Wonderful Worldly Women Trivia Quiz

Answer: Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLean Beaty was born in 1934, three years before her brother, Warren Beaty. Both siblings changed their names slightly on entering the entertainment industry - Shirley adapted her middle name (and mother's maiden name) to become Shirley MacLaine, while Warren added an extra 't' to their surname to become Warren Beatty. MacLaine's Hollywood career began in 1955 with 'The Trouble with Harry' and earned her a Golden Globe for 'New Star of the Year'. A few years later she obtained her first Academy Award nomination for 1958's 'Some Came Running'. It took a further five nominations before she finally won the Best Actress Oscar for 'Terms of Endearment' in 1983.

In addition to her film career that spanned more than seven decades, she also had some notable roles on TV - these included 'Shirley's World' in the early 1970s and a guest role in the hit series 'Downton Abbey' in the 2010s.

Martine Carol, Marlene Dietrich and Beatrice Lillie were all older actresses who had cameo roles in 'Around the World in 80 Days'.

Answer: Julianne Moore

In the first 'Jurassic Park' sequel, Julianne Moore (born Julie Anne Smith) played Dr Sarah Harding, the girlfriend of Dr Ian Malcolm - a key character from the original movie. She has also appeared in numerous critically acclaimed movies, including Magnolia (1999), 'The Hours' (2002), 'A Single Man' (2009) as well as her Oscar-winning role in 'Still Alice'.

Her 'Freckleface Strawberry' series of books are aimed at young children and include positive messages to promote self-esteem and discourage bullying. The name of the eponymous character is based on Moore's own childhood experiences of being teased about both her freckles and her red hair.

Laura Dern starred in the original 'Jurassic Park' movie; Tea Leoni appeared in 'Jurassic Park III'; and Bryce Dallas Howard appeared in later sequels, beginning with 'Jurassic World'.

Answer: Denise Richards

Denise Richard's acting career started with minor appearances on well-known 1990s TV shows such as 'Saved by the Bell', 'Beverley Hills, 90210', 'Seinfeld' and 'Melrose Place' before playing Dr Christmas Jones alongside Pierce Brosnan in the 'Bond' movie 'The World is Not Enough'. Unfortunately, this role didn't turn out wonderfully for Richards as she received the Golden Raspberry Worst Actress award for it.

'Denise Richards: It's Complicated' followed the lives of Richards and her two daughters from her marriage to Charlie Sheen, with guest appearances by other members of her family. It was widely panned by TV critics (not unsurprisingly for this type of celebrity reality series) and was cancelled after two series. She later had a guest appearance on the more successful 'The Real Housewives of Beverley Hills' and joined its main cast for the 2019 series.

The incorrect options all appeared in 'The World is Not Enough', but Judi Dench's M can hardly be classed as a 'Bond Girl' and the actual Bond girl (Samantha) played M's secretary Miss Moneypenny.

Answer: Claudette Colbert

Claudette Colbert emigrated to the USA at the age of three in 1906 and grew up in New York City. She was born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin and used her grandmother's maiden name as her stage name. Her professional acting career began on Broadway in the 1920s and she soon moved into film when a stage background proved to be useful experience for appearing in the then new "talkie" movies. In addition to her roles in 'It Happened One Night' and 'It's A Wonderful World', she also played the title role in the 1934 Cecil B. DeMille film 'Cleopatra' and received two further Oscar nominations for Best Actress for 1936's 'Private Worlds' and for 'Since You Went Away' in 1945. She stopped making films in the mid-1950s but continued to make appearances on Broadway and TV over the following decades. She received a Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actress in 1988 for her role in 'The Two Mrs. Grenvilles'. She died in 1996 the age of 92.

The incorrect options all appeared alongside Colbert in 'It's a Wonderful World' or 'It Happened One Night'. Frances Drake and (Edna) Cecil Cunningham were in the former and Blanche Friderici was in the latter.

Answer: Renee Zellweger

The series in question is the 'Bridget Jones' films, which starred Renee Zellweger as the somewhat ditsy Bridget and Colin Firth as her love interest, Mr Darcy. The first film, 'Bridget Jones's Diary', was released in 2001 and required Zellweger to put on a considerable amount of weight, smoke and speak with a British accent - the latter of which must have been quite a challenge given that she was born and brought up in the city of Katy, Texas. However, her efforts paid off as she received critical acclaim for her performance, as well as Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. She went on to actually win all of these awards two years later for her role in 'Cold Mountain'.

In her personal life, Zellweger briefly became engaged to fellow actor Jim Carrey in 1999 and had a short-lived (and later annulled) marriage to country singer Kenny Chesney in 2005.

The incorrect options are all other American actresses who were born in Texas.

