Died in the 1980s Trivia

1. This actress starred as a child in a miraculous film in 1947 which was remade in 1994 starring Mara Wilson in the role of Susan Walker. Both films are regularly in the Christmas TV schedules.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 21

Answer: Natalie Wood

The film which still forms part of the Christmas TV schedules is of course "Miracle on 34th Street". Natalie is best remembered for "Rebel Without A Cause" (1955) and "West Side Story" (1961). On 29 November 1981, she was on a yacht she was sharing with husband Robert Wagner and a friend. It seems she fell into the water and drowned while trying to get into the dinghy moored alongside the yacht.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 11

Answer: Anne Ramsey

By the mid 80s Anne was unfortunately suffering from throat cancer but she carried on bravely, even getting a Best Supporting Actress nomination in 1987 for "Throw Momma from the Train". She died on 11 August, 1988.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 8

Answer: Alfred Hitchcock

His films include "Psycho", "The Birds", "Rear Window" and "North by Northwest" to name just four. He was born near London, England. Alfred started out as a film title designer and got the chance to direct when the director of a 1923 film fell ill. His efforts were well received. He continued making films in the UK such as "The Lady Vanishes" which got him noticed in the USA and in 1940, he moved his family over there. He was knighted in 1979 and died on 29th April 1980.

From Quiz Decade of Death: The 80s

Answer: Johnny Weismuller & Golda Meir

Steve McQueen (actor: "The Towering Inferno", "The Great Escape", "Bullitt"), Peter Sellers (actor: "The Pink Panther"), Jean-Paul Sartre (philosopher), Alfred Hitchcock (director: "Psycho", "Birds"), Tito (memorable President of Yugoslavia) and Mae West (actress: "She Done Him Wrong") all died in 1980. Johnny Weissmuller (Swimming champion and "Tarzan") died in 1984. Golda Meir (Israeli PM) passed away in 1978.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 17

Answer: Ingrid Bergman

She was quite a tall lady at 5' 10" which meant that some of her male co-stars such as Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains had to wear lifts in their shoes to avoid looking too small. She died on 29 August 1982 and three weeks later she won a posthumous Emmy for "A Woman Called Golda".

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 8

Answer: Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen is also the name of the director of "Twelve Years a Slave", the 2014 Oscar winning film. Steve's most popular films include "The Great Escape", "The Sand Pebbles", "Bullittt" and "The Thomas Crown Affair". Shortly after making "The Towering Inferno" (1974), he was diagnosed with an asbestos related cancer and died on 7th November, 1980.

From Quiz Decade of Death: The 80s

Answer: Joe Louis, Bob Marley & Anwar Sadat

The correct answer is boxer Joe Louis, reggae king Bob Marley and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Legendary motorcyclist Mike Hailwood (with nine world titles), also known as "Mike the Bike", died in 1981. Singer Karen Carpenter died in 1983. The Indian PM Indira Gandhi was murdered in 1984.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 21

Answer: Edith Head

During the 1920s she was a French teacher. She appears on a set of 2003 American stamps celebrating American film making behind the scenes. She died on 24 October 1981.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 13

Answer: Ray Milland

At 21 he was a member of the Household Cavalry, often seen riding their horses in their plumed helmets and gleaming breastplates on ceremonial occasions in the UK. He became a crack marksman, being on a team which won a competition at Bisley, home of the UK's pre-eminent shooting grounds. He is the only actor in Oscar history to have won a Best Actor award and not say a single word. He simply accepted the statuette, bowed and left the stage. He died on 10 March, 1986.

From Quiz Death and Faxes

Answer: Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Hitchcock was born in Essex, England, getting his start in the film industry in 1919 as a title-card designer. He soon branched out into other areas of the film industry. By the time he was finally enticed to come to Hollywood in 1938, he had established himself as a successful filmmaker in England and in Germany. He went on to achieve even greater success in the United States as a producer and director, and known for his television series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", his many cameos, and his innovative style of filming that coined the term 'Hitchcockian'. But despite five Oscar nominations for Best Director over the years, he never won.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 21

Answer: Jim Davis

His daughter looked very like Victoria Principal and was killed in a car crash aged 17. He grew very close to Victoria on the set of Dallas and had a picture of her and his daughter in his pocket when he was buried. He died 26 April 1981. His character was 'kept alive' on Dallas for some time after his actual death by means of a story line that he was drilling for oil in South America.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 19

Answer: Lee Van Cleef

He had lost the top joint of his middle finger on one hand in an accident at home many years before. This was prominently featured in the climax to "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (1966). He died on 16 December, 1989.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 17

Answer: Henry Fonda

In 1982 he won the Best Actor Oscar for "On Golden Pond" (1981), which to my mind completed a rather odd double, as only the previous year he had received an Honorary Oscar "in recognition of his brilliant accomplishments and enduring contributions to the art of motion pictures". I suspect it wasn't expected at that time that he would ever be nominated again as he was already in his late seventies but he proved them wrong. He died on 12 August 1982.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 8

Answer: John Lennon

John Lennon was shot dead by Mark Chapman on December 8, 1980. Yoko Ono, John's wife at the time of his death, had him cremated and has never revealed what happened to his ashes.

From Quiz Decade of Death: The 80s

Answer: David Niven

David Niven also starred in "Around The World in 80 Days". Anthony Quayle ("Lawrence of Arabia") died in 1989. Anthony Quinn ("Viva Zapata!") died in 2001. Gregory Peck ("To Kill A Mockingbird") died in 2003.

