Character Actors Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ernst Blofeld

Blofeld, the head of the criminal organisation SPECTRE, first appeared in the 1963 film "From Russia With Love", played uncredited by British actor Anthony Dawson (although only his hands appeared on screen), a role that he reprised in 1965's "Thunderball". In both films, the character was voiced by another actor - Eric Pohlmann and/or Joseph Wiseman, according to different sources.

The first fully-fledged on-screen performance of the role was delivered by Donald Pleasance in 1967's "You Only Live Twice". Pleasance was not originally cast in the role but took over when the original choice, Jan Werich, was sacked after just five days filming.

Two years later, Telly Savalas played the role in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and, another two years on, Charles Grey inhabited the role in "Diamonds are Forever". Aside from a brief uncredited appearance by John Hollis, before the title sequence in 1981's "For Your Eyes Only" in which Blofeld is killed, it was another twelve years before Blofeld was again given the big screen treatment. Max von Sydow was the choice to play the role in "Never Say Never Again", the unofficial Bond film that saw the return of Sean Connery in a second adaptation of Ian Fleming's "Thunderball".

The four actors listed look very dissimilar from each other but this was not due to lazy casting - the character written by Ian Fleming spent vast sums of money on plastic surgery to change his appearance in order to avoid detection by the secret services.

Answer: Richard Hannay

The 1915 novel, "The Thirty-Nine Steps", by John Buchan, has proven popular with filmmakers. The novel tells the story of Richard Hannay, a British secret agent who is called upon by a fellow spy for help in preventing the assassination of a foreign political leader. When Hannay then discovers, in his London home, the dead body of an unknown man and, a few days later, the body of the spy, he flees London with the dead spy's notebook in his hand.

On his arrival in Scotland, Hannay discovers that he is wanted by the police. Deciphering the contents of the notebook, he attempts to discover the meaning of the phrase "the thirty-nine steps", whilst trying to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.

Alfred Hitchcock directed the first adaptation to make it to the screen in 1935. The adaptation differs from the novel, setting it contemporaneously, changing the meaning of the title phrase and introducing a love interest. His choice for the part of Richard Hannay was Robert Donat, a renowned stage actor who had limited experience in film but who had made his mark in the first British Oscar-winning film, "The Private Life of Henry VIII" two years previously.

The 1959 adaptation of the novel, filmed in colour and starring Kenneth More, closely followed the Hitchcock version. It was directed by Ralph Thomas.

The 1978 version was more faithful to the original novel. The setting was moved back to 1914 and the build-up to The Great War although the meaning of the actual "thirty-nine steps" was again changed. Robert Powell played a brooding Hannay, whose flight from London took him to Scotland and back to London for a thrilling finale in the Big Ben clock tower. Powell reprised the role for a 1989 UK TV series called "Hannay", which was not based on Buchan's novels.

Richard Hannay appeared in seven of Buchan's novels but at the time of writing, only "The Thirty-Nine Steps" has been adapted for the big screen.

Answer: Tom Ripley

Tom Ripley first appeared as the eponymous character in Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel, "The Talented Mr Ripley". Perhaps the best known screen adaptation of Highsmith's Ripley novels was the 1999 film of the same name, directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Matt Damon as Ripley. However, the first adaptation of the novel to hit the screen was in 1960 with René Clément's "Plein Soleil", also known as "Purple Noon".

The second novel to feature the engimatic and amoral (but talented) Mr. Ripley was "Ripley Under Ground" which was adapted for a 2005 film starring Barry Pepper. A third novel, "Ripley's Game" was published in 1974. This novel has spawned two cinematic adaptations. The first is Wim Wender's stunning "The American Friend", starring Dennis Hopper in the title role. The second released in 2002 under the same title of the book, starred John Malkovich.

Answer: Henry VIII

Henry VIII is probably the most popular monarch ever for the film industry, and Laughton's portayal of him, in the 1933 film "The Private Life of Henry VIII", as a bawdy, vain, hedonistic, larger than life character helped to define the character of the king in the popular imagination. Laughton's bold performance made him the first Briton to win an Oscar, and the film the first British film to do so. Twenty years later, Laughton was again cast in the role for the film "Young Bess" telling the story of the life of Queen Elizabeth I, played by Jean Simmons, before she became queen.

Other notable appearances by Henry are Robert Shaw's portrayal of the king in the 1966 Oscar-winning film "A Man for All Seasons" based on Robert Bolt's excellent stage play and 1969's "Anne of a Thousand Days" where the role was played by Richard Burton. Charlton Heston was cast as the king in the 1977 film "The Prince and the Pauper" (or "Crossed Swords" as it is known outside of the UK) and more recently the part went to Eric Bana in 2008's "The Other Boleyn Girl".

Sid James's take on Henry came in the slightly less serious "Carry On Henry" in 1971.

Answer: God

There was not much evidence of the flowing white beard in those three portrayals, although Morgan Freeman did at least have some sort of beard when playing the role in the 2003 film "Bruce Almighty". Alanis Morrissette just didn't make the effort for Kevin Smith's "Dogma" in 1999. George Burns can be excused because of his age.

He was already 81 when he made his first on-screen appearance as God in Carl Reiner's "Oh, God!" in 1977. The success of the film saw two further sequels appear over the next seven years.

