A Night To Remember The Alamo Trivia Quiz

Answer: Walter Lord

Walter Lord (Baltimore 1917 - New York 2002) was an American author, best known for his documentary-style eyewitness accounts of historical events, such as Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor ("Day of Infamy"), the Battle of Midway ("Incredible Victory"), the Dunkirk evacuation ("The Miracle of Dunkirk") and -how suitable for this quiz!- the defense of the Alamo ("A Time to Stand").

When he was seven years old, Walter Lord sailed from New York to Cherbourg and Southampton on board Titanic's sister ship RMS Olympia. Ever since he was fascinated by the famous shipping disaster of 15 April 1912. Published in 1955, the novel "A Night to Remember" was a huge commercial success for Lord. In 1997, Canadian film director James Cameron retained Lord as a consultant while filming his famous version of Titanic's demise.

Answer: Richard Widmark

Richard Widmark (26 December 1914, Sunrise, Minnesota - 24 March 2008, Roxbury, Connecticut) built an acting career on the portayal of, for the most part, sinister baddies or cynical anti-heroes.

In 1947, Widmark was nominated for an Academy Award for his debut role as psychopath Tommy Udo in the film noir "Kiss Of Death", which involved an iconic scene of Widmark's giggling character pushing an older lady, tied down in a wheelchair, down the stairs. It was to be his only Oscar nomination in an almost six-decade-long career, but he did win the, no longer awarded, Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer in 1948 for that same role.

Funnily enough, the director Henry Hathaway didn't think Widmark was the right actor for the film "Kiss Of Death" and tried to chase him off. Widmark: "My first day's work was when I pushed Millie Dunnock down the stairs. I'd never been in a movie. Hathaway didn't say anything. He just wanted me out. He embarrassed the hell out of me in front of a lot of my friends who were doing extra work and so forth. And I said, To hell with this. So I pushed everyone aside and I left." Luckily for everybody, an assistant convinced Widmark to come back and have lunch with the director. Widmark and Hathaway became life long friends.

Answer: Roy Ward Baker

Roy Ward Baker (1916-2010) was a British director who got his first taste of the film industry as an assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" (1938). In the first 15 years after WWII, Baker directed a number of movies, among which was "Don't Bother to Knock" (1952), a thriller starring Marilyn Monroe, and the cult classic "The Singer Not the Song" (1962). "A Night to Remember", however, is considered his greatest achievement.

From the '60s on, Baker focused more on directing episodes of tv series, such as "The Saint", "The Avengers" and "The Persuaders".

Answer: Chill Wills

Born as Theodore Childress Wills, 'Chill' Wills (18 July 1902, Seagoville, TX - 15 December 1978, Encino, CA) started in the entertainment industry as a young kid in vaudeville tent shows, before forming his own musical band, "The Avalon Boys" in the 1930s. Wills made a successful transition to acting, appearing in low budget western films before achieving a breakthrough in the Laurel and Hardy comedy "Way Out West" (1937), in which he also provided the singing voice of Stan Laurel.

Other noticeable work includes his role as Uncle Benedict in the James Dean film "Giant" (1956) and as the voice of "Francis the Talking Mule" in seven popular film comedies.

Wills was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as John Wayne's sidekick Beekeeper in "The Alamo". Aged 58 and dreading to lose out after a long career in Hollywood, Wills decided to do a bit of campaigning. His Tinseltown peers, however, considered his blatant self-advertising in poor taste and embarrassing. Many heated discussions on morals and ethics in the film industry followed. After a Wills ad in the Hollywood Reporter that read: "We of the Alamo cast are praying harder than the real Texans prayed for their lives in the Alamo for Chill Wills to win the Oscar", John Wayne even felt the need to made a public apology. When the dust settled, the Oscar went to Peter Ustinov for his role in "Spartacus".

In 1968, in another move that probably didn't help forward his career, Wills was one of the few Hollywood actors to endorse George C. Wallace, the infamous segregationist politician from Alabama in his bid to become US President.

Answer: A Night to Remember

"A Night to Remember" premiered at the Odeon Theatre in London, on 3 July 1958. Several survivors were in attendance. Even though it was already the sixth film based on the sinking of the Titanic (the others being: "Saved from the Titanic" (1912), "Titanic" (1915), "Titanic: Disaster in the Atlantic" (1929), "Titanic" (1943) and "Titanic" (1953)), the film was well received by the press and movie-goers, due to the historical accuracy and its austere cinematographical atmosphere. As a result of its massive budget however - it was the biggest British production of the '50s, the film struggled to make a profit.

