1950s Creature Features Trivia Quiz

Answer: Steve McQueen

The plot of this movie involves an alien life-form arriving on earth absorbing all life and growing in size with each consumption. McQueen's female co-star in the movie, Aneta Corsaut, is best known for her later television role as schoolteacher Helen Crump on the "Andy Griffith Show". "Blob" was remade in 1988 with Kevin Dillon in the lead male role although the name of the character was changed from the original film. McQueen went on to become a major motion picture star appearing in such well known movies as "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), "The Great Escape" (1963) and "Papillon" (1973). Sadly his career was cut short when he died as a result of cancer surgery at the age of 50 in 1980.

Answer: James Arness

This film dealt with the creation of angry giant ants caused by fallout from nuclear testing. In addition to Arness other notable actors in the film include Edmund Gwenn and James Whitmore. Arness became best known for his later television role as Marshall Matt Dillon in "Gunsmoke" which he commenced the year after this movie was released. Gwenn is best known for his movie role as Kris Kringle in "Miracle On 54th Street" (1947). Whitmore is probably best voice-recognized for his role as the President of the Assembly in "The Planet of the Apes" (1968) and best face-recognized for his role as Brooks Hatlen in "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994). Also, if you don't blink you will recognize a young Leonard Nimoy in a very brief uncredited part.

Answer: Richard Carlson

This movie deals with the aftermath of an alien ship crash-landing on earth and its inhabitants taking over the minds and bodies of the local populace one-by-one. Carlson had a solid B-movie career through the 1940s and 1950s with his best known films being "King Solomon's Mines" (1950) and another 1950s creature-flick called "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954).

Answer: Kevin McCarthy

This flick deals with the silent takeover of earthlings' bodies and minds by an invading alien race. McCarthy is superb in his role as a small town doctor who slowly uncovers the plot. Apart from this classic movie he is probably best known for his role as Willy Loman's son Biff in the movie version of "Death of a Salesman" (1951) and also for a small supporting role in "The Misfits" (1961) which was the last completed film for screen legends Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.

Answer: Peter Graves

In this film giant grasshoppers created at a university farm research facility terrorize humanity. Graves plays the research doctor who accidentally created the giant locusts through radiation. He became best known for his later television role as Jim Phelps on "Mission Impossible" in the late '60s and early '70s. His older brother is actor James Arness.

Answer: Lon Chaney Jr.

Chaney Jr. plays the role of Charles 'The Butcher' Benton in this movie. Benton is a death-row inmate who is double-crossed by his corrupt lawyer and seeks revenge after he is executed and then is brought back to life by an experiment. Chaney Jr. is best remembered for his roles as the mentally-challenged Lennie Small in the movie version of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men"(1939) and as Larry Talbot in "The Wolf Man" (1941).

Answer: Glenn Langan

Langan plays an army colonel who is exposed to a plutonium bomb blast and then grows slowly to a size of 50 feet while losing his mind and becoming violent. He had a fairly uneventful acting career but did appear in the well-received Olivia de Havilland mental institution flick "The Snake Pit" (1948).

His last movie role was an uncredited one as a Cabinet Secretary in "The Andromeda Strain" (1971) which was written by Michael Crichton and directed by Robert Wise.

Answer: James Best

Best plays a boat captain delivering supplies to an isolated island who gets trapped there during a hurricane and discovers the scientist who resides on the island has inadvertently created large man-eating giant shrews. Best also co-wrote and appeared in the same role in the sequel "Return of the Killer Shrews" (2012).

He probably is best known for his role of Sheriff Rosco Coltrane in "The Dukes of Hazzard" (1979-1985) television series.

Answer: Marshall Thompson

An Earth rescue mission to Mars goes awry when they locate only one survivor and then unknowingly take a deadly blood-thirsty alien onto their ship for the return voyage. Thompson plays the lone survivor Colonel Edward Carruthers who is accused wrongly of murdering the rest of his crew. Thompson's career after this movie was mostly doing guest roles on numerous television shows from the 1950s through the 1980s.

His most well known movie role likely was as Ensign 'Snake' Gardner in the John Ford directed film "They Were Expendable" (1945).

He appeared in that movie along with major stars John Wayne, Robert Montgomery and Donna Reed.

Answer: Tim Holt

In this film an earthquake unleashes a horde of giant mollusks that attack California. Holt plays Lieutenant Commander John 'Twill' Twillinger who is out to save the Golden State. He is ably assisted by scientist Dr. Jess Rogers played by Hans Conried. Holt, a veteran of B-level western movies throughout the 1940s and 1950s, pretty much ended his film career after this one.

His next film appearance was six years later in 1963's "The Yesterday Machine" and his last film was a low budget movie in 1971 called "This Stuff'll Kill Ya!" He probably reached the apex of his career early on when he appeared with Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948).