Classic Trivia from Classic Films Quiz

Answer: "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961)

Henry "Hank" Mancini wrote "Moon River" with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. They won the "Music, Song" Oscar for it and Hank also won the "Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" Oscar. The cat is the catalyst that brings two young people together in this classic "boy meets girl" film.
After an out of town screening, prior to general release, a studio executive said re "Moon River" (which Audrey sings in the film), "I think the first thing we can do is get rid of that stupid song." Audrey's reply was, "Over my dead body!"

Answer: "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957)

Foreman (d. June 1984) and Wilson (d. April 1978) wrote the screenplay based on Pierre Boulle's novel "The Bridge Over the River Kwai". Foreman and Wilson were blacklisted by Hollywood for not co-operating with the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Initially, they were not even given credit for writing the script. It was not until December 1984 that the Academy awarded them Oscars posthumously. Incidentally, another Boulle novel was the basis for the "Planet of the Apes" screenplay, which was co-scripted by Michael Wilson!

Answer: "Charly" (1968)

Cliff received the "Best Actor" Oscar for his role as a retarded man who was turned into a genius after medical intervention. It took nearly ten years for "Charly" to be produced. Previously, Cliff had starred in "The Hustler" and "The Days of Wine and Roses" on T.V. but lost the film leads to Paul Newman and Jack Lemmon respectively.

Answer: A friend of both men brought them together.

The writers were Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick. In a Clarke biography, Roger Caras (a Columbia publicist) described how he met Clarke in 1959 and they became friends. Caras also knew Kubrick well. In 1964, Kubrick told Caras he was going to do an E.T. movie. Caras asked, "Who is the writer?" As Kubrick was still to decide, Caras said, "Don't bother, start with the best: Arthur Clarke." Caras arranged their meeting and the rest is history. Incidentally, sketches of aliens drawn on a napkin by Kubrick in 1964 were kept by Caras.

He actually showed the sketches to Lee Pfeiffer (a prolific writer on cinema) in 2001 during an interview about the history of "2001".

Answer: Auric Goldfinger

The Goldfinger character was, like all Bond villains, a nasty piece of work. His intent was to contaminate the gold in Fort Knox, thereby increasing the value of his own not inconsiderable pile. "Goldfinger" was the only movie I can recall where the villain arranges a death by painting. To overcome Gert's speech problem, the director had him learn the lines phonetically, and Michael Collins, a U.K. actor, spoke the part for the actual released film. Collins was uncredited.

Answer: "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967)

Warren Beatty produced and starred in this film which received ten Oscar nominations. Two Oscars were awarded to it, "Cinematography" to Burnett Guffey and "Actress in a Supporting Role" to Estelle Parsons. Bonus trivia; this was Gene Wilder's first credited film.

Answer: Jim Backus

Who could forget "Mr. Magoo" or "Gilligan's Island"? That was Jim (b. 1913), who died of an illness at age 76. He was 42 when he played the role of James Dean's father in "Rebel". James Dean died in a road accident in September 1955 (age 24); Sal Mineo was stabbed to death in February 1976 (age 37), and Natalie Wood (age 43) drowned in November 1981.

Answer: "Bullitt" (1968)

Robert Vaughn was a friend of Steve McQueen, the star of "Bullitt". Vaughn had read (but did not understand) the script, so he refused the part. McQueen thought Vaughn was playing hard to get and kept upping the offer. Finally the offer was too good to refuse, so Vaughn accepted, jokingly saying, "Suddenly the script made sense."

Answer: "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948)

The director was John Huston and he won the Oscar for directing "Sierra". His father (Walter Huston) won the best supporting actor Oscar playing an old gold prospector. Bonus trivia 1: The film was one of the first American films to be shot outside the USA (in Mexico), although Warner Studios demanded it be finished in Hollywood because of budget over-runs. Bonus trivia 2: It featured a young Robert Blake selling lottery tickets.

Answer: "Dr. Strangelove" (1964)

Simple plot. Someone loses the plot, hits the red button. Now the whole world will soon know there is no such thing as 'failsafe'. For the 1964 film "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb", Stanley Kubrick (who directed, produced and co-wrote it) filmed a pie fight in the War Room as the intended final scene.

But on viewing it he realised that nobody could tell who was who when covered in cream and cut the scene, reverting to nuclear explosions and Dame Vera Lynn. The pie fight scene is still in existence, the only copy being with the British Film Institute in London.