Agatha's Knights and Dames Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Hill

Although Sean Connery became a star playing James Bond, he sought other roles during his period in the role as a means to avoid being typecast. One of the first of these came when director Sidney Lumet cast him in the lead role in his 1965 film "The Hill". The film saw Connery play Trooper Joe Roberts, who is sent to a brutal army prison camp at the end of the Second World War. Connery specifically took the role because it was so different to James Bond; however, his profile enabled the film's producers to find the financial backing for the film to be made.

Following "The Hill", Connery and Lumet collaborated on another four films, including the Agatha Christie adaptation "Murder on the Orient Express" in 1974 - Connery was the first actor to be cast, with the director operating on the assumption that casting as big a star as Connery would make it easier to fill the other roles. Sean Connery was appointed as a Knight Bachelor in 2000.

Answer: Murder by Decree

John Gielgud is regarded as one of the UK's most eminent actors, having appeared on stage and screen in a career that lasted almost eight decades. In 1954, the year after he received his knighthood, Gielgud played Sherlock Holmes in a BBC radio series directed by Gielgud's brother Val Gielgud and alongside his contemporary Ralph Richardson as Dr Watson.

Following the end of the series in 1955, Gielgud continued to work on stage, with an increasing transition to work on both the small and big screen, which led to his making more films beginning in the late 1960s, often playing roles with a degree of gravitas. In 1974, he was cast as Beddoes, the valet to Mr Ratchett, in "Murder on the Orient Express", while in 1978 he returned to the world of Sherlock Holmes when he played the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, in "Murder by Decree", which featured Christopher Plummer in the lead role. John Gielgud is one of a handful of people to be an EGOT winner, having been awarded Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards during his career. In addition, following his knighthood in 1953, he was also made a Companion of Honour in 1977, and was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1996.

Answer: Pygmalion

Wendy Hiller made her professional debut in repertory theatre in Manchester in the early 1930s, with her first major success in 1934 in "Love on the Dole", which transferred to the West End following a successful UK tour in 1935. The production was so successful that it transferred to Broadway in 1936, where Hiller came to the attention of George Bernard Shaw. Shaw subsequently had her cast in the lead roles of a number of his plays, including "Saint Joan", "Major Barbara" and "Pygmalion".

When Shaw agreed to adapt "Pygmalion" for the big screen, in which Leslie Howard, in addition to co-directing the film alongside Anthony Asquith, played Professor Henry Higgins, the author insisted on Hiller reprising the role of Eliza Doolittle. As part of Shaw's agreement, Eliza's notorious line "Not bloody likely, I'm going in a taxi!" was retained in the script, which made Hiller the first actress to use the expletive in a British film. Wendy Hiller's career continued until her eventual retirement in 1992, and saw her receive a damehood in 1975, the year after her appearance in "Murder on the Orient Express".

Answer: Something for Everyone

Angela Lansbury began her career as a contract player with MGM, making her film debut in the 1944 film "Gaslight". She established a solid reputation as a character actress in films over the course of the next two decades, while also building a career on Broadway following her debut there in 1957's "Hotel Paradiso". By the 1960s, she had built a solid career but had yet to be given a starring role. However, her success on Broadway, which began with her winning a Tony award for "Mame", saw her profile rise. In 1969, Harold Prince cast her in her first leading role in "Something for Everyone", a black comedy based on the novel "The Cook", which also starred Michael York. Although the film was not a commercial success, it still led to Lansbury receiving her first award nomination for a leading role, the Golden Globe for Best Actress - Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. She was nominated for the same award the following year for the lead role in the Disney musical "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" in 1971.

In 1978 she received acclaim for her role as Salome Otterbourne in the Agatha Christie film adaptation "Death on the Nile", which saw her subsequently cast as Miss Marple three years later in the adaptation of "The Mirror Crack'd". Three years after she played Miss Marple, Lansbury was cast in the role of Jessica Fletcher in the CBS television series "Murder, She Wrote", a character described by the actress as "an American Miss Marple". Angela Lansbury was awarded her damehood in 2014.

Answer: Agatha Christie

Vanessa Redgrave began her career in 1958, and she quickly established herself as a major talent, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1961, and being Oscar-nominated for her first lead role in film, "Morgan - A Suitable Case for Treatment", in 1966. Redgrave continued to achieve critical acclaim for roles in film into the 1970s, which included her appearance as Mary Debenham in "Murder on the Orient Express" in 1974.

Five years after appearing in the adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel, she was cast in the lead role in director Michael Apted's film "Agatha", which told the story of the author's 11-day disappearance in 1926, and co-starred Timothy Dalton as Christie's husband Archie. The film had started life as a BBC documentary by researcher Kathleen Tynan; it morphed into a film project at the suggestion of producer David Puttnam. Redgrave's career continued to flourish in later years, and she was originally offered a damehood, which was reportedly refused, in 1999. She was offered the honour again, which was accepted, in 2022.

