Classic Movie Match Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marty

"Marty", starring Ernest Borgnine, won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1955. Borgnine plays Marty Piletti, a shy, overweight, butcher who lives with his mother. One night at a dance he meets a plain-looking but sweet young girl named Clara. The rest, as they say, is history.

The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Ernest Borgnine later starred in the popular television comedy, "McHale's Navy". He passed away in 2012 at the age of 95.

Answer: The Quiet Man

"The Quiet Man" is one of my favorite John Wayne movies. Wayne plays Sean Thornton, an Irish-American boxer who travels to Ireland after accidentally killing an opponent in the ring. He quickly falls in love with the beautiful, but hot-tempered, Mary Kate Danaher, played by Maureen O'Hara.

The difficulties of their courtship make up most of the movie's plot. The movie has a superb supporting cast, including Victor McLaglen as "Red Will" Danaher, Mary Kate's brother and Thornton's sworn enemy. John Wayne, who passed away in 1979, remains one Hollywood's greatest legends.

Answer: Double Indemnity

When she wanted to, Barbara Stanwyck could be as sexy and seductive as any actress of Hollywood's Golden Age. In "Double Indemnity" she plays Phyllis Dietrichson, a wicked housewife who seduces an insurance salesman, Walter Neff (played by Fred MacMurray), and convinces him to kill her husband in order to benefit from his life insurance policy.

The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Stanwyck for Best Actress, but failed to win any. Barbara Stanwyck, whose real name was Ruby Stevens, received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1987.

She passed away in 1990.

Answer: Run Silent, Run Deep

"Run Silent, Run Deep" stars Clark Gable as Commander P.J. "Rich" Richardson, a WWII submarine captain intent on finding and sinking a Japanese destroyer believed to be responsible for the loss of three American submarines. Burt Lancaster stars as his executive officer, Lieutenant Jim Bledsoe.

Many WWII submariners were hired as advisors for the film, in order to ensure accuracy during the battle scenes. Clark Gable was known as "the King of Hollywood," and will always be remembered for his portrayal of Rhett Butler in "Gone With the Wind." He died of a heart attack in 1960.

Answer: Wings

"Wings" was a 1927 silent film, often remembered as the first movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It starred Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, and Richard Arlen. It also features an early appearance by Gary Cooper, and (gasp!) a brief nude scene.

The movie is about two American pilots during WWI. Clara Bow was probably the most popular American actress of the 1920s. Her nickname was The It Girl. She was certainly a looker, and fairly good actress, too, but her popularity declined with the advent of talkies.

She died of a heart attack in 1965.

Answer: All About Eve

"All About Eve" is a 1950 film that appears on many critics' lists of the best movies of all time. It boasts a superb cast, including Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, and Celeste Holm. A young Marilyn Monroe also has a small part. The movie is about a famous, but aging actress, Margo Channing (played by Davis), who develops a rivalry with a younger woman, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), who is plotting to replace her as Broadway's biggest star.

The film received an unprecedented 14 Academy Award nominations. Bette Davis is at her wicked best.

It was in this movie that she uttered one of her most famous lines: "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." Davis died in 1989 of breast cancer.

Answer: High Noon

"High Noon," a 1952 Western, won Gary Cooper his second Academy Award as Best Actor. He plays Marshal Will Kane, who learns that an outlaw he had earlier brought to justice is returning on the train at noon to seek revenge. The cast also includes Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, and Lloyd Bridges.

Although the movie is one of Cooper's most famous, he was not the first choice for the role. It was originally offered to John Wayne, who turned it down because he thought it was a thinly veiled criticism of the blacklisting of Communists in Hollywood at the time. And he was right. Cooper was one of Hollywood's most popular stars, and was nearly as famous for his many romantic liaisons as his acting.

He died of cancer in 1961.

Answer: Shane

"Shane" was a popular 1953 Western starring Alan Ladd in the title role, a gunfighter who defends a group of homesteaders against a ruthless cattle baron. Others in the cast include Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, and Jack Palance. Alan Ladd was a handsome and talented actor, but stood only 5'6" tall, which sometimes led to problems when he was paired with much taller leading ladies. Ladd first caught the public eye in 1942, when he starred with Veronica Lake in the film noir thriller, "This Gun For Hire".

Not only did Ladd and Lake have phenomenal on-screen chemistry, but at 5'1" she was one of the shortest leading ladies in Hollywood, and this led to them starring together in several other films. Ladd died of an accidental overdose of alcohol and sleeping pills in 1964.

Answer: Shadow of a Doubt

"Shadow of a Doubt" is a 1943 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright. Cotten plays Uncle Charlie, who arrives in a small town to visit his niece, played by Wright. It gradually becomes apparent that there's more to Uncle Charlie than meets the eye.

The film is said to be Hitchcock's personal favorite. Joseph Cotten was a remarkably versatile actor, and a favorite of director Orson Welles. He died in 1994.

Answer: She Done Him Wrong

"She Done Him Wrong" is a hilarious 1933 comedy starring Mae West and Cary Grant. It was adapted from West's successful Broadway play, "Diamond Lil". West stars as Lady Lou, a woman of somewhat doubtful virtue, and Grant plays an undercover agent investigating Lou's boyfriend for various illegal activities.

The movie is filled with typical Mae West lines such as "Why don't you come up some time and see me?" and "When women go wrong, men go right after them." "She Done Him Wrong" was so successful that West was immediately paired with Grant again in "I'm No Angel", which was also a hit at the box office. Mae West passed away in 1980, but remains one of Hollywood's most famous legends.