Rita and Her Amigos Trivia Quiz

Answer: Fred Astaire

Rita Hayworth, born Margarita Carmen Cansino, never danced with the other three! Her two films with Fred Astaire are "You'll Never Get Rich" (1941) and "You Were Never Lovelier" (1942); Rita named them her favorites of her films. Fred, by the by, paid tribute to Robinson in the "Bojangles of Harlem" number in "Swing Time". George Murphy left showbiz for politics.

Answer: Ginger Rogers

Actually, Rita and Ginger were cousins by marriage, not blood: Rita's uncle Vinton married Ginger's aunt Jean Owens. Ginger teamed with Fred ten times, starting with "Flying Down to Rio" (1933) and ending with "The Barkleys of Broadway" (1949).

Answer: Judy Garland

Lena Horne never teamed with Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly; Jane Powell starred with Fred in "Royal Wedding" and Debbie Reynolds was in Gene's masterpiece, "Singin' in the Rain". Judy teamed twice with Gene, in "For Me and My Gal" and "The Pirate", and with Fred in "Easter Parade". Fred and Gene teamed in the "Babbit and the Bromide" number in "Ziegfeld Follies" (a high point of the film!) and "That's Entertainment! Part 2".

Answer: James Mason

It was George Cukor's "A Star Is Born". Judy was in top vocal fettle; her rendition of "The Man That Got Away" (lyrics by "Wizard of Oz" alumni Harold Arlen) is unforgetable. And Mason, usually typecast as suave villians, proved his acting chops as the pahethic but noble Norman Maine. Fredric March, in the 30's version, played him as an unlikeable whiner, especially in the Oscar ceremony scene, while Mason's pleading for a job in the later version grabs your heart.

The other three couldn't pull that off! Sadly, Garland's career tanked after the film.

Answer: Lucille Ball

Mason co-starred with Ball and Desi Arnaz in the '56 comedy "Forever Darling". They are a couple on the verge of divorce and Mason is a guardian angel sent to save their marriage. (In real life, Lucy and Desi's relationship was tumultous, to say the least.)

Answer: Maureen O'Hara

O'Hara was the constant co-star of John Wayne in the 1950s, probably best known for the Irish comedy-drama "The Quiet Man". She and Lucy starred in the 1940 film "Dance Girl, Dance", directed by Dorothy Arzner, one of the very few women directing in those days.

Answer: Errol Flynn

O'Hara DID team with the other three: with Wilde in "At Sword's Point", Henreid in "The Spanish Main" and Fairbanks Jr. in "Sinbad the Sailor". But she swash- buckled with Flynn in "Against All Flags". Forget the inferior 67 remake "The King's Pirate"!

Answer: Tyrone Power

Ohio born Tyrone Power crossed swords with Basil Rathbone (best known as Sherlock Holmes) in "The Mark of Zorro"; Rathbone was Flynn's foe in "Captain Blood", which made Flynn a star ("Blood" was penned by Rafael Sabatini, who also gave us "The Black Swan", which would star Power) and "Robin Hood".

Answer: Kim Novak

Novak starred with James Stewart in Hitchcock's masterwork "Vertigo". In "The Eddy Duchin Story" Power had the title role, with Novak as his wife. North was a starlet at the time, Mansfield was famed for "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" and "The Girl Can't Help It", and Wilson was dumb blonde Irma in the radio comedy series "My Friend Irma" (she made two movies from it).

Answer: Rita Hayworth

Back to senorita Rita! She and Kim clashed over Frank in the film of "Pal Joey" form the book by John O'Hara, which he helped to make the libretto from. Adios, amigos!