Out of the Picture Trivia Quiz

Answer: Animal Welfare

An American actress born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff in 1922, Doris Day recorded well over 600 songs, releasing an album in 2011 at age 89 that made the UK Top 10. Day started acting in 1948. By 1951 she was in the top ten most popular female acting stars. From 1960-1964 she was number one.

In 1968 she discovered her husband and her lawyer not only spent all her earnings, but contracted her to TV specials without her knowledge so she had to move to TV's "The Doris Day Show" (1968-73). Her final film, "With Six You Get Eggroll" (1968) garnished a "best female comedy performance" nomination. Clint Eastwood offered her a role in 2015, which she declined.

In 1971 Day co-founded Actors and Others for Animals, and the Doris Day Pet Foundation (now the Animal Foundation) in 1978, followed by the TV series "Doris Day's Best Friends" (1985-86) about animals. She launched the Doris Day Animal League in 1987, used to lobby Congress to protect animals. In 1995 she created "Spay Day USA"; in 2011 the Doris Day Horse Rescue and Adoption Center.

Answer: UN Ambassador

Shirley Temple's (1928-2014) debut in film was at age three. She was a superstar at six. Though she worked with John Wayne, Cary Grant and Myrna Loy in her teens, Temple married in 1945 and retired from the movies in 1950 at just twenty-two.

In 1969 after involvement rearing kids, on TV, and in local politics, she was appointed to the United Nations General Assembly. She became an Ambassador to Ghana (1974-1976), and then Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989-1992). The primary job of an Ambassador is to represent the USA, and work with the US State Department regards UN issues like international security, budget and sanctions.

Note: In the United States and other countries a representative is often called a "UN Ambassador".

Answer: Adventure novelist

Born in California in 1930 Eugene Hackman joined the marines and then pursued acting at The Pasadena Playhouse where he and his good friend Dustin Hoffman were voted "Least Likely to Succeed". From 1956 to 2004 Hackman was credited with over 80 movie roles, winning many awards and an enduring place with audiences. But in 2004 he confirmed he was done with film. In 2016 and 2017 he was back briefly to narrate two military documentaries.

In 1999 at age 69 he co-wrote "Wake of the Perdido Star", a novel filled with pirates and shipwrecks which reviewers called "captivating". More war, adventure, and thriller novels followed.

Answer: Golfer

Thomas Sean Connery was born August 1930 to a cleaning woman and a factory worker. He joined the Royal Navy, competed as a bodybuilder, played football and then trained in acting. Connery's big break was as 007, Bond, James Bond, and he'd star in 7 of these films (1962-1983) and at least fifty other movies before he announced retirement from acting in 2006.

The golfing bug bit Connery while he had a playoff with a villain in "Goldfinger" (1964). He wrote in his autobiography (2008) that he "began to see golf as a metaphor for living", he met "remarkable people" and it took over his life. Post-retirement he said he had "way too much fun" to consider acting again, though occasionally he does some voice over work.

Answer: Politics

Born in Illinois (1911-2004) the young Ronald Reagan was a sports announcer, until his first screen test in 1937 won him an acting contract. He was a popular actor in Hollywood from 1937 until his last film, "The Killers" in 1964, though perhaps WWII army duty (1942-45) snatched away his chances at super-stardom.
He was often seen on television from 1950-1965, where his last role was on "Death Valley Days".

In 1947 he'd been elected president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), serving several terms and assisting in labor disputes. In 1948 his marriage to fellow actor Jane Wyman ended in divorce, just as his film acting career began to falter. A left-leaning liberal at the time, life events moved him farther into politics. He married Nancy Davis in 1950, after which he was increasingly involved, and increasingly conservative, while his handsome, easy, story-telling nature swept him right into the White House.

Answer: Fitness and health author

Cameron Michelle Diaz (1972) began as a model at 17, cast in "The Mask" at age 21 without acting experience or training. Diaz became one of Hollywood's highest paid and most successful actors, with several award nominations for romance and comedy film, and fame for her dating choices too, such as Matt Dillon, Jared Leto and Justin Timberlake. But her role in films 2012-2014 had only moderate success, with some harsh criticism, perhaps leading to her retirement after "Annie" (2014). In 2017 Diaz confirmed she had indeed left the pictures forever.

