I Shot the Sheriff Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bob Marley

The Jamaica-born singer was quoted as saying: "I want to say 'I shot the police' but the government would have made a fuss so I said 'I shot the sheriff' instead... but it's the same idea: justice." [www.bobmarley.com]

The song was released on the album "Burnin'" by Bob Marley and the Wailers in 1973. The biggest international hit recorded by Bob Marley and the Wailers was "No Woman No Cry" (1974). The song was placed at Number 37 on Rolling Stone's list of the '500 Greatest Songs of All Time'. (2004).

Clapton's version of "I Shot The Sheriff" appeared on his album "461 Ocean Boulevard" in 1974.

Answer: Kevin Costner

OK, not a shooting, but too famous a sheriff to miss. In "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" (1991), Costner and the Sheriff, Alan Rickman, had a sword fight. The Sheriff reached a point where he had the upper hand, but was distracted by Maid Marion (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and Robin made a point of his own, with a knife that had been concealed in his boot.

It's difficult to know where the real story of Robin Hood begins or ends. Fact has blended into myth. Many have attempted to write the 'true' story. In "Robin Hood: The Real Story" (published in 2007), the author Brian Benison said Robin Hood was a nickname, a bit like Billy the Kid, and that the outlaw's real name was Roger Godberd and his story began in 1265. Godberd, it was claimed, became an outlaw after he picked the wrong side in a royal power struggle. The book also claimed that Godberd and the then-Sheriff of Nottingham had started out as friends, but ended up on different sides of that same political split. The book spoiled a lot of the movie and TV portrayals by saying that Robin did not kill the Sheriff and did not die violently, but after being pardoned for his crimes lived out his life as a farmer. Others, though, have told different stories.

Answer: Billy the Kid

Brady was born in Ireland, but emigrated to America at a time of potato famine. He enlisted in the army and rose to the rank of major in the Union forces. After the war he stayed in the army and fought in a number of Indian campaigns. He became sheriff of Lincoln County in January 1870.

In April 1878, during what became known as the Lincoln County War, Brady and three of his deputies were ambushed by a gang that included Billy the Kid. Brady died in the exchange of fire. The Kid was wounded, but escaped.

Answer: The Dukes of Hazzard

Coltrane was a serious lawman when he was first introduced on the Dukes of Hazzard - he actually shot a man in one episode. Gradually, though, he became a figure of fun and the bumbling sheriff was well portrayed by actor James Best.

Coltrane spent a lot of time trying to arrest the miscreant Duke cousins, Bo and Luke, and that led to plenty of car chases with Coltrane in the wake of 'The General Lee', the car favoured by the cousins. The chases typically ended with Coltrane's car stranded in a river or other hazard. The TV show ran from 1979 to 1985, and a movie version was released in 2005.

Answer: Martin Sheen

Jeff Bridges played President Jackson Evans in "The Contender" in 2000; Alan Alda played 'The President' in "Canadian Bacon" in 1995; Harrison Ford was President James Marshall in "Air Force One" in 1997.

Martin Sheen was, of course, President Josiah Bartlett in TV's "The West Wing" from September 1999 to May 2006. He also played Pretty Boy Floyd in "The Story of Pretty Boy Floyd" in 1974.

Charles Arthur 'Pretty Boy' Floyd was a career criminal who became something of a Robin Hood character because of the way he gave money to the poor. Floyd and his gang were killers even before Floyd killed Agent C. Burke in Kansas City, Missouri in July 1931 and former Sheriff Erv Kelley in McIntosh County, Oklahoma in April 1932.

Floyd himself died violently. In October 1934, he was ambushed by FBI agents at Liverpool, Ohio. Some have claimed that an agent executed the badly wounded Floyd.

Answer: John Brown

"Sheriff John Brown always hated me
For what I don't know
Ev'ry time I plant a seed
He said, 'Kill it before it grows'.
He said, 'Kill them before they grow'."

Others who famously covered Bob Marley's song include Marge Simpson (!), Warren G., and Jason Castro.

Answer: Fatty Arbuckle

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle wrote, directed, and starred in the 18-minute 'short'. His co-stars included Betty Compson, Monty Banks and Glen Cavendar.
Arbuckle played a sheriff in a Western town who took his inspiration by watching Douglas Fairbanks pictures. When a bandit arrived in town and threatened the local schoolteacher, Arbuckle heroically came to her rescue.
Arbuckle was a well-regarded actor whose career was blighted by scandal when he was accused of raping an actress in a San Francisco hotel room. She later died. He was charged with manslaughter and after two mistrials, was found not guilty at a third. His career, though, never recovered.

Answer: Danby

Released in 1969, James Garner played a successor to those three dead sheriffs and tried to bring law to the gold rush town of Calendar. The Danby clan, though, wanted the town and the gold for themselves. When the sheriff arrested one of the family for murder, the rest started to gather for a battle to release him. Joan Hackett, Bruce Dern, Walter Brennan, Harry Morgan, and Henry Jones co-starred.

Answer: David Lynch

Lynch also co-created the show, which first aired in 1990. Michael Ontkean played the sheriff, and while Lynch maintained he was not named after the US President, few believed him. A picture of the President was seen in the sheriff's office, as was a stuffed reindeer head, above the legend "the buck stopped here".

Answer: Pat Garrett

Pat Garrett was the man who killed Billy the Kid, and it was not the first time he had shot down an outlaw. Born in Alabama, Garrett was appointed sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico in 1880. Garrett vowed to clean up the county and caught or killed several outlaws before the famous night of July 14, 1881. When Garrett learned of Billy the Kid's hiding place, he crept into the kitchen and shot Billy the Kid after he awoke to get a drink of water. That was Garrett's story, but others have disputed it.

Garrett was himself gunned to death in a dispute over grazing rights in February 1908. Pat Garrett was to be featured in more than two dozen movies. One of the best known was probably "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid" (1973). James Coburn starred as Garrett and Kris Kristofferson as Billy The Kid.
Pat Garrett was the only real-life sheriff in the list of answers.