Dir-actors Trivia Quiz

Answer: "Heaven Can Wait "and "Reds"

Henry Warren Beaty was born in Virginia on March 30, 1937. He has gone on to become one of Hollywood's greatest stars and talents. In 1978, his movie "Heaven Can Wait", a movie about a football quarterback who dies prematurely and comes back as a murdered millionaire (remake of 1941's "Here Comes Mr. Jordan") was nominated for Oscars for Best Picture, Best Leading Actor, Best Director and Best Writing/Screenplay.

He duplicated that feat in 1981 with those same nominations for "Reds", but this time he actually won for Best Director. "Reds" is the story of American journalist John Reed and the Russian Communist Revolution, with Beatty writing the first script in 1969.

Answer: Ordinary People

Charles Robert Redford Jr. was born in Santa Monica, California in 1936. "Ordinary People" (1980) showed that Mr. Redford was not "just another pretty face", but an acclaimed director. "Ordinary People" was the extemely somber story of the accidental death of a son and its effects on the rest of the family. Apart from his long list of films as an actor, he has also directed "The Milagro Beanfield War" in 1988, "A River Runs Through It" with Brad Pitt in 1992 and, in 1994, he was again nominated for Best Director for "Quiz Show".

He is also the founder of the Sundance Film Festival.

Answer: Barbra Streisand

Barbra Joan Streisand, a multi-talented actress/singer/director was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1942. She won a Tony Award in 1962 for Best Supporting Actress in the musical comedy "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" and then went directly to stardom playing Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl" (1968) with the song "People" becoming a huge hit, and the movie winning her a Best Actress Oscar.

In 1983 she directed the musical drama "Yentl", in which she starred as a Jewish girl pretending to be a boy in order to get an education; she was NOT nominated as Best Director for the film, but has also won an Oscar for her song "Evergreen" and a Grammy for "The Broadway Album" in 1985.

Answer: Robert De Niro

De Niro both directed and starred in "A Bronx Tale", a 1993 movie set in the Bronx of the 1960s, about a gangster (Chazz Palminteri) who becomes friends with De Niro's character's son. "The Good Shepherd" was a 2006 film about the CIA, starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, along with Robert De Niro.

He also has had a great mentor in the famous director Martin Scorsese, with whom he has made "Mean Streets", "Taxi Driver" and "New York, New York" in the 1970s, "Raging Bull" and "The King of Comedy" in the 1980s, and "Goodfellas", "Cape Fear" and "Casino" in the 1990s.

Answer: Gran Torino

Although Clint Eastwood did direct "Gran Torino", a 2008 movie about Korean War vet, Walt Kowalski, and his young neighbor who tries to steal his car, he was not nominated for a directorial Academy Award. He was nominated as Best Director for "Letters from Iwo Jima" in 2006 and "Mystic River" (2003).

He won this award for both "Unforgiven", a 1992 Western and for the boxing film "Million Dollar Baby" in 2004. It is interesting to me that his long and formidable career (not to mention his stint as Mayor of Carmel, CA) all started on the small screen, as Rowdy Yates, in "Rawhide" (1959-1965).

Answer: Jodie Foster

Alicia Christian Foster was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1962. Her long and illustrious career included roles in many of the old tv shows: like "Bonanza", "Gunsmoke", "Ironside" and "My Three Sons". She had a featured role in "Taxi Driver", a gritty 1976 movie where she played a young teenage prostitute named Iris.

She won Best Actress Awards for "The Accused" (1988), and as Clarice Starling in the 1991 movie "The Silence of the Lambs", opposite Anthony Hopkins. She made her directorial debut that same year with "Little Man Tate", about a single mother trying to raise a genius.

Answer: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

In addition to acting for over three decades, George Clooney's first movie as a director was the 2002 movie "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind". This was an adaptation of "Gong Show" host Chuck Barris' autobiographical book, where he claimed that, aside from his game show duties, he was an undercover CIA assassin in the 1970s, assigned to get rid of "cold war" enemies. Clooney has gone on to direct "Good Night, and Good Luck" (2005) about newsman Edward R. Murrow, "Leatherheads" (2008) about a 1925 college football hero and "The Ides of March" (2011) about dirty politics, with Ryan Gosling and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Answer: Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck, perhaps still trying to compensate for his roles in "Daredevil" and "Gigli" (both in 2003) has gone on to direct "Gone Baby Gone", a 2007 drama about a young girl's kidnapping, starring Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, and the 2012 thriller "Argo" about a secret mission to get American diplomats out of Iran.

He also directed the 2010 crime thriller "The Town" which he starred in with Jon Hamm. The incorrect choices are also actor-directors: Sean Penn with "Into the Wild" (2007); Peter Berg's "Battleship" (2012) and Rob Reiner with "When Harry Met Sally" (1989), "The Princess Bride" (1987) and "Misery" (1990).

Answer: This Is Spinal Tap

Carole Penny Marshall was born in the Bronx, NY in 1943 and show business runs in her genes. After a successful run on tv as Laverne DeFazio of "Laverne and Shirley" she made her debut as a director with the 1986 Whoopi Goldberg film, "Jumpin' Jack Flash".

She went on to direct "Big" in 1988, which was the first film directed by a woman to gross over 100 million dollars. In 1992 she directed Tom Hanks in the baseball drama "A League of Their Own". The 1984 movie "This Is Spinal Tap" was directed by Penny Marshall's ex-husband, Rob Reiner, who played director Marty DiBergi who introduced his "rockumentary" about the British heavy-metal group of Tufnel, St. Hubbins and Smalls, et al.

Answer: Ben Stiller

Ben Stiller, son of the comedy team of Stiller and Meara, directed "Zoolander" in 2001, about a "clueless fashion model" played by Ben Stiller. He also directed "Reality Bites" in 1994 with Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke and "The Cable Guy", a comedy starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick. The incorrect choices are all included with Ben Stiller in a group labeled "The Frat Pack".