Bewitching the Men Trivia Quiz

Answer: Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo came to America in 1925, having made six movies in Europe. Her third U.S. movie "Flesh and the Devil" (1926) made her a star. She often played a vamp, a role she disliked, but the MGM studio forced her to do it and the audiences loved it! Her role in "Flesh and the Devil" was said to be the most erotic performance in a Hollywood movie to that point. Her last film was "Two-Faced Woman" in 1941, after which she walked away from acting. She was offered parts after that, accepted some but found reasons to drop out of all of them.

Answer: Elizabeth Taylor

Portraying Cleopatra VII in the movie "Cleopatra" (1963), Elizabeth Taylor ended up marrying her costar Richard Burton. They later divorced and then decided to remarry and try again. It didn't work. Taylor began her career as a child actress in "National Velvet" (1944). Acclaimed in a number of films, Taylor won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for "BUtterfield 8 in 1960. She received another for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in 1966. In the 1980s she promoted HIV and AIDS programs.

Answer: Betty Grable

Betty Grable started making movies in 1939. She became the leading star of her studio, 20th Century Fox. Working on the film "Pin Up Girl" in 1943, studio photographer Frank Powolny took some pictures of her, after a day's filming. One of them became the iconic pin up picture for U.S. soldiers (and some say also German soldiers) in World War II. G.I's. put her picture inside their lockers when stateside and inside their packs or even their helmets when they went into combat. Over 5 million copies of the picture were printed.

In a 2007 interview, Hugh Hefner said that that photo gave him the inspiration for founding "Playboy".

Answer: Raquel Welch

The bikini Raquel Welch wore in "One Million Years B.C." (1966) turned her into an international sex symbol. The poster from the movie was a best seller. She acted in a number of television series in the early 1960s and broke into films with "Fantastic Voyage" (1966). Though in some fairly serious roles, she was usually cast as a sex symbol. "Playboy" magazine called her "The Most Desired Woman" of the 1970s.

Answer: Jean Harlow

Signed by Howard Hughes for United Artists at $100 per week in 1929, Jean Harlow was earning $1,250 per week by 1932, working for MGM. Though critics weren't impressed with her talent, male audiences certainly were. The Hughes film "Hell's Angels" (1930) made her a star.

She went on to star in many financially successful movies, including six with Clark Gable. Cast in "Platinum Blonde" (1931), her hair was colored to match the title using a mixture of - wait for it ladies - ammonia, Clorox bleach and Lux soap flakes. Howard Hughes' production team offered $10,000 (about $120,000 today) to any beautician who could duplicate Harlow's shade. No one ever collected it.

Answer: Ursula Andress

Like Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress says she owes her career to a bikini, specifically the white bikini she wore as Honey Rider in "Dr. No" (1962), the first "James Bond" film. Because of her accent, her voice was dubbed over for the film. She appeared in several other films with moderate success, although she became financially independent.

The bikini sold at auction in 2001 for $59,755 (U.S.).

Answer: Sophia Loren

Regarded as Italy's most renowned actress, Sophia Loren won a beauty pageant at age 14 and was encouraged to take acting lessons. After working in several Italian films she came to America. After "Boy on a Dolphin" (1957) she proved her acting ability in several roles, including lead actress in 1961's "Two Women", for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, the first artist to win it for a foreign-language performance.

Answer: Kim Basinger

Starting as a model for the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency, Kim Basinger went on to television and then movie roles beginning with "Hard Country" in 1981. The erotic "Nine 1/2 Weeks" was a box office failure but became a home video bestseller. Her highest-grossing film was "Batman" (1989) where she played Vicki Vale, a photojournalist.

Answer: Brigitte Bardot

"And God Created Woman" (1957) launched Brigitte Bardot to international fame with her sex kitten role in the controversial film which was heavily censored in its American release. It became a typical role for her but she was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress for her role in "Viva Maria!" (1965). She retired from acting in 1973.

Answer: Marilyn Monroe

Even in her first films, in which she had small roles, Marilyn Monroe was noticed. Besides "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1953) and "The Seven Year Itch (1955) she was featured in several memorable films including "Bus Stop" (1956) and "Some Like it Hot" (1959). Stardom was difficult for her to handle; she became difficult to work with and suffered from depression, dying of an overdose of barbiturates in 1962, a tragic ending for someone who, in 2009, would be named by the "TV Guide" Network as film's sexiest woman of all time.