Star Tracks Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks was born in Brooklyn as Melvin Kaminsky. Some of his most famous works include the "2000 Year Old Man" routine with Carl Reiner as well as directing such films as "The Producers", "Young Frankenstein", and "Blazing Saddles". He won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "The Producers" while "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles" were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Song respectively.

He is an EGOT award winner having won Emmys, Grammys, an Oscar, and Tonys.

Answer: George Burns

George Burns was born in New York City as Nathan Birnbaum. He started in vaudeville. He teamed up with a lady he met named Gracie Allen who would also become his wife. Eventually they also worked in movies, radio, and television until Gracie passed away in 1964.

Burns remained active in show biz into his late 90s. On January 20, 1996 he turned 100 but passed away in early March of that year.

He has three stars on the walk of fame. One is for live performance, one for motion pictures, and one for television. The one for live performance is right next to Gracie Allen's star.

Answer: James Caan

James Caan has been in many films including playing Sonny Corleone in "The Godfather" and Paul Sheldon in "Misery". He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for the former role.

His son Scott was the costar of the remake of "Hawaii Five-0".

Answer: Joanne Woodward

Joanne Woodward won a Best Actress Academy Award for her role as the title character in "The Three Faces of Eve" which came out in 1957. The following year she married Paul Newman and the two remained married for 50 years until his death in 2008.

Unlike George Burns and Gracie Allen, her star is not next to her husband's.

Answer: Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey Bogart was voted the number one male star in AFI's 100 years...100 stars list in 1999. He starred in "Casablanca" which had been voted the number two movie in AFI's 100 years...100 movies list a year earlier (although it dropped to number three in the tenth anniversary of the list).

He also starred in "The African Queen", "The Maltese Falcon", and "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", all of which made the list. He was responsible for uttering five of the quotes in the 2005 list 100 years...100 movie quotes which was two more than anyone else.

Answer: Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep's first Academy Award win was for Best Supporting Actress as Joanna Kramer in "Kramer vs. Kramer" in 1980. Three years later she won her first Best Actress award for playing the title role in "Sophie's Choice". Although she was nominated for Best Actress twelve times between then and 2010, it wasn't until she played Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady" that she won again in 2012.

Answer: Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh appeared in one of the most famous and terrifying scenes in motion picture history when, as Marion Crane, she was murdered in the shower in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "Psycho". Although she didn't win, that role was responsible for her only Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. She was in over 50 films, primarily between 1947 and 1972, with only a handful between then and her death in 2004.

She, her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis, and her ex-husband, Tony Curtis, all have stars on the walk of fame for motion pictures.

Answer: James Stewart

James Stewart starred in numerous films including "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", "It's a Wonderful Life", and several films directed by Alfred Hitchcock. He was nominated for five Best Actor Academy Awards although his only win was in 1941 for "The Philadelphia Story".

James took over five years off from film making due to World War 2, enlisting as a private in the air corps several months prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He remained with the reserves after he was no longer in the military full time and was promoted to Brigadier General in 1959. Although long since retired from active duty, President Reagan promoted him to Major General.

Answer: Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster was a child star acting in several TV shows and films prior to her teens including playing Becky Thatcher in the 1973 version of "Tom Sawyer". When she was thirteen she played a child prostitute in "Taxi Driver" which earned her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In her twenties she won two Best Actress awards, one for Sarah Tobias in "The Accused" and the other for Clarice Starling in "The Silence of the Lambs".

When she was in college she was stalked by John Hinkley, Jr. who attempted to assassinate President Reagan in 1981 in an attempt to impress her.

Answer: Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple had two separate and distinct careers. As a child and young adult she appeared in almost 50 films between the ages of 3 and 21. When she was six she sang "The Good Ship Lollipop" in the film "Bright Eyes". Although she was never nominated for a traditional Academy Award, she did receive an Honorary Juvenile Award at the age of six. Although she stopped acting in films as an adult she maintained and entertainment career in radio and television into her 30s.

Her second career was in politics and diplomacy. After failing as a candidate for Congress she was appointed as a delegate to the UN General Assembly by President Nixon. She was later appointed ambassador to Ghana by President Ford and ambassador to Czechoslovakia by the first President Bush, serving in the latter role during the Velvet Revolution and leaving the role less than six months prior to the breakup into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.