Agatha Christie's "Witness for the Prosecution" Quiz

Answer: The Hound of Death

'Witness for the Prosecution' first appeared in 'The Hound of Death'. In 1948 it was republished, along with five other stories from this 1933 collection, as 'Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories'.

Answer: Agatha Christie made all of these comments

Agatha Christie made all of these comments in her autobiography. She also said 'I had to fight desperately for my chosen end to the play. Nobody liked it, nobody wanted it, everyone said it would spoil the whole thing. Everyone ... wanted a different end, preferably one used in the original short story I had written years ago.

But a short story is not a play ... I got my end and it was successful'.

Answer: All of these choices are correct

All of these characters were created by Agatha Christie for the play, but they did not appear in the original short story. In the story, the 'famous KC who was engaged for the defence' is not named initially, although there are two casual references to 'Sir Charles' later on. Mr Mayherne was the solicitor in the short story, but Mr Mayhew was the solicitor in the play.

Answer: Romaine Vole

Romaine Vole, also known as Romaine Heilger, the accused's wife, was expected to appear for the defence but instead was the witness for the prosecution referred to in the title. Emily French was the elderly lady Leonard Vole was accused of murdering. Janet Mackenzie, the housekeeper, was also a witness for the prosecution. Read the story to find out the significance of Mrs Mogson.

Answer: Christine Helm

In the short story, the character was named Romaine Heilger (also known as Romaine Vole). However, her name was changed to Christine Helm for the movie version to avoid confusion with the vegetable, romaine lettuce.

Answer: They were husband and wife

Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester were husband and wife in real life. Both were nominated for Academy Awards for their roles.

Answer: None

Unfortunately it did not win any, losing four times to 'Bridge on the River Kwai' and twice to 'Sayonara'. However, this movie is a cinema classic. Charles Laughton was nominated for Best Actor and Elsa Lanchester was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

Many people felt that Marlene Dietrich should have been nominated for Best Actress and blamed the director, Billy Wilder, for her omission from the nominations.

Answer: Tyrone Power

Tyrone Power played the role of the accused, Leonard Vole. William Holden was the first choice for Leonard but he was unavailable. Tyrone Power was the second choice but he turned it down. Other actors were considered for the role but eventually Tyrone was persuaded to accept it.

After this film, he went on to play Solomon in 'Solomon and Sheba' but died of a heart attack during a duelling scene. He was replaced by Yul Brynner.

Answer: Miss Plimsoll, Sir Wilfred's nurse

Miss Plimsoll, Sir Wilfred's nurse, was a character invented by director Billy Wilder to add a comic angle and some additional suspense to the plot. The scenes where Sir Wilfred battles with, and tries to outwit, the dedicated Miss Plimsoll's efforts to prevent him working and drinking are hilarious. Sir Wilfred's precarious health also adds to the suspense - will he survive the trial? Sir Wilfred's illness was never mentioned in the original story.

Answer: Beau Bridges

Beau Bridges played Leonard Vole, supported by Diana Rigg as his wife and Sir Ralph Richardson as his barrister. Bill Bixby, Roddy McDowall and Anthony Andrews have starred in other Agatha Christie TV-movies.