A Cinematic Sporting Match Up Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ben Cross

The movie was "Chariots of Fire" and Ben Cross played Harold Abrahams, Jewish Cambridge student and sprinter who was one of the members of the British Olympic team alongside Scotsman Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) whose religious devoutness stopped him from competing in one of his events, as it would have meant running on Sunday.

The film won four Academy Awards, including the Best Picture Oscar, and Best Original Score for the wonderfully uplifting music composed by Vangelis.

Ben Cross continued to work in both movies and TV in such films as "The Ascent" (1994) and "Star Trek" (2009) and the TV mini-series "The Flame Trees of Thika" (1981) and "The Far Pavilions" (1984).

Answer: Ronald Reagan

"The Winning Team" portrayed Grover Cleveland Alexander's career as a pitcher in the early years of the 20th century, including his comeback after problems with alcoholism. Doris Day appeared as his wife and Frank Lovejoy played baseball player Rogers Hornsby.

Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th President of the USA, having served two non-consecutive terms during the 19th century. Grover Cleveland Alexander was born during his first term.

Ronald Reagan played Alexander, and became 40th President of the USA almost 100 years after Cleveland's first term. Reagan served his two terms consecutively. His acting roles included George Gipp in 1940's "Knute Rockne All American" and Yank in "The Hasty Heart" (1949).

Answer: Dan Dailey

Jerome "Dizzy" Dean was played by Dan Dailey in "The Pride of St Louis", another baseball biopic that covered not only on field heroics, but after hours drinking, gambling and other shenanigans. Dean's brother Paul (Crenna) was also a pitcher and was nicknamed "Daffy".

The movie was Oscar-nominated for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story, but lost to the circus film "The Greatest Show on Earth".

Dan Dailey's career spanned from 1940 to 1977, and included comedic, musical and dramatic roles in films like "The Best Things in Life Are Free" (1956), "When Willie Comes Marching Home" (1950) and "Call Me Mister" (1951).

Answer: Glenn Ford

"Follow the Sun" covered Ben Hogan's early career, and his comeback from a 1949 collision with a bus that could have ended his life, or at least his career. The movie ended with his return to the golf tour, but Hogan's career lasted another twenty years with six of his nine major championship wins coming after the movie was made.

Ford played Hogan and Anne Baxter played his wife, Valerie, who also survived the accident.

Canadian-born Ford started his movie career in 1937 and continued into the early 1990s, in such films as "Gilda" (1946), the original "3:10 to Yuma" (1957) and "The Gazebo" (1959).

Answer: Bob Mathias

Bob Mathias played himself in "The Bob Mathias Story" which told the story of how he became the first man to win two decathlon gold medals, in London in 1948 and Helsinki four years later. (Great Britain's Daley Thompson later became the second to accomplish the feat.)

The movie also starred Ward Bond and Mathias' first wife Melba, as herself.

His other acting credits included "China Doll" (1958) and "It Happened in Athens" (1962), a film about the 1896 Olympic games, in which he played a coach.

Answer: Stephan James

The title of the movie "Race", in which Stephan James played Jesse Owens, referred not only to action on the track, but also to the very strong undercurrent of racism present at the Nazi Olympics. The prejudice which forced one Jewish runner out of competition was shown in contrast to the sportsmanship shown by Owens' long jump rival Luz Long (David Kross).

Starting with Owens' college career and relationship with his coach (Jason Sudeikis) the film covered more than the few days of the Olympics, and attempted to show some of the obstacles Owens had to overcome to reach his goal.

James, from Toronto, Ontario, had earlier appeared in the TV series "DeGrassi: The Next Generation" (in 2011 and 2012) and the movies "Selma" (2014) and "When the Game Stands Tall" (2014).

Answer: Matt Damon

The captain's name was Francois Pienaar (Damon), his country was South Africa and the new leader was Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman). The goal was to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup, after years of exclusion from the competition because of the former government's apartheid policy.

Clint Eastwood directed "Invictus", which charted the story of the South African team in their quest for victory. Freeman received a Best Actor Oscar nomination, and Damon one for Supporting Actor, but neither won the award.

Matt Damon won a writing Oscar for "Good Will Hunting" (1997), and was nominated for Best Actor for the same movie. He received another Best Actor Oscar nomination for "The Martian" (2015). He played Ryan in "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) and Jason Bourne in several movies with "Bourne" in the title beginning in 2002.

Answer: Roy Dupuis

The movie was called "The Rocket" and Dupuis played Maurice "Rocket" Richard, one of the greatest players to ever take to the ice. His National Hockey League career spanned 1942-1960, all with the Montreal Canadiens.

The film explored not only his on-ice accomplishments, but also the problems he faced as a Francophone in what was at the time a predominantly English-speaking sport.

Roy Dupuis, from New Liskeard, Ontario, played another iconic Canadian role in "Shake Hands with the Devil" (2007) in which he portrayed General Romeo Dallaire during the 1997 unpleasantness in Rwanda.

Answer: Chadwick Boseman

Boseman played Jackie Robinson in "42", a reference to Robinson's uniform number, which was retired throughout Major League Baseball on the fiftieth anniversary of his first appearance with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Harrison Ford played Branch Rickey, the executive who took a chance on signing Jackie.

The movie covered only the early days of Robinson's nine-year big league career, touching on the prejudice he experienced, from many sources, and on the relationship he was able to build with some of his team mates.

Chadwick Boseman has appeared in a number of television series as a guest, and in the films "Draft Day" (2014) and "Captain America: Civil War" (2016), amongst others.

Answer: Burt Lancaster

Burt Lancaster played the title role in "Jim Thorpe - All-American", directed by Michael Curtiz. Thorpe's gold medals for the decathlon and pentathlon were taken away because he had played professional baseball before the Olympics, nullifying his status as an amateur. His status as Olympic champion was reinstated in 1983, 30 years after his death.

The film showed his prowess as an athlete in many sports and disciplines, and the negative effects of being stripped of his hard-won medals. Charles Bickford appeared as coach "Pop" Warner, and Billy Gray played Thorpe as a youngster.

Burt Lancaster's long and distinguished career included an Oscar win for "Elmer Gantry" (1960) and nominations for "From Here to Eternity" (1953), "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962) and "Atlantic City, USA" (1980).