Additional trivia: as a 6 year old, the producer of the movie, William MacQuitty, had been one of the spectators at the launching of the actual Titanic on 31 May 1911. He found the experience most impressive.

Answer: Director of "The Alamo"

It had been John Wayne's longstanding dream to make a movie about the famous battle of the Alamo. For a long time he couldn't find a suitable location. Once word got out that Wayne was considering shooting in Panama or - even worse - Mexico, a number of influential Texans let it be known that the movie would not be shown in Texas. Wayne swiftly settled on a ranch 130 miles west of San Antonio, where "The Last Command" (1955) already had been filmed.

As a first time director, Wayne had to tackle several hurdles. A downpour flooded and destroyed part of the set, there was a near-fatal accident between a crew member and the daughter of the ranch owner, promotional materials and records were lost in an office fire and there were a lot of rattlesnakes on set to deal with. Most disturbing, however, was the murder of actress Lagene Ethridge by her jealous boy friend, who attacked her with a knife while she was packing her bags to move closer to the film set.

In the end, "The Alamo", the most expensive film production ever at the time, did not fare exceptionally well, but was in no way as much of a disaster as the real battle of the Alamo, as some would have it.

Answer: Kenneth More

Second Officer Lightoller, the flawed hero of the film, went on to serve in World War I and II, which landed him a decoration for gallantry. He was however also accused of war crimes on drowning crew members of a sinking German U-Boat. Lightoller wrote of the incident that he "refused to accept the hands-up business". He died in 1952. Lightoller's son advised Kenneth More during filming on how to play his father.

Kenneth More told a funny story about the filming of some of the open sea footage, which was done in an open-air swimming pool in London on a cold November night. When the extras refused to jump into the water, More decided to set an example. "I leaped. Never have I experienced such cold in all my life. It was like jumping into a deep freeze just like the people did on the actual Titanic. The shock of the cold water forced the breath out of my lungs. My heart seemed to stop beating. I felt crushed, unable to think. I had rigor mortis... without the mortis. And then I surfaced, spat out the dirty water and, gasping for breath, found my voice. 'Stop!' I shouted. 'Don't listen to me! It's bloody awful! Stay where you are!' But it was too late, as the extras followed suit."

Answer: Teen idol in one of his first movie roles

Frankie Avalon was at the height of his career as singer with his 1959 hitsingle "Venus" reaching the top spot in the Billboard Hot 100, when John Wayne cast him for the fictitious part of "Smitty". Wayne of course hoped to attract a younger crowd with the squeaky clean crooner, but apparently was very impressed by Avalon's natural acting and let the media know that Avalon was "the finest young talent I've seen in a long time."

After a few bit parts in various movies, Avalon finally headlined in the movie "Beach Party" (1963) with Anette Funicello of Mousketeer fame. The movie and its numerous sequels hit the mark with that part of the teenage audience that wasn't adapting to the rough around the edges acting of, say, Steve McQueen or Paul Newman. Surf 'n fun, bikini clad girls and farcical romantic comedy made the producers millions of dollars, whilst being very cheap to churn out.

Answer: Sean Connery

As coincidence would have it, the cast of "A Night to Remember" was stacked with thespians who would go on to appear in the "James Bond" franchise. Three of them would all later appear in "Goldfinger" (1964): Sean Connery, Honor Blackman and Desmond Llewelyn. The latter taking on the famous part of Q. in 17 official "Bond" films, starting with "From Russia with Love" (1963) all the way to "The World Is Not Enough" (1999). Geoffrey Bayldon played Q. in "Casino Royale" (1967) and Alec McCowen played Q. in "Never Say Never Again" (1983).

Furthermore, Laurence Naismith and Michael Goodliffe would later appear in two separate "James Bond" films. Naismith in "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971) and Goodliffe in "The Man with the Golden Gun" (1974). And finally, for what its worth, Kenneth More was considered for the role of M. in "Live and Let Die" (1973).

Answer: The Alamo

Although "The Alamo" was nominated for five Oscars, "Best Sound" was the only category it won. The Oscars for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing went to others. Not quite the big haul expected from the world's most expensive movie at the time, but there you have it.

Gordon E. Sawyer and Fred Hynes of the Samuel Goldwyn Sound Department were presented the statuette by Jim Hutton and Paula Prentiss, stars of the film comedy "Where the Boys Are" (1960).