Remembering Andy Devine Trivia Quiz

Answer: Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok

Riding his horse named Joker, Devine played Jingles P. Jones, backing up Guy Madison as Wild Bill Hickok (1951-1958). Burl Ives was offered the role but turned it down. The program was broadcast both on network TV and network radio in the U.S. It was also popular in Australia.

Answer: Stagecoach (1939)

Devine appeared in several motion pictures with John Wayne. Director John Ford chose him to play Buck, the teamster, in "Stagecoach" because he had previous experience driving horses. "Stagecoach" is a journey-story about strangers brought together as passengers on a stagecoach journey threatened by hostile Native Americans. Devine and Wayne became friends; John Wayne attended Andy Devine's funeral in 1978.

Answer: all of it

Andrew Vabre Devine was born on 7 October 1905 in Flagstaff, Arizona to Thomas Devine Jr. and Amy Ward. Because Devine played a semi-professional sport under an assumed name -- Jeremiah Schwartz -- this is often suggested as his "real" name. Devine used the alias to protect his eligibility to play in intercollegiate athletics.

Answer: Arizona

Andy Devine was born in Flagstaff, Arizona, and raised nearby in Kingman, Arizona. In the Wild Bill Hickock television series where Devine played Wild Bill's sidekick Jingles, he would frequently say (when things went poorly) "I'm goin' back to East Sedalia!" Sedalia is a town in Missouri which hosts the Missouri State Fair and the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival.

There are other Sedalias in Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, North, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. The one in Missouri is the largest.

Answer: a childhood accident

While running with a stick (or curtain rod, accounts vary), Devine had an accident as a child which damaged his vocal cords and left him unable to speak for a year. It was feared that his voice might impede his career in "talkie" motion pictures but, instead, his wheezy high-pitched voice became his trademark.

Answer: Cookie Bullfincher

In the way things worked in Hollywood at the time, Devine had been under contract to Universal for more than fifteen years when he finally had the opportunity to act for another filmmaker. He was cast as Cookie Bullfincher, sidekick to Roy Rogers, in a series of nine films in the late 1940s.

In "Bells of San Angelo" (1947), Cookie Bullfincher is the town mayor and sheriff, assisting Roy Rogers in investigating several murders. In "The Far Frontier" (1949), Cookie is the judge and Roy Rogers is a border patrolman on the Texas-Mexico border.

In "The Eyes of Texas" (1948), Cookie is the town doctor. In "Under California Stars" (1948) Cookie is a member of Roy's ranch hands at the Double R Ranch.

Answer: American football

Devine attended and played football at St. Mary and St. Benedict's College, at Arizona State Teacher's College (which later became Northern Arizona University), and at Santa Clara University. His gridiron experience led director Russell Mack to cast him as Ernest "Truck" McCall in "The Spirit of Notre Dame".

Answer: Andy's Gang

Ed McConnell, the host of "Smilin' Ed McConnell and His Gang", died of a heart attack in 1954. Devine, who was still making "Wild Bill Hickok", was asked to take his place hosting the series. It was renamed "Andy's Gang". Devine was taunted by a misbehaving puppet named Froggy the Gremlin. Devine closed each programme by saying "And now, gang, don't forget church or Sunday school."

Answer: All of these are true.

Devine held an amateur (ham) operator's license using the call sign WB6RER. That call sign was transferred to the amateur radio operators club in his hometown which maintains it in his honour.

Devine partnered with Dick Probert to create the Probert-Devine Aviation Corporation which trained flyers for the US government during World War II. They flew out of Whiteman Airpark near Pacoima, California.

Disney tapped Devine to voice Friar Tuck in the cartoon production of "Robin Hood" (1973). Devine also voiced Cornelius the Rooster in television commercials for Kellogg's Corn Flakes.

Answer: two: for radio and television

Andy Devine died of leukemia on 18 February 1977 at the age of seventy-one in Orange, California. He is remembered by two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One, for radio, is located on the south side of the 6200 block of Hollywood Boulevard. The other, for television, is located on the south side of the 6300 block of Hollywood Boulevard. Why there is not star honouring his work in motion pictures is a mystery.