Answer: Julius Caesar

Although Diana Rigg began her career on stage following her graduation from RADA, her breakout role came when she was cast as Emma Peel in the TV series "The Avengers" in 1965. At this time, the series had been sold to the ABC network in the United States, which led to Rigg becoming a star in the US. After leaving "The Avengers", she was cast as Helena in Peter Hall's 1968 version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", before gaining the female lead role in the "James Bond" film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". After her "James Bond" role, she was cast as Portia in "Julius Caesar", the 1970 film that was the first colour adaptation of the play. The film, a passion project for its star Charlton Heston, was poorly received and did not do well. Diana Rigg continued her career, gaining plaudits on stage, and continuing screen work, which included her own US sitcom, "Diana", and playing Arlena Marshall in 1981's "Evil Under the Sun".

Both strands of her career continued through the 1980s, 1990s and into the 21st century, during which period she was made a dame in 1994. She was cast in "Game of Thrones" in 2013, while in 2018 she joined the Broadway revival of "My Fair Lady" playing Mrs Higgins, a role she had playing in 2011 in a West End production of "Pygmalion". For "My Fair Lady", she received a fourth and final Tony nomination, while 2018 saw her receive her sixth Emmy nomination, four of which were for "Game of Thrones".

Answer: A Private Function

Maggie Smith began her career in 1952 at the Oxford Playhouse, and quickly graduated to parts in both the West End and on Broadway, eventually becoming a member of the National Theatre Company under Laurence Olivier. At the same time, she also made the jump to acting on screen, winning critical acclaim for a number of film roles. She received a first Oscar nomination for her role as Desdemona in Olivier's version of "Othello" in 1965, and won her first Oscar in 1969 as the lead in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie". Included in her varied film career were two performances in Agatha Christie adaptations - 1978's "Death on the Nile", followed by "Evil Under the Sun" in 1981.

In 1984, she was cast in "A Private Function", a film by Alan Bennett and Malcolm Mowbray set during the run-up to the 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Although the film was a moderate financial success, it received significant critical acclaim, including a second BAFTA Film Award for Smith in the Best Actress category. Smith collaborated again with Alan Bennett in 1988, when she was cast in one of his series of televised monologues for the BBC, "Talking Heads", for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Television Award. Two years after "Talking Heads", Maggie Smith received her damehood - in 2014, she was also made a Companion of Honour.

Answer: Cleopatra

By 1960, Elizabeth Taylor had been a major star at MGM for more than twenty years, and had been nominated for four Oscars, winning one for "Butterfield 8", which was her final film for the studio. Having left MGM, she was cast as the lead in 20th Century Fox's epic "Cleopatra", opposite Richard Burton. The production of the film, which began in 1960, was dogged by many issues, not least of which was the scandal caused when Taylor, who at the time was married to singer Eddie Fisher, began an affair with Burton, who was also married. "Cleopatra" was one of two films starring Taylor and Burton to be released in 1963, alongside "The VIPs", after which the pair divorced their respective spouses and married each other in 1964. The pair were married until 1974, and made a total of eleven appearances together, with the last coming in 1973.

During the late 1970s, Taylor stepped back from acting, instead supporting her sixth husband, US Senator John Warner. However, in 1980 she returned to the screen playing actress Marina Gregg in the film adaptation of "The Mirror Crack'd", alongside Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple. Following this, Taylor largely retired from films, making a number of television appearances during the 1980s and 1990s. The year before she announced her retirement in 2001, Taylor was awarded a damehood.

Answer: Hot Millions

While Peter Ustinov is known as being an actor, he was in fact a man of a great many talents, particularly as a writer. He had a number of writing credits during the 1940s, before he began to also receive high profile acting roles from the early 1950s, most notably as Nero in 1951's "Quo Vadis", for which he received his first Oscar nomination. Ustinov eventually had a total of four Oscar nominations, three for acting and one for writing, winning two. The final Oscar nomination was for Best Original Screenplay for the 1968 crime caper "Hot Millions", in which Ustinov, in addition to writing the screenplay, starred as embezzler Marcus Pendleton, alongside Maggie Smith. In addition to the Oscar nomination, the film also received a nomination for a Writer's Guild of America award.

Peter Ustinov moved away from writing, concentrating more on acting, going into the 1970s, making a number of significant appearances, with one of his most famous roles being that of Hercule Poirot, which he played a total of six times, in three feature films, starting with 1978's "Death on the Nile" (in two of which he starred alongside Maggie Smith) and three TV movies. He received a number of other awards during his lifetime, including his knighthood in 1990.

Answer: Wendy Hiller

Wendy Hiller received a total of three Oscar nominations during her career, with the first coming for her role in "Pygmalion" in 1939. She eventually won the award for Best Supporting Actress in 1959 for "Separate Tables". Of the other knights and dames that appeared in John Brabourne's Agatha Christie adaptations, Sean Connery won Best Supporting Actor for "The Untouchables" in 1988; John Gielgud won Best Supporting Actor for "Arthur" in 1982; Vanessa Redgrave won Best Supporting Actress for "Julia" in 1977; Maggie Smith won Best Actress for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" in 1969 and Best Supporting Actress for "California Suite" in 1978; Elizabeth Taylor won Best Actress for "Butterfield 8" in 1961 and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" in 1967; and Peter Ustinov won Best Supporting Actor for "Spartacus" in 1961 and "Topkapi" in 1965.

In total, the nine knights and dames received 30 Oscar nominations between them. Additionally, they received 52 Emmy nominations, 16 Grammy nominations and 26 Tony nominations, with John Gielgud having won all four awards, and Vanessa Redgrave, Maggie Smith and Peter Ustinov winning three of the four.