From Quiz Death and Faxes

Answer: Josip Broz Tito

Josip Broz, commonly called 'Tito', was born in 1892 in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He spent his early life working in many factory jobs, before being conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian military just prior to the outset of World War I. He lived a tumultuous existence during the war, including much time as a Russian POW, and eventually returned to his home (Kumrovec) in the (then) Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1920. Soon afterwards, he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY). In the interwar years, Broz became involved with the revolutionary actions of the CPY, which resulted in his arrest and jail time in the early 1930s. It was in 1934 that Broz, writing articles for the CPY, used the pen name 'Tito' for the first time. A few years later (in 1939), Josip Broz Tito became the General Secretary of the CPY. During World War II, Tito became the leader of liberation forces fighting against Nazi occupation, and this led to his being recognized as the first Prime Minister of Yugoslavia by the end of the war. In the years following the war, although initially aligned with Soviet communist policies, Tito and Stalin had a 'falling out' (to simplify a complicated backstory), and Tito went forward with his own way of communism and a foreign policy of neutrality through the Cold War years. Tito ran his own 'oppressive' regime, ensuring he held power and brooking no political dissension, but at the same time he worked to provide an overall improved existence for the general citizens of Yugoslavia. His decades of rule resulted in a state funeral that was attended by world leaders (or their representatives) from 129 different states. The May 5th edition of the New York Times wrote: "Tito sought to improve life. Unlike others who rose to power on the communist wave after WWII, Tito did not long demand that his people suffer for a distant vision of a better life. After an initial Soviet-influenced bleak period, Tito moved toward radical improvement of life in the country. Yugoslavia gradually became a bright spot amid the general grayness of Eastern Europe."

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 24

Answer: Karen Carpenter

Karen unfortunately became obsessed with her weight quite early on and avoided anything containing fats etc. She was 145 pounds in about 1966 and only 91 pounds by 1975. By April 1982 she had been taking pills to increase her metabolism and also laxatives, all in order to lose even more weight. She was taken into hospital in September 1982 and fed intravenously which made her put on weight rapidly which put strain on her already weakened heart. She died of heart failure on 4 February 1983 brought on by anorexia nervosa and cachexia which is extremely low body weight and weakness. Her death at age 32 caused several celebrities to reveal their struggles with eating disorders which in turn caused many more people to go to hospitals for treatment.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 21

Answer: Bob Marley

In 1977 he was diagnosed with cancer under the nail of a toe. He refused to have the toe amputated because of his religious beliefs. He chose to have the nail-bed removed and a skin graft taken to cover the area. Unfortunately, the cancer spread and he died on 11 May 1981. He was given a State Funeral in Jamaica.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 19

Answer: Sergio Leone

He often worked with composer Ennio Morricone who said that Leone would get him to compose the film theme before the start of photography which was rather unusual. After making "Once Upon a Time in America" (1984) he tried baiting his former leading man, Clint Eastwood, by claiming Robert de Niro was a 'real' actor. Eastwood was by then a more famous director than Leone which may have been the cause of the friction. When Eastwood directed the Oscar winning "Unforgiven", he dedicated it to the memory of Leone and Don Siegel. Leone died on 30 April, 1989.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 11

Answer: Gert Frobe

While Auric Goldfinger in "Goldfinger" was a serious character, Gert Frobe could play lighter roles too, as for example Baron Bomburst in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and Colonel Manfred Von Holstein in "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes". He died on 5 September 1988.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 8

Answer: Jimmy Durante

He used to sign off his radio and TV shows with "Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash". Nobody knew who this was or even if it was a real person. After he died on 29th January, 1980, it was revealed that she was his first wife Jeanne who had died in 1943. They lived in Calabasas in California but she couldn't say it properly, calling it "Calabash" which became an inside joke for them.

From Quiz Decade of Death: The 80s

Answer: He was shot by his father

Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his drunk father with whom he always had a troublesome relation. Marvin Gaye's greatest solo hits are "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Sexual Healing".

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 21

Answer: William Wyler

His career spanned 45 years from silent pictures to major Hollywood productions. He was assistant director on "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ" (1925) which won him an Oscar when he remade it in 1959. He permanently lost the hearing in his right ear while filming a bombing raid in 1944. He died on 27 July 1981.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 13

Answer: Broderick Crawford

He was named after his mother's surname (she was actress Helen Broderick). During WW2, he was assigned to the Armed Forces network and was posted to Britain where he served as an announcer for the Glen Miller Band. He died on 26 April, 1986 after a series of strokes.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 17

Answer: Stanley Holloway

In My Fair Lady (1964), he was the only member of the main cast to do his own singing. Rex Harrison and Wilfrid Hyde-White talked their way through their songs, while Audrey Hepburn and Jeremy Brett were dubbed. He died on 30 January 1982.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 15

Answer: Marvin Gaye

He died on 1 April, 1984 when his father shot him with a gun Marvin had given him as a Christmas present. Gaye Snr. was sentenced to a term of probation after pleading no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 8

Answer: David Janssen

His birth name was David Meyer. He took the name Janssen from his new stepfather after his parents divorced. When the final episode of "The Fugitive" was shown, 72% of all American homes with TV's watched it. He died aged just 48 as a result of a heart attack on 13th February, 1980.

From Quiz Decade of Death: The 80s

Answer: Tenzing Norgay

Hillary's sherpa was Tenzing Norgay. He was in fact the first man to be photographed on the Everest summit, as Norgay could not take a picture of Hillary since Norgay did not know how to operate a camera.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Dust: 24

Answer: Herge

Both Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein have named him as an influence on their work. Herge's character Tintin had his hair brushed forward in the first book but in a convertible car chase scene it was blown back and the trademark quiff was present in all subsequent stories.

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