The Movie Should Be Made Trivia Quiz

Answer: James Dean

Dean's death on September 30th, 1955, came only days before the release of the second film in which he starred, "Rebel Without a Cause". Coming on the back of his success in "East of Eden", it cemented his legacy as a screen icon and teen idol. Dean became the first actor to receive a posthumous Oscar nomination for "East of Eden", and then received a second for his performance in "Giant".

The crash came as Dean was driving his new Porsche Spyder to a racetrack in northern California. As he drove along Route 466, towards the junction with Route 41, a car travelling in the opposite direction crossed his path. Dean's supposed last words, "He'll see us," proved sadly inaccurate.

Answer: Bela Lugosi

Lugosi was an actor with the Hungarian national theatre when he was forced to flee the country after revolution made the position of union activists extremely precarious (Lugosi had formed the Hungarian Actors Union). He arrived in the United States in 1921, via Austria and Germany, with more than a dozen silent films under his belt. However, it was his performance as "Dracula" on Broadway in 1927 that prompted Hollywood to call on his services. He was cast in the title role of Tod Browning's 1930 film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. On the back of its significant success, Lugosi was contracted to Universal studio, who used him in a series of horror movies.

By the 1950s, Lugosi had long fallen out of favour with Hollywood casting directors. However, Ed Wood's love of the actor meant that he could at least still get some work, including the cross-dressing drama, "Glen or Glenda". Lugosi's part in "Plan 9 from Outer Space" was cobbled together from footage shot outside the front door of his house in preparation for a completely different film, provisionally titled "Tomb of the Vampire". When Lugosi died of a heart attack in 1956, Wood shelved the film but retained the footage for use in his next film.

Answer: Oliver Reed

From a young age, Reed was a rabble-rouser. Expelled from 14 schools, he left education illiterate and innumerate. Nevertheless, as he entered his thirties, he earned both critical praise and public recognition for his roles in such films as "Oliver!" (1968) and "Women in Love" (1969).

Sadly, by the end of his career, Reed was possibly better known for his drinking than he was for his acting abilities. Appearances in successful films had become infrequent. During a location shoot in Malta for "Gladiator" (2000), Reed began a drinking session at a local bar that lasted for several hours. It ended with Reed collapsing and dying from a heart attack.

As well as the high-cost technical solutions that Ridley Scott used to finish Reed's part in "Gladiator", he also resorted to a much lower tech option as well, replacing Reed in one scene with a mannequin. Reed was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA for his part in the movie, losing out to Benicio del Toro for "Traffic".

Answer: John Landis

Vic Morrow died alongside two Asian children, six-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen and seven-year-old My-Ca Dinh Le during the shooting of a segment called "Time Out". They had been filming a sequence set in Vietnam, where Morrow was attempting to escape US forces by carrying the two children across a river. As he waded through the river, a helicopter flew overhead and explosions went off all around. Tragically, as one fireball was ignited, the helicopter was far too close to the explosives and spun out of control as a consequence. As it crashed into the river it caused fatal injuries to Morrow and the children.

The failings in the production were considerable. Fire safety experts have stated that they had fears about the proximity of the explosives to the aircraft but did not approach director, John Landis, about them. Furthermore, the two children had been hired illegally and were being asked to work far later at night than regulations of the time permitted.

Landis was put on trial for "reckless and grossly negligent acts". In his testimony, he blamed the pilot and the special effects expert for not co-ordinating their roles, claiming it was not the director's responsibility to establish that they had done so. As the prosecution had decided not to try Landis and his producer for breaking child employment laws, the two of them were acquitted of all charges.

When "Twilight Zone: The Movie" was released in 1983, it received very poor reviews. One review stated that the film "hardly looks worth shooting, let alone dying for."

Answer: Bert Lahr

"The Night They Raided Minsky's" is a fictional account of how striptease was invented. Bert Lahr was an obvious choice for a part in the film, as he was well known from the burlesque circuit. However, his most famous role was that of the Cowardly Lion from the 1939 film version of "The Wizard of Oz".

His death was initially blamed on the damp conditions on the set of "Minsky's", which were believed to have caused pneumonia. However, unbeknownst to all, including himself, Lahr had been suffering from cancer and it was this that claimed his life.

Though Lahr's role was re-modelled through script changes and clever editing, a stand-in was used for a few crucial scenes that had not been shot prior to his death.