Answer: Keira Knightley

London-born actress Keira Knightley played Elizabeth Swann in the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie series - but the character did not appear in the fourth film 'On Stranger Tides'. She is also noted for playing another Elizabeth - Elizabeth Bennet - in the 2005 film adaptation of the Jane Austen novel 'Pride and Prejudice', for which she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Other films that starred Knightley include 'Love Actually' (2003), 'Atonement' (2007), 'The Duchess (2008), 'Anna Karenina' (2012) and 'The Imitation Game' (2014).

Knightley has also been a prominent in supporting various charity initiatives run by a number of organisations, including the UN, Amnesty International, Comic Relief and Women's Aid.

The incorrect options are all actresses born in 1985, but they are American rather than British.

Answer: Emma Bunton

The Spice Girls were a phenomenally successful British girl band who first shot to fame in the mid-1990s. Nine of their songs reached number one on the UK Singles Chart between 1996 and 2000 - only one single released during this period failed to reach the top slot ('Stop' stopped just short at number two). Each member of the band had a nickname, which often reflected their own stage costumes and personas - Geri Halliwell was Ginger Spice, Victoria Beckham (nee Adams) was Posh Spice, Mel C(hisholm) was Sporty Spice, Mel B(rown) was Scary Spice and Emma Bunton - the last member to join the band before they shot to fame - became Baby Spice. While their music was hugely successful, their foray into film with 'Spice World' drew a scornful reaction from the critics and earned them a collective Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress.

Outside of the Spice Girls, Emma Bunton has had a solo music career (and her own UK number one with 'What Took You So Long?'), had cameo roles in a range of TV shows from Australian soap opera 'Neighbours' to hit comedy 'Absolutely Fabulous', acted as a mentor or judge on the UK edition of 'The X Factor' and 'Dancing on Ice'.

Answer: Dakota Fanning

Dakota Fanning's movie career started in 2001 when she played the role of Sean Penn's daughter in 'I Am Sam'. Her performance resulted in her setting a new record for the youngest actress to receive a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2005's 'War of the Worlds' she played Rachel Ferrier, a young girl who, along with her family, is caught up in the aftermath of an alien invasion of Earth. Unlike some other child stars, Fanning later developed a successful acting career as an adult, with appearances in the 'Twilight Saga' movie series and 2018's 'Ocean's 8'. She also branched out into modelling.

Elle Fanning is four years younger than her sister and first came to prominence in films such as 'Reservation Road' (2007) and 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' (2008). However, her first on screen appearance dated back to when she played a younger version of Dakota's character in 'I Am Sam' at just three years of age.

The incorrect options are all one half of a pair of acting sisters, but Zooey Deschanel's sibling is named Emily, Jessica Simpson's is called Ashlee, and Mary-Kate's twin is Ashley Olsen.

Answer: Glenn Close

Glenn Close began her illustrious acting career on the stages around Broadway in the mid-1970s, before moving into both TV and film - as both an actress and a producer. Her success in all of these fields is illustrated by the fact that she has won Golden Globe, Emmy, Tony and Screen Actors Guild awards. In addition to playing the mother of Robin Williams' character in 'The World According to Garp', she has provided the voice for Homer Simpson's mother in the animated series 'The Simpsons'. Her other well-known roles include Alex Forrest in 'Fatal Attraction' and Cruella de Vil in '101 Dalmatians'.

Her adult life in the movie industry provides a stark contrast to the 15 years she spent during her childhood and teenage years as a member of Moral Re-Armament (MRA), an organisation she later described as a "cult-like group...where everybody is supposed to say the same things and act in the same way".

The incorrect options are all American actresses born in the same year as Glenn Close.

Answer: Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall first found fame in the early 1940s as a model for iconic magazines such as 'Vogue' and 'Harper's Bazaar', which brought her to the attention of film producer Howard Hawks and kickstarted her acting career as one of Hollywood's leading ladies. Her career spanned eight decades, but some of her most famous movies, such as 'To Have and Have Not', 'The Big Sleep' and 'Key Largo', all date from the 1940s. She received her only Academy Award nomination for 'The Mirror Has Two Faces' in 1996, but was given the Academy Honorary Award in 2009 "in recognition of her central place in the Golden Age of motion pictures."

Bacall had a son and a daughter with her first husband Humphrey Bogart (her co-star from 'To Have and Have Not', 'Dark Passage' and 'Key Largo'), who she was married to from 1945 until his death in 1957. She later married and had another son with the actor Jason Robards. She died in 2014 at the age of 89.

Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortensen, Judy Garland's birth name was Frances Ethel Gumm, and Barbara Stanwyck changed her name from Ruby Catherine Stevens.