Answer: Doc Holliday

Doc Holliday was possibly the most famous dentist in history, although it was his role as a gunman for which he was best remembered now. His role in supporting the Earp brothers, Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan against the Clanton gang at the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" was what seems particularly interesting to filmmakers, and it was in the 1957 film of that name that Kirk Douglas took the role of Holliday. Eleven years earlier, John Ford had told his version of the gunfight in "My Darling Clementine", with Victor Mature playing Holliday alongside Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp.

Holliday was not constrained to films that were just about the gunfight. The 1994 film "Wyatt Earp", directed by Lawrence Kasdan, covered the whole life of the lawman, played by Kevin Costner. Doc Holliday was played with distinction by Dennis Quaid.

Other notable screen versions of the Doc have been portrayed by Walter Huston in "The Outlaw" (1943), Val Kilmer in "Tombstone" (1993) and Jason Robards in "Hour of the Gun" (1967)

Answer: Richard III

Four very different films and four very different portrayals. The "straight" adaptation of Shakespeare's play (or at least the straightest - some of the dialogue was borrowed from other plays, notably "Henry VI Part III") was the 1955 film of "Richard III" performed and directed by Laurence Olivier. Olivier received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of the king.

The 1995 adaptation of the play directed by Richard Loncraine, also called "Richard III", transposed the play from its original 15th century English setting to an alternate reality 1930s England, where Richard was the fascist dictator who had assumed leadership of the country. Ian McKellen was unfortunate to be overlooked for his strong performance as Richard in the film.

1996's "Looking For Richard" was a documentary in which Al Pacino explored the relevance of Shakespeare to the modern audience, whilst performing several scenes from the play.

Answer: Albert Einstein

Another popular choice with filmmakers; there are, at the time of writing, 111 listings for the character Albert Einstein on imdb.com. Some characterisations were more serious than others. Yahoo Serious played the eponymous hero in the 1988 film "Young Einstein", a slightly less than historically accurate re-telling of Einstein's early upbringing in Australia and his extraordinary discovery in splitting the beer atom.

Walter Matthau introduced Einstein to the romantic comedy in 1994's "IQ". Borrowing heavily from Howard Hawks' "Ball of Fire" (1941), IQ told the story of car mechanic Ed, Tim Robbins, who fell for the brainy and beautiful Catherine, Meg Ryan, who just happened to be Einstein's niece.

Michael Emil played Einstein in all but name in Nic Roeg's 1985 film, "Insignificance" based on the play of the same name by Terry Johnson. His character, called "The Professor", found himself in the same hotel room as The Senator (Joe McCarthy played by Tony Curtis), The Actress (Marilyn Monroe played by Theresa Russell) and The Ballplayer (Joe DiMaggio played by Gary Busey). In the course of the evening, Einstein found the theory of relativity being explained to him by The Actress...

Answer: Bob Dylan

All appeared in "I'm Not There" (2007) directed by Todd Haynes. The film was a new take on a biopic, telling the story of Bob Dylan through six different characters; each representing a stage in Dylan's life and career. The six characters were; a young Dylan claiming to be Woody Guthrie, portrayed by 11-year-old Marcus Carl Franklin; Dylan as Greenwich Village folk singer, played by Christian Bale; Dylan as the poet Rimbaud, played by Ben Whishaw; Dylan of the electric period and the Newport festival, played by Cate Blanchett; Dylan as an actor, played by Heath Ledger and Dylan as Billy the Kid, played by Richard Gere.

Simply listed in this way, the characters do not satisfactorily portray the way in which they interweave to tell the story of Dylan's life. In fact it is very difficult to explain in words alone. It's probably best, if you haven't already done so, to see the movie.

Answer: King Arthur

Arthur first appeared on screen in the 1909 film "Launcelot and Elaine", played by Charles Kent - a film I can unfortunately tell you nothing more about. Three versions of Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court" followed over the next 40 years, the most famous of which starred Cedric Hardwicke as King Arthur alongside Bing Crosby as the Yankee, Hank Martin.

In 1967, another adaptation brought King Arthur to the screen - Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot" starring Richard Harris as the king. The film, directed by Joshua Logan, was a musical version of the story of the love triangle between Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.

In 1975, an altogether different telling of the tale reached the screen in the form of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". King Arthur, played by Graham Chapman, gathered together his Knights of the Round Table and searched out the Holy Grail. On the way they battled Frenchmen who hurled livestock and peculiar insults in their general direction, the Knights who said "ni" and the deadly Rabbit of Caerbannog.

John Boorman's fantastical retelling of the Arthurian myth, in 1981's "Excalibur", starred Nigel Terry as Arthur, Helen Mirren as Morgana and a superb turn as Merlin by Scottish actor, Nicol Williamson. Based more closely on Malory's "Le Morte D'Arthur" than most adaptations, it was also more violent and more erotically charged then many other film versions. The key to this eroticism was the character of Morgana, who used her powers of seduction to force Merlin to reveal his secrets and, using his spells, tricked her way into conceiving Arthur's child. A battle for the kingdom ensued between a weakened Arthur (who had discarded Excalibur on discovering his wife's infidelity) and his son.

Other actors who have portrayed the king include Sean Connery ("First Knight", 1995), John Gielgud (as the uncredited voice of Arthur in "Dragonheart", 1996) and Justin Timberlake ("Shrek the Third", 2007).