Birds of a Feather Trivia Quiz

Answer: John Cusack

John Cusack (born 1966) debuted with roles in "Class" (1983) and "Sixteen Candles" (1984). His best known role is Craig Schwartz in "Being John Malkovich" (1999).
In "The Raven" (2012), Cusack starred as the mystery author Edgar Allan Poe who had to help the police catch a serial killer inspired by Poe's works.

Vincent Cassel had a small role in "Black Swan" (2012). Rod Taylor starred in Hitchcock's "The Birds" (1963). And Peter Polycarpou is one of the actors in the TV series "Birds of a Feather", where he played Chris in 40 out of the 133 episodes.

Answer: Mary Astor

Of course you know Humphrey Bogart played private investigator Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon". But who played the mysterious lady who gave Sam Spade the order to investigate the whereabouts of the statuette called the Maltese Falcon? Mary Astor played this enigmatic character. Astor (1906-1987) was born as Lucile Vasconcelos Langhanke, but chose a quite shorter artist's name.

She started her career in short movies in 1921, and started full length movie features in 1922 (with "John Smith" and "The Man Who Played God").

Her most remembered roles are in "The Maltese Falcon" and in "Miracle on 34th Street" (1944). Davina McCall (born 1967) was a panelist in the TV sketch show "Duck Quacks Don't Echo" (2014-2016). Pauline Quirke was one of the protagonists in "Birds of a Feather" (1989-2017). And Jitka Zelenohorska played a role in the Czech movie with a title translated as "Larks on a String" (1990).

Answer: Jim Carrey

In "Mr. Popper's Penguins" (2011) life got very complicated for the title character (Jim Carrey) when he inherited six penguins, who took over his apartment and transformed it to a habitat where they felt at home...
James Eugene Carrey (born 1962) started his career in 1980. At first, he played mostly in TV shows and series (of which "The Duck Factory", 1984, would fit also into this quiz). His breakthrough came in 1994 with three comedy movies: "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", "The Mask" and "Dumb and Dumber".

John Cormack played in one episode of the TV series "Birds of a Feather". Sidney Poitier earned a place in this quiz with his role in "Mark of the Hawk" (1957). And Michel Audiard directed the comedy "Faut pas prendre les enfants du Bon Dieu pour des canards sauvages" (1968). For those of you who don't speak French, I'd translate this title as "Don't Mistake God's Children For Wild Ducks".

Answer: Robert Redford

Robert Redford (born 1936) started his acting career in 1960 in the TV series "Maverick". His best known movies are "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) and "The Sting" (1973). As a director, he won an Oscar for "Ordinary People".
In "Three Days of the Condor" Redford played a document analyst with the CIA, who suddenly found all his colleagues murdered in the office. Were they slaughtered by the Russians or by someone else?

Nikolai Alexandrovich played the main role in the Russian movie translated as "The Yellow Stork" (1950). Anthony Barclay played a role in one episode of the TV series "Birds of a Feather" (1989-2017). And Rodrigo Ureta played in the Chilean romance "Palomita Blanca" (1973).

Answer: Natalie Portman

In "Black Swan" (2010), Nina Sayers (role by Natalie Portman) was preparing for her role in the Tchaikowsky ballet "Swan Lake". But as Nina seemed to fit perfectly for the role of the good white swan Odette, another ballerina (Lily, role by Mila Kunis) appeared the perfect choice for the evil black swan Odile. However, the usual choreography demands that the same dancer performs both roles...

Natalie Portman (born 1981) began her movie career in 1994 in Luc Besson's "Leon". She became world famous as Padme Amidala in "Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace" (1999), a role she also filled in the two next movies of this franchise. "Black Swan" gained her her first Oscar.

Tatyana Samoyolova played the protagonist in the Russian movie "Letyat Zhuravli" (translated as "The Cranes Are Coming") in 1957. Maureen O'Hara starred opposite Tyrone Power in the swashbuckling "Black Swan" (1942). And Lesley Joseph is one of the main actresses in the TV series "Birds of a Feather" (1989-2017), about two sisters whose husbands have been sent to jail.

Answer: Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman is the actress we're looking for. She was born in 1925 and debuted in 1947 in "Fame is the Spur". Between 1962 and 1964 she starred as Catherine Gale in the TV series "The Avengers". Most people will remember her as the helicopter pilot Pussy Galore in "Goldfinger".

