Moms in Movies and on TV Trivia Quiz

Answer: Edna Turnblad

John Waters' film "Hairspray" came out in 1988 with Divine playing Edna Turnblad, mother of the lead character Tracy Turnblad. The film was set in Baltimore in the 1960s with Tracy (played by Rickie Lake) as an overweight teenager who auditions for "The Corny Collins Show" and wins.

The movie was remade in 2007, this time with Edna being portrayed by John Travolta (Tony Manero himself) playing the mother, opposite Christopher Walken as the father Wilbur Turnblad. If you can think of an odder couple, please let me know!

Answer: Carolyn Jones

The "Addams Family" ran from 1964 to 1966, with Carolyn Jones (1930-1983) in the role of Morticia Addams, wife of Gomez and mother of Pugsley and Wednesday. She played the part with straight-faced brilliance. Did you know that Carolyn Jones was married in April 1953 to...Aaron Spelling? They divorced in 1965.

In 1981 she was diagnosed with colon cancer and died a couple of years later.

Answer: Mary Tyler Moore

"Ordinary People" (1980) directed by Robert Redford and starring Mary Tyler Moore, usually a comic actress, who was chosen to play the very serious role of Beth Jarrett whose older son had accidentally died. The film shows how the family members, i.e., she, husband Calvin (Donald Sutherland) and son Conrad (Timothy Hutton) try to cope. MTM was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the film and won a Golden Globe. Add that to her other Emmy Awards and her 1987 Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy and, it indicates that as an actress, she can do just about anything.

Answer: Lois Wilkerson

"Malcolm in the Middle" ran from 2000 to 2006. It was about the dysfunctional family of Hal and Lois and their four sons. While their last name was rarely mentioned, they were the Wilkersons, with Frankie Muniz in the title role. As Lois, she was a shrieking control-freak opposite her hairy husband Hal (played by Bryan Cranston), her oldest son Francis who escaped the household early, potential felon Reese, spacey Dewey and genius Malcolm. Frankie Muniz narrates the trials and tribulations of this most unusual family. Jane Kaczmarek was married to the "West Wing's" Bradley Whitford, and has appeared on a number of TV shows like "Party of Five".

Answer: Monique Hicks

Lee Daniels' film, "Precious", came out in 2009. Monique Hicks as Mo'Nique (her stage name) won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing Mary Jones, mother of 16 year old Claireece 'Precious' Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) who is an illiterate, overweight teenager who has been raped by her father (with her mother's knowledge). Mary Jones is an unfeeling, abusive parent whom you hate for the evil inside her, and Mo'Nique is superb at making us despise her even though we come to understand her at the end. Mo'Nique began as a stand-up comic and went on to starring as Nikki Parker in the TV show "The Parkers".

Answer: Debra Jo Rupp

While all the choices above have appeared on the sitcom "That 70s Show" (1998-2006), it is Debra Jo Rupp who plays the sweet, caring, sane mother opposite her stern husband, put-upon son and the crazy years of the decade of the 1970s. Did you know that Debra Jo was also on "Friends" on the third, fourth and fifth seasons? She played Alice-Knight Buffay, Phoebe's sister-in-law, for whom Phoebe was the surrogate mother of triplets. Rupp's first TV role in 1980 was as Sheila, a topless dancer, on "All My Children".

She has come quite a long way!

Answer: Mia Farrow

The part of Rosemary Woodhouse was well-acted by Mia Farrow, the innocent wife to whom the unspeakable happens. "Rosemary's Baby", from the book by Ira Levin, was chillingly directed by Roman Polanski in 1968. Mia Farrow, the daughter of actress Maureen O'Sullivan and film director John Farrow, has had her share of both fame and notoriety in her life.

She started out as a fashion model and then went on to fame as Allison MacKenzie in the TV soap opera "Peyton Place". She has been married to Frank Sinatra and Andre Previn, and has had Woody Allen for a partner and the subsequent husband of her adopted daughter.

Her whole life is a soap opera!

Answer: Alex Borstein

Alex Borstein voices the role of Lois Griffin, the long-suffering wife of Peter, and mother to Meg, Chris and Stewie on Seth MacFarlane's animated show "Family Guy', which began airing in 1999. Alex could also be seen on MADtv from 1997-2009, where she played a host of weird characters like Ms. Swan whose catchphrase was "He look like a man" (which was actually funnier than it seems).

She has also been a writer and voice actor for other TV shows, including "Casper" and "Pinky and the Brain". In 2010 she joined the cast of the Showtime dramedy "Shameless", as both a writer and producer.

Answer: Carolyn Burnham

Annette Bening had a starring role in "American Beauty" (1999), as the wife of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) who was going through a mid-life crisis in a big way. Carolyn Burnham was a tenacious real-estate agent who wound up having an affair with the 'Real Estate King', Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher); she was also having a tough time with Lester's weird behavior.

She had a gun...there was a gunshot, but it's not what you think. The other choices are also from Bening's movies, i.e., Myra Lantree with "The Grifters, Sydney Ellen Wade in "The American President", and Deirdre Burroughs in "Running with Scissors".

Answer: Michael Learned

I can still hear the theme song from Walton's Mountain in my head after all these years. "The Waltons", about a Depression era family, aired from 1971 to 1981, with (Ms.) Michael Learned playing Olivia, mother of seven living children: John Jr., Jason, Mary Ellen, Erin, Ben, Jim-Bob and Elizabeth. There was an eighth child, Jim-Bob's twin brother, Joseph Zebulon, but he died at birth. In the meantime, Learned won three Best Actress Emmy Awards for the role, and a fourth Emmy for the TV series "Nurse" in 1981.
(Did you notice that all the choices included actresses with male first names?)