoln", in a five part TV miniseries. In "Teachers" while the students work on his dittoed assignments, class after class, he is found, not sleeping but dead at the back of his classroom.

The cast includes Judd Hirsch as the principal, Nick Nolte as the acting school psychologist, and Richard Mulligan as an accidentally hired teacher. Ralph Macchio, Laura Dern and Crispin Glover appear as students, while JoBeth Williams and Morgan Freeman are lawyers debating a legal suit brought by a former student who graduated from the school but is functionally illiterate.

Answer: Anne Sullivan

Both Bancroft as Anne Sullivan and Patty Duke were honored with Oscars for their performances in the "Miracle Worker". They had appeared together on Broadway in the same roles in 1959.

Originally this was a television venture in 1957 which featured Teresa Wright and Patty McCormack as Anne and Helen. The script was then adapted for the stage with Bancroft and Duke who also carried it into film. In 1979 Patty Duke played Anne and Melissa Gilbert played Helen in another television adaptation.

Answer: The Breakfast Club

Five young actors at that time, Emilio Estevez (the jock), Judd Nelson (the rebel), Molly Ringwald (popular girl), Ally Sheedy (neurotic girl) and Anthony Michael Hall (the nerd), all went on to adult roles in major films. Although the film was pretty much ignored for awards, but it appears on several surveys as the best film about high school students.

As the cast serve out their detention, they discover that they have more in common than their high school cliques would indicate.

Answer: Napoleon Dynamite

"Napoleon Dynamite" centers on Napoleon as somewhere between a nerd and an outcast in the education system. He has few friends, one a girl who likes tether ball, and Pedro, a recent transfer, that he befriends and becomes his campaign manager for class president. He doodles animals and fantasy creatures in class. The movie was filmed in Preston, Idaho where there have been celebrations and tourists regarding "Napoleon Dynamite".

After Pedro makes a rather brief and disjointed speech at the high school assembly, Napoleon does an impromptu dance to the music of "Canned Heat" and draws a standing ovation that sweeps Pedro to victory.

Only after the film was nearly completed was it realized that Napoleon Dynamite was a persona of Elvis Costello. He was not sure where he got the name so there was no law suit.

"Sweet".

Answer: Dennis Hopper

Based on a true incident at Milan High School in 1955, "Hoosiers" takes a lot of liberties with the facts but it was true that a small school won the Indiana State Basketball Tournament. Up until 1997 the Indiana Tournament was one class and few small schools were visible in the championship finals.

A plot outline would be almost a formula for a sports film but acting by Hackman, Hopper, and Barbara Hershey help to raise it above. Some lists have called it number one of sports films. Hopper was a multi-faceted actor. He wrote, directed, did voice-overs, was a skilled photographer, and narrated documentaries. He won acclaim for an early film "Easy Rider"(1969) and frightened the audience as Frank in "Blue Velvet"(1986).