TV and Film Spanning the Atlantic 1 Quiz

Answer: The Brolins

James Brolin and his son, Josh Brolin, have both played former U.S. Presidents. Josh played George W Bush in "W" in 2008 and James played Ronald Reagan in the 2003 TV movie "The Reagans".
Of the alternatives, Greg Kinnear played J.F. Kennedy in the 2011 TV miniseries "The Kennedys". He does not, though, have a famous acting father or son.
Father and son Michael and Charlie Sheen have both played Presidents, but both were fictional holders of the office: Charlie played President Rathcock in the 2013 comedy film "Machete Kills" and Martin Sheen was famously President Josiah Bartlett in the TV series "West Wing" from 1999-2006.
Father and son Kirk and Michael Douglas have played plenty of memorable roles between them, but only Michael has played a President, and that a fictional one -- President Andrew Shepherd in the 1995 film "The American President".

Answer: Elizabeth Taylor

"Giant" is probably best-remembered as the third and last film in the short career of James Dean. He was killed in a car crash before the film was released and earned his second Best Actor nomination posthumously. The film won only one Oscar, which went to George Stevens for Best Director. Rock Hudson was also nominated in the Best Actor category, as was Mercedes McCambridge for Best Supporting Actress.

The lead female role in the film, Leslie Lynnton Benedict, was played by Elizabeth Taylor. Of the alternatives, Natalie Wood was Dean's co-star in "Rebel Without a Cause"; Jane Wyman co-starred with Hudson in "Magnificent Obsession"; Ingrid Bergman won the 1956 Best Actress Oscar for "Anastasia".

Answer: Sir David Jason

Born David John White in Middlesex in 1940, David Jason appeared in numerous UK TV series in his early days including "Crossroads", "Randall & Hopkirk" and "Doctor in the House" as well as "Porridge".
In the later 1960s, Jason had narrowly missed out on the role of Corporal Jones in "Dad's Army" -- he was offered the role when the first choice, Clive Dunn, had a schedule conflict but lost it when Dunn became available at the last minute.
Jason's first major role was opposite Ronnie Barker in the sitcom "Open All Hours", which began in 1976. It was as Del Boy in "Only Fools and Horses", which debuted in 1981, that he became a huge star. "The Darling Buds of May" and "A Touch of Frost" were the icing on an already-substantial cake.
Jason was awarded an OBE in 1993 and became "Sir Del Boy" in the tabloid headlines when he was knighted in 2005.

Answer: Raymond Burr

Born Raymond William Stacey Burr in New Westminster BC, Canada in 1917, he made his film debut in 1946 and made numerous movies in the decade that followed. He switched to TV in 1957 in the title role as "Perry Mason", which ran until 1966. In 1967, he began his second memorable TV role in "Ironside", which ran until 1975. He died at the age of 76 in 1993.

The alternatives all had memorable TV roles: Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker (1971-83), Telly Savalas as Kojak (1973-90) and Peter Falk as Columbo (1968-2003). They all also appeared in numerous major films: O'Connor was in "Cleopatra" with Taylor and Burton; both O'Connor and Savalas were in "Kelly's Heroes"; Savalas was in "The Dirty Dozen" and played arch-villain Ernst Blofeld in the James Bond film "On Her Majesty;s Secret Service"; Falk earned two Oscar nominations and was in "The Sunshine Boys" and starred in "The Princess Bride".

Answer: Cuesta Verde

Produced and co-written by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper, "Poltergeist" grossed more than $75 million in North America alone, making it the only horror film in the list of the year's top ten films. The Freeling family, real estate developer Stephen, his wife Diane, and their children Dana, Robbie and Carol Anne, live in the California suburb of Cuesta Verde. Unfortunately, the developers built the suburb on top of a cemetery, which is what leads to the family's problems.

Of the alternatives, Oakdale in the Illinois town that is the setting for the US TV soap "As the World Turns"; Pine Valley is the Philadelphia suburb where US daytime soap "All My Children" is set; and Zion is the fictional city, the last human settlement on Earth, in the "Matrix" film series.

Answer: Charlton Heston

Born John Charles Carter in the suburb of Wilmette on the north side of Chicago IL in 1923, Charlton Heston made his film debut in "Peer Gynt" in 1941. His last screen performance was as the voice of the title character in an animated TV version of "Ben Hur" in 2003. He won the Best Actor Oscar in 1959 for "Ben Hur".

Heston played Steve Leech (in 'The Big Country' in 1958), Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (in 'El Cid' in 1961), Gen. Charles "Chinese" Gordon (in 'Khartoum' in 1966), George Taylor (in 'Planet of the Apes' in 1968) and Stewart Graff (in 'Earthquake' in 1974).

Answer: Findlay

Maude first appeared on TV as Edith Bunker's cousin in a December 1971 episode of "All in the Family". At the start of the spin-off series in September 1972, Maude was already on her fourth husband, Walter Findlay, who was played by Bill Macy. Throughout the six years of the series, Maude and Walter own and run an appliance store named "Findlay's Friendly Appliances". Of the alternatives, Bea Arthur later played Dorothy Zbornak in "Golden Girls" in the 1980s. Bunker is of course the married name of Maude's cousin Edith. Vivian Harmon was Maude's scatter-brained next door neighbor, played by Rue McClanahan who would subsequently join Arthur in "Golden Girls".

Answer: Cameron Diaz

Born Cameron Michelle Diaz in San Diego CA in 1972, she made her screen debut as the love interest of title character Stanley Ipkiss (played by Jim Carrey) in the 1994 action comedy film "The Mask".
She garnered an impressive nine award nominations for both "There's Something About Mary" and for "Vanilla Sky". Remarkably, she did not win any of the nine for the first of those films, but she did pick up both the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Chicago Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress awards for "Vanilla Sky".

Answer: Diane Keaton

Born Diane Hall in Los Angeles CA in 1946, Diane Keaton made her screen debut in 1970 and landed her first major role two years later in Francis Ford Coppola's classic gangster movie. Five years later she won the Best Actress Oscar playing the title role in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" -- ironic, perhaps, having ditched the name "Hall" once already.
She has subsequently received Best Actress Oscar nominations for "Reds" in 1981 and for "Marvin's Room" in 1996.
The alternatives are also all Best Actress Oscar winners born in 1946. This was a remarkable year since Patty Duke, Hayley Mills and Cher, all Academy Award recipients, were also born that same year. On the male side, so to were Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Tommy Lee Jones and Sylvester Stallone.

Answer: Bernard Cribbins

"The Wombles" were created by French-born British author Elisabeth Beresford MBE who wrote a series of books, the first of which was published in 1968. These pointy-nosed, furry creatures that inhabit burrows on Wimbledon Common in southwest London were the forerunners of the modern environmental movement, their life's goal being to collect rubbish left by humans and to keep the park tidy.
A total of 40 animated episodes of their antics were made by the BBC between 1973 and 1975 with actor/comedian Bernard Cribbins narrating the stories.
Cribbins' acting credits include appearances in three films in the "Carry On" series, "Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.", the second Doctor Who film (made in 1966), "The Railway Children" in 1970. He was also the most frequent guest storyteller on the BBC's "Jackanory" children's series. He returned to the screen with regular appearances in "Doctor Who" again in 2007 as the grandfather of companion Donna Noble (played by Catherine Tate).