Ray Bolger played the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz", Jack Haley was the Tin Man and Frank Morgan played the Wizard himself.

Answer: John Candy

Candy appeared in two bar scenes in "Wagons East" (1994) but only acted in one. The second scene was shot with the movie's other actors and the stock from the first scene was cut into it after Candy's death, to mask his absence. For other incomplete scenes, a stand-in was used where possible and re-writes were done where it was not possible.

Sadly for Candy, his final movie was not amongst his most successful or most praiseworthy. He is better remembered for comedies such as "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (1987) and "Splash" (1984).

Answer: Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow was just 26 years of age when she passed away due to renal failure. Her tragically early demise came as a result of a refusal to seek medical help for her condition. There are conflicting reports of whether this refusal was Harlow's own choice or whether her mother refused the treatment due to her religious beliefs.

Harlow had made her name in films such as "Platinum Blonde" (1931) and "Red Dust" (1932). By the time she started filming "Saratoga" (1937) she was a superstar, as was her co-star, Clark Gable. Harlow collapsed on set with around 90% of the film in the can. In order to complete the film, director Jack Conway hired three doubles, one for close-up shots, one for long shots and one for the voice. The shots of the doubles were taken from behind and often had the actor wearing a large hat. Where even this technique wasn't viable, Conway had the script changed to write out Harlow's character.

Though the production of the final few scenes suffered for the actor's absence, the box office takings didn't. "Saratoga" was the third highest grossing film of the year in the US, behind "Maytime" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".

Answer: Natalie Wood

Exactly what happened on the night after Thanksgiving, 1981 remains unknown. The facts that are known are that Wood was staying on the yacht, "Splendour", moored off Santa Catalina island, California. With her were co-star, Christopher Walken and husband, Robert Wagner along with the yacht's skipper. At some time after midnight Wood, who had retired to her cabin, whilst the men stayed up talking, went up on to the deck, slipped and fell overboard.

Despite her cries for help, which were reckoned to have gone on for up to 15 minutes, the response from the yacht was reported to have been relaxed and it was some time before a search was begun. Two hours into the search, her lifeless body was found a mile downstream from the yacht.

Director Douglas Trumbull was faced with a production company that wanted to cut its losses and close the production down. Unfortunately for them, Trumbull's contract stipulated that he had the final say on the matter and he insisted on completing the film, to the detriment of his career in Hollywood. The film was finally released in 1983 to critical approval. However, its positive reception was not matched at the box office, where it fared poorly.

Answer: Bruce Lee

The unexpected death of Bruce Lee in 1973, has led to many lurid and extravagant reports. The simple facts are that Lee complained of headaches after a lunch with the producer of his film, "Game of Death" and took some pills for pain relief. He went for a lie down and when his producer tried to rouse him later that evening, he was unable to. An ambulance was called but Lee was dead on arrival. He had suffered a severe swelling of the brain. He was just 32 years old.

The cause of the swelling is what has been speculated upon. The explanation that resulted from the official investigation of his death blamed the swelling on a reaction to the headache medication. However, a martial arts magazine claimed, in 1985, that Lee had received a Dim Mak blow (also known as a "death touch" or "vibrating palm" strike) and the swelling was a delayed reaction to that blow.

The making of "Game of Death" was suspended when Lee received a lucrative offer from Hollywood to make "Enter the Dragon" (1973). The film was released just three weeks after Lee's death and was a spectacular success worldwide. "Game of Death" was eventually pieced together from more than 50 hours of footage that Lee had shot prior to his death. It was released in 1978.

Answer: Heath Ledger

When Heath Ledger's death, aged just 29, came in early 2008, production was halted on "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus". Discussions began about how it could be carried on. As Ledger had not filmed any of the scenes inside the Imaginarium, Gilliam imaginatively re-worked the script so that his part could be completed by other actors. The three actors chosen to fulfil the role were Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law.

At the time of his death, the whole world was eagerly anticipating the release of Ledger's previous film, "The Dark Knight". The second film in Christopher Nolan's series of "Batman" movies proved a massive worldwide success and the common consent was that Ledger's performance was the film's highlight. The Academy agreed and, in 2009, Ledger was posthumously awarded the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. It was Ledger's second Oscar nomination, having lost out on the Best Actor prize in 2006 for "Brokeback Mountain" to Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of "Capote".