In "The Cat and the Canary" (1978) Honor Blackman played Susan Sillsby, one of the possible heiresses attending the reading of the last will and testament of an old rich man. As he despised all of his would-be heirs, he had devised a financial structure bound to lead to arguments between the potential heirs.

Debbie Arnold played a minor role in one episode of the TV series "Birds of A Feather" (1989-2017). Carole Lombard played the beautiful lady in "The Eagle and the Hawk" (1933). And Laura Pitskhelauri had the role of Diana in the Russian movie "Gadkie lebedi" ("Ugly Swans", 2006).

Answer: Jenny Agutter

Agutter (born 1952) started her movie career with a role in "East of Sudan" (1964). Her best known movie was "Equus" (1977), for which she won a BAFTA Award.

"The Eagle Has Landed" tells about a daring scheme to end World War II. Admiral Canaris of the Wehrmacht would have sent a para-commando platoon to make contact with Liam Devlin, an Irish spy for the Nazis, and then kidnap Winston Churchill. Alas, when one of the German troopers heroically saved a child from drowning, he blew the cover of the operation...

Suzy Atchison played a minor role in one episode of "Birds of a Feather" 1989-2017). Inna Churikova plays the protagonist in the Russian folklore tale "Kurochka Ryaba" (1994), translated as "Assya and the Hen with the Golden Eggs". And Edna May Oliver starred in the 1932 crime comedy "The Penguin Pool Murder".

Answer: Helen Slater

"Betrayal of the Dove" told the story of Ellie West (role of Helen Slater), a divorced mother who developed romantic feelings for Dr. Jesse Peter (played by Billy Zane). Alas, it soon became clear someone had evil intentions involving Ellie West...

Helen Slater (born 1963) started acting in 1982 in the TV series "ABC Afterschool Specials". In 1984 she starred in the movie "Supergirl". Other movies to remember include "Ruthless People" (1986), "The Secret of My Success" (1987) and "City Slickers" (1991).

Martha Issova played the protagonist in the Czech movie that was translated in English under the title "The Seven Ravens" (2015). Selina Cappell played in one episode of the TV series "Birds of a Feather" (1989-2017). And Micheline Francey was the first billed actress in the 1945 French movie "La Cage aux Rossignols" ("A Cage of Nightingales").

Answer: Leslie Caron

Leslie Caron (born 1931) was a dancer and actress. She started her career in the 1951 musical "An American in Paris". Other notable roles are the title roles in "Gigi" (1958) and "Fanny" (1961). She was nominated for an Oscar for her roles in "Lili" (1953) and "The L-Shaped Room" (1962).

In "Father Goose", Cary Grant plays Walter Eckland - a beachcomber who was spotted pillaging and was forcibly recruited to man an observation post on an inhabited island. But then the French teacher Catherine Freneau and her seven pupils arrived on the island. Surrounded by seven schoolgirls and one young schoolteacher, Walter suddenly found life not as he hoped it would turn out...
Camilla Beeput played in five episodes of the TV series "Birds of a Feather" (1989-2017). Miranda Otto was in "Flight of the Phoenix" (2004). And Geraldine Chaplin starred in the Spanish movie "Cria Cuervos", title translated literally into "Raise the Ravens".

Answer: Groucho Marx

The description of the movie and the theme of this quiz (birds in the title) should have led you to the comedy "Duck Soup". The four Marx Brothers played important roles, with Groucho playing Rufus T. Firefly. Zeppo played Firefly's personal secretary, and Harpo and Chico played Sylvanian spies.

Groucho Marx (born Julius Henry Marx, 1890-1977) was the third of the Marx Brothers. He starred in a dozen of movies, most of them with his brothers. Groucho's first movie that still exists, is "Animal Crackers" (1930). Other important titles are "A Night at the Opera" (1935) and "A Day at the Races" (1937).
Chico Marx (1887-1961) was born as Leonard. Harpo (1888-1964) was born as Adolph. Zeppo (1901-1979) had the birth names Herbert Manfred. Finally Gummo Marx (1892-1977) was one of the Marx Brothers on Broadway, but did not participate in their movies.

Nigel Humphreys appeared twice on the TV series "Birds of a Feather" (1989-2017. Jason Statham played the main role in the crime drama "Hummingbird" (2013). And Viktor Bychkov played in the Russian war comedy "Kukushka" (2002).