Samuel Fuller Trivia Quiz

Answer: Worcester, Mass.

Born August 12th, 1912, in Worcester, Fuller was a fellow Bay Stater of such greats as Robert Preston, Bette Davis, Jack Lemmon and director William Wellman.

Answer: Polish and Russian

Fuller's mother, Rebecca Baum, was Polish and his father Benjamin was Russian. Both were Jewish.

Answer: Six

He had three brothers, Ving (for Irving), Tom, and Ray, and three sisters, Tina, Rose, and Evelyn.

Answer: cartoonist

Fuller loved to draw from childhood, and though Ving was the better artist, Fuller often filled his soldier's journals and letters to his mother with his cartoons during his WW2 service.

Answer: As a newspaper seller

After his family moved to Manhattan, Fuller earned some money for them hawking papers on New York streets. When he was shown the workings of a press by one of his early bosses, young Sammy was smitten and wanted to be a reporter.

Answer: New York Journal American

All you comic fans know what the last paper is! William Randolph Hearst owned the Journal American; he, of course inspired Welles' "Citizen Kane". Sammy was first a copy boy, then runner for the paper's legendary editor-in-chief Arthur Brisbane; the two became fast friends.

Answer: New York Evening Graphic

Fuller finally achieved his dream on this, one of the first of the "tabloid" papers that printed often shocking stories of scandal and lurid crime. One of his first stories was the death by drug overdose of famed actress Jeanne Eagels.

Answer: I Should Have Stayed Home

"I Should Have Stayed Home" was the work of Horace "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" McCoy. The rest are Fuller's, inspired by his experiences as taboid reporter.

Answer: false

"Dark Page" was filmed as "Scandal Sheet" by fellow director Phil Karlson. The experience was crucial in Fuller's decision to direct his own scripts.

Answer: 1936

Fuller's first script, "Hats Off" was directed by Boris Petroff.

Answer: 1st U.S. Infantry Division

It was known as "The Big Red One" because of its insignia, and Fuller wold pay tribute to it, first in a novel, then in perhaps his greatest war film. The war would become Fuller's central experience.

Answer: Col. George A. Taylor

Corporal Fuller befriended Taylor. Taylor said, during the D-Day storming of Normandy, "Only two kinds of men will stay here, those who dead and those are going to die! So let's get off this beach and die inland!" Fuller paid tribute to Taylor and his words in "Steel Helmet". He didn't think highly of Patton.

Answer: Alfred Hitchcock

Fuller met the Master of Suspense through a cousin of Hitch's who ran a grocery store where Fuller spent his weekends. Hitch was filming a documentary. Fuller also met Marlene Dietrich, James Cagney and was photographed by legendary Robert Capa.

Answer: Griff

Griff survived a mine explosion. Though he lost his arms and legs, his will to survive kept him going. Among the "Griffs" in Fuller's films are Griff Bonnell in "Forty Guns", Griff in "House of Bamboo" and Mark Hamill's (!) Griff in "The Big Red One". The others are from "Merrill's Marauders" and "China Gate".

Answer: Robert L. Lippert

Lippert took a chance on beginner Fuller and backed his first three films: "I Shot Jesse James", "The Baron of Arizona" and "The Steel Helmet".

Answer: Robert Mitchum

Evans debuted in "Helmet", Widmark did "Pickup on South Street" and "Hell and High Water" and Stack starred in "House of Bamboo".

Answer: Park Row

"Park Row" was Fuller's personal valentine to the newspaper business he knew and loved. He produced it himself at Uniited Artists. The other three and "House of Bamboo" were made at Fox. Though it wasn't a success, "Park Row" was one of Fuller's favorites of his own films.

Answer: Five

They are: "The Steel Helmet", "Fixed Bayonets", "China Gate", set in early Vietnam, "Merrill's Marauders" and "The Big Red One". "Verboten" is set in post-ww2 Germany.

Answer: Three

"I Shot Jesse James", his directorial debut, "Run of The Arrow" and "Forty Guns".

Answer: true

Fuller helmed seven TV episodes for 'The Dick Powell Show', and the westerns "The Virginian" and "The Iron Horse". But he preferred film directing.

Answer: Scorsese

Fuller acted for Wim Wenders in "Hammett" and "The American Friend", for Godard in "Pierrot le Fou" and played a general in the Spielberg flop "1941".

Answer: Jeff Chandler

Chandler's last role was the title role in "Merrill's Merauders". Ives, who played in Fuller's "White Dog", won for "The Big Country". Marvin, the nameless sargeant of "Big Red One", won for "Cat Ballou". Steiger would win after "Run of The Arrow", for "In The Heat of The Night".

Answer: 2

Fuller's first wed Martha Downes, but the marriage eventually failed. His second wife, Christa Lang, gave him a daughter, Samantha. The marriage lasted until his death in 1997.

Answer: true

William Chun played Short Round in "Steel Helmet". In an ironic twist, the Short Round in Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" got the name because scripter Willard Huyck named his DOG for the Fuller character!

Answer: Surviving

Spoken by Robert Carradine at the end of "One", it could serve as the motto of Fuller's war films. Though it's "thirty" (newspaper lingo for "the end") for this quiz, Fuller's films are still beloved by cineastes the world over.