Celebrity Acrostic Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gordon MacRae

Gordon MacRae (1921-1986) was born in East Orange, New Jersey and made his movie debut in the 1948 boxing movie "The Big Punch". He went on to star in a number of films with Doris Day, including "On Moonlight Bay" and "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" (1951, 1953). It was in one of the films he made with Shirley Jones, "Oklahoma!" (1955), that he sang "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'". MacRae and Jones also co-starred in "Carousel" (1956).

He was twice married and had five children, two of whom (Meredith and Heather) also went into acting.

Of the incorrect choices, none were born in 1921, and only Sinatra was born in New Jersey.

Answer: Alan Ladd

Alan Ladd (1913-1964) was born in Arkansas, and began appearing in films in the 1930s. Throughout the '40s he appeared in such film noir classics as "This Gun for Hire" (1942), "The Glass Key" (1942), and "The Blue Dahlia" (1946) to name only a few. The mysterious cowboy mentioned in the question was the title character of "Shane" (1953) and the little boy yelling "Shane! Shane! Come back!..." was played by Brandon de Wilde. Ladd's son, David, also became an actor and the two appeared together in "The Proud Rebel" (1958).

Ladd's height has been a matter of some speculation, but was no more than 5'7" (1.7 m) from checking several sources. The three incorrect choices were all over 6 feet (1.82 m) tall.

Answer: Lorne Greene

Lorne Greene (1915-1987) was born in Canada's capital, Ottawa, Ontario and educated at Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario. His rich, deep voice made him a natural choice for a broadcaster and he earned his sombre nickname whilst doing that job for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The father he played was Ben Cartwright, "Pa" to Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe on "Bonanza" (1959-73). He went on to additional success in the original "Battlestar Gallactica" series (1978-80) as Commander Adama.

None of the incorrect choices were Canadians.

Answer: Edith Head

Edith Head (1897-1981) was born in San Bernardino and died in Los Angeles. Her area of expertise was costume design, and it was for this that she won all eight of her Academy Awards, including two in one year, when there were awards for both black and white and colour films. These were for "All About Eve" (1950, black and white) and "Samson and Delilah" (1949, colour), both presented at the ceremony held in 1951. Her final award was for "The Sting" (1973), by which time there was only one award for Costume Design each year.

The incorrect choices were all Oscar-winning actresses, who appeared in at least one of Miss Head's Oscar-nominated films. None of them won more than two Oscars, however.

Answer: Steve McQueen

Born in Indiana, Steve McQueen (1930-1980) was not only Hilts, the Cooler King in "The Great Escape" (1963), but the King of Cool as far as his acting persona went. The Oscar nomination was for playing Jake Holman in "The Sand Pebbles" (1966). He was also a star of westerns, including his TV series "Wanted: Dead or Alive" (1958-61) and "The Magnificent Seven" (1960). His love of cars and motorcycles was displayed in "The Great Escape" (bikes) and "Bullitt" (1968), which had a classic car chase over the streets of San Francisco.

The incorrect choices all had dark eyes, and were all also members of "The Magnificent Seven".

Answer: Telly Savalas

Telly Savalas (1922-1994) was born in Long Island, New York, and played the lollipop loving Detective Theo Kojak from 1973-78 on the series "Kojak". Besides his Emmy win and other nominations for both acting and directing, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962). He also won two Golden Globes for playing Kojak, and had a number of other nominations for various works. His character in "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), Archer Maggott, was as vile as the name suggested!

The incorrect choices all played doctors on television and all had Emmy nominations to their credit.

Answer: Omar Sharif

Born Michel Shalhoub in Alexandria, Omar Sharif (1932-2015) received his only Oscar nomination for his supporting role in "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962). He won a Golden Globe for that role, and also for playing the lead in "Doctor Zhivago" (1965), the Russian doctor alluded to in the question. The gambler was Nicky Arnstein, in both "Funny Girl" (1968) and "Funny Lady" (1975). He was also a world class bridge player and wrote or co-wrote several books about that card game.

Of the incorrect choices, only Omar's son Tarek was born in Egypt, and his acting career was brief, including playing his father as a child in "Doctor Zhivago".

Answer: Roy Rogers

Besides all of those movies, Roy Rogers (1911-1998) and his wife Dale Evans had a very successful television series, "The Roy Rogers Show" (1951-57) that also featured their dog, Bullet, Roy's horse Trigger, and their friend Pat Brady and his jeep Nellybelle. Roy was born Leonard Slye in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Dale was his third (and final) wife. He was known as King of the Cowboys and she was Queen of the West, and the writer of the song "Happy Trails".

The incorrect choices were all movie cowboys, though not of the musical variety.

Answer: Maureen O'Hara

Born Maureen FitzSimons near Dublin, Ireland, Maureen O'Hara (1920-2015) appeared with John Wayne in "Rio Grande" (1950), "The Quiet Man" (1952), and "McLintock!"(1963), as well as a couple of others. Her co-star in "34th Street" was John Payne. She also starred in Oscar Best Picture winner "How Green Was My Valley" (1941).

The three incorrect choices all appeared at least once with John Wayne.

Answer: Gale Storm

Josephine Cottle (1922-2009) was born in Texas and was given the more striking name, Gale Storm, when she signed her first acting contract. Many of the films in which she appeared would be considered "B" movies, but "My Little Margie" (1952-55) was a successful early sit-com. She followed that with "The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna" (1956-60), in which she played a cruise director on a ship.

In 1960 she received stars on the Walk of Fame for Television, Recording and Radio.