Silent Silver Screen Sobriquets Quiz

Answer: Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford (1892-1979), born Gladys Louise Smith, was called "The Girl with the Curls" before she became famous as "America's Sweetheart." Some of the movies she produced and starred in were "The Poor Little Rich Girl" (1917), "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1917), "Pollyanna" (1920) and "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1921).

She was a co-founder of both United Artists and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Answer: Roscoe Arbuckle

Roscoe Arbuckle (1887-1933): The opening credits and movie title cards made reference to Roscoe Arbuckle as "Fatty" but no-one ever called him that. Even a casual lip reader can tell the other characters in his movies call him by his first name. A very popular comedian, writer and director; he was involved in a scandal in which he was tried three times for manslaughter. Even though he was acquitted each time the damage had been done and his career never again saw the glory he once knew.

Answer: Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton (1895-1966) started acting in vaudeville at the age of four. He discovered that the audience seemed to laugh more when he kept a straight face. He carried this over to his movie career in which he acted, wrote, directed and became known for his stunts and physical comedy. "Sherlock, Jr." (1924), "Steamboat Bill, Jr." (1928) and "The General" (1926) were some of his best movies.

Answer: Lon Chaney

Born Leonidas Frank Chaney, Lon Chaney (1883-1930) was well known for his character roles and his talent with makeup. The lead roles in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923) and "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925) are his two most acclaimed. Chaney earned his nickname playing cripples, clowns, Chinese men, tough guys, characters without arms or legs and even a grandmother. "Don't step on that spider! It might be Lon Chaney!" was a saying during the 1920s.
His son, Lon Chaney Jr. (1906-1973) was born Creighton Tull Chaney. He was not a silent movie actor.

Answer: Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo started acting in Sweden in 1920. Her first American made movie was "The Torrent" in 1926. "Flesh and the Devil" (1926), "The Mysterious Lady" (1928) and "A Woman of Affairs" (1928) were just three of the many silents movies in which she starred. One of the last silent era actresses to have a speaking role, it wasn't until "Anna Christie" in 1930 when audiences first heard her voice.

Answer: Carole Lombard

Director Mitchell Leisen said Carole Lombard was called the "Profane Angel" because she looked like an angel and swore like a sailor. She had mostly small roles in the 1920s and developed into a respected comedy actress in the 1930s. She was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress for her role in "My Man Godfrey" (1936). In 1942, at age 33, she died in a plane crash.

Answer: Eric von Stroheim

Austrian-born Eric von Stroheim (1885-1957) played several conniving German roles during the WWI era meriting his famous nickname. He was a very demanding director with the actors and often went over the budget to the chagrin of the producers. Probably his best-known role is as Max, Norma's (Gloria Swanson) butler in "Sunset Boulevard" (1950)

Answer: Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow (1911-1937) made several short films at the end of the silent era in the late 1920s. Her role as Helen in "Hell's Angels" of 1930 turned her into "a star" even though her acting was suspect. "The Public Enemy" (1931), "Red-Headed Woman" (1932), "Dinner at Eight" (1933) and "Wife vs. Secretary" (1936) were other popular movies of hers. She died of kidney failure at age twenty-six as a super star to be remembered.

Answer: Rudolph Valentino

Rodolfo Alfonzo Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (Rudolph Valentino) left Italy for the USA in 1913, when he was eighteen, and began acting a year later next year. Several years passed before his role as Julio Desnoyers in "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" (1921) made him a household name.

His role as Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan in "The Sheik" (1921) caused women to faint in theaters. A follow-up movie, "The Son of the Sheik," was released in 1926 several weeks after his tragic death at age 31.

Answer: Clara Bow

Clara Bow (1905-1965), born in Brooklyn, New York, had red hair and was first called "The Brooklyn Bonfire". Known as a flapper and an inspiration for the Betty Boop cartoon character, Clara almost set the silver screen on fire with her saucy, brazen performance in "It" (1927). She turned up the sex appeal to get her man (Antonio Moreno) and will ever be known as "The 'It' Girl."