Diaz instead co-wrote with Sandra Bark, "The Body Book: The Law of Hunger, the Science of Strength, and Other Ways to Love Your Amazing Body" (2013), a New York Times #1 bestseller, and, "The Longevity Book: The Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time" (2016). She married "Good Charlotte" rocker Benji Madden in January, 2015. She is also active in environmental causes and support of veterans.

Answer: Baker

Born in New York City (1977) Sarah Michelle (Gellar) Prinze started in film at age 4 (1983), winning an Emmy on TV's "All My Children" (1993-95). A competitive figure skater with a black belt in taekwondo, Gellar played TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" 1997-2003, winning 7 awards there, though she said she disliked the "100 Greatest Female Characters" Buffy role. She played minor and starring roles in film from 1984-2014, including "Cruel Intentions" (1999) and a final film appearance in "Veronika Decides to Die" (2009) before announcing she was leaving the pictures to rear her first child with husband Freddie Prinze Jr.(married in 2002). Gellar continued to do TV and video roles.

In 2015 Gellar co-founded "Foodstirs"--ecommerce baking mixes and kits. She made a deal with Starbucks in 2018 for distribution in its stores. Gellar's cook book, "Stirring Up Fun with Food" co-authored with Gia Russo, came out in 2017, making it "fun to make food", especially with your children.

Answer: Recluse and Art Collector

When the great Greta Garbo was just 36 she announced a "temporary" retirement which took her out of the pictures forever. Greta Gustafson (1905-1990), born in a Stockholm slum, was a silver screen legend by 1930. She rarely signed autographs, gave interviews or answered fan mail, but she was nominated 3 times for a "Best Actress" Oscar, among them "Grand Hotel" in 1932, and she was MGM's highest-paid star.

She announced in 1941 she was "tired of Hollywood" and for the rest of her life remained "mysterious"-- traveling, and taking long walks around New York City. She became an art collector and her paintings, such as those by Renoir, and Bonnard, were worth millions when she died. She did have several significant affairs, but never married or had children.

Answer: Preserving his father's poetry

Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis started life in London (1957) where at 19 he chose acting over cabinetmaking. He is the first male actor to win three "Best Actor" Oscars, for "My Left Foot" (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007), and "Lincoln" (2012). Day-Lewis was nominated for "Phantom Thread" (2017), which he announced as his last film.

He is sixty years old, happily married, and involved in preserving his father's (Cecil Day-Lewis) poetry and personal letters. In 2015 he became the Honorary President of the Poetry Archive. He hasn't done a TV role since 1986; nor a stage performance since 1989. Day-Lewis told interviewers that doing "Phantom Thread" deeply saddened him. He has taken five years off between movies before, because a role turns him into "dog meat". This time Day-Lewis is publicly steadfast and determined he won't be "sucked back into" a role, ever.

Answer: Puppetry

Irish former actor Jack Gleeson (1992) began at age 10 in a 2002 film "Reign of Fire", appearing in 7 other films including "Batman Begins" (2005) before his last movie, "All Good Children" in 2010.

From 2012-2014 he starred in the hit HBO TV show "Game of Thrones", as the unhinged young King Joffrey, where he earned Best TV Villain, Best Performance, and We Love to Hate You nominations and awards. As early as 2012 though, Gleeson said he wanted to retire from all acting. Happily King Joffrey died a horrible death via poison in Season 4, 2014, freeing Gleeson to get out of the picture and start a theater company, for puppets, called "Bears in Space".

Other retired actors include Peter Ostrum (the sweet boy in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory") who is a veterinarian; Cary Grant, who retired in 1966 to lead a cosmetics firm; and Mike Vitar ("The Sandlot") who became a fireman. Rumor is Tom Selleck retires from acting in 2019, at age 74, to hang out with his family on their avocado farm.