Love, Repeatedly Trivia Quiz

Answer: Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks

Ryan and Hanks were big romantic-comedy stars in the 1980s and 1990s; Ryan was widely known as "America's Sweetheart." Their first outing together was in 1990's "Joe Versus the Volcano," wherein Joe Banks agreed to be an island people's volcanic sacrifice in exchange for a fortune, since he'd been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

But when he met Patricia Graynamore, life suddenly seemed worth living. "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993) was another triumph of life: prodded by his young son, widower Sam Baldwin shared his loneliness and heartache on the radio, and made a connection with the lovely Annie Reed.

In "You've Got Mail" (1998), Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly fell for each other as online correspondents -- never suspecting that they knew each other in real life, as owners of competing bookstores. None of these little obstacles could stand between Ryan and Hanks for long, though!

Answer: Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy

Hepburn and Tracy met on the set of their first movie (the 1942 proto-feminist film "Woman of the Year") and subsequently enjoyed a profound, if scandalous, twenty-five-year relationship. In their second movie, "Keeper of the Flame" (1943), they scarcely had time to meet, becoming embroiled in the fascist plotting of Hepburn's character's late husband.

In 1945's "Without Love," they married to aid the war effort, but couldn't stop themselves from falling for each other. "Sea of Grass" (1947) explored a troubled relationship on the prairie, while "State of the Union" (1948) showed that such troubles were not easier on the campaign trail. "Adam's Rib" (1949) pitted them against each other, both as spouses and as lawyers on opposite sides of a case. "Pat and Mike" (1952) starred Hepburn as a golf star and Tracy as her appealing promoter, while "Desk Set" (1957; released in the U.K. as "His Other Woman") had Tracy introducing computers to Hepburn's library.

Their last movie together, 1967's "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," placed them as white parents befuddled by their daughter's interracial romance. Tracy died just 17 days after filming stopped; a heartbroken Hepburn won an Oscar for her role.

Answer: Julia Roberts and Richard Gere

"Pretty Woman" (1990) was something of a comeback film for Gere, and helped solidify Roberts' reputation as a star. The film threw corporate takeover artist Edward Lewis together with prostitute Vivian Ward, whom he hired for a week to help him with the social aspects of his job. Edward played fairy godfather to Vivian's Cinderella, and each of them taught the other something about life and love.

1999's "Runaway Bride" was also educational for the two main characters, columnist Ike Graham and column-ized Maggie Carpenter. Ike had to learn about journalistic diligence; Maggie had to learn how to follow through on a commitment. How fortunate for them that they could learn together!

Answer: Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler

Both Barrymore and Sandler are well-known for gentle charisma and skillful comedic timing, and their on-screen chemistry made them a popular pairing. "The Wedding Singer" (1998) began with Robbie Hart being left at the altar in the 1980s; as the movie went on, he found friendship and true love with waitress Julia Sullivan, and won her over from her fiancé with the help of rock icon Billy Idol.

In 2004, the actors were paired again in "50 First Dates", this time in Hawai'i and with a big twist: Barrymore's character, Lucy Whitmore, suffered from a kind of amnesia, and forgot each day's events when she went to sleep. Undaunted, Henry Roth (Sandler) set out to woo her every day as if for the first time.

Answer: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

When Taylor and Burton met on the set of the fabulously expensive period drama "Cleopatra" (1963), each was married to somebody else, but they fell for each other immediately and married the year after the movie's release. Taylor was Burton's second wife; Burton was Taylor's fifth husband.

"The V.I.P.s" took place in an airport lounge and starred Taylor as Burton's wayward wife; released in 1963, before their wedding, it presaged a tumultuous real-life marriage. In "The Sandpiper" (1965), the married couple portrayed extramarital lovers; in 1966's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", theirs was the definition of a dysfunctional marriage. They starred in a 1967 film version of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," about a nobleman's courtship of a woman who knew her own mind and made sure everyone else knew it too. When Burton struck a deal with the devil in 1967 ("Doctor Faustus," a version of the Marlowe play), Taylor was his vision of Helen of Troy. "The Comedians" (1967), which was not a comedy, took them to an increasingly dictatorial Haiti; the flop "Boom!" (1968) had Taylor coping with her impending demise. Finally, "Hammersmith Is Out" (1972) had Burton escaping from a mental hospital, suborning an orderly with the help of Taylor. They divorced just two years later, then gave marriage another go before calling it quits for good in 1976.

Answer: Irene Dunne and Cary Grant

Dunne and Grant, both justly famous for a light comedic touch, were well-matched in their trio of films. "The Awful Truth" (1937) followed the madcap adventures of Jerry and Lucy Warriner as they strayed from their marriage, sought a divorce, and -- through a series of improbable events -- found happiness with each other once more. Dunne was nominated for an Oscar for this role. In their next venture, "My Favorite Wife" (1940), she played Ellen Arden, who returned home after having been stranded on a tropical island for seven years -- only to find that she was legally dead and that her husband Nick had remarried that morning. Hijinks ensued, but the original Arden couple had a happy ending.

"Penny Serenade" (1941), their final foray together, was a much sadder movie. Under the strain of a miscarriage and a child's sudden death, Julie and Roger Adams drifted apart -- until a successful adoption helped them heal. This time it was Grant's turn to be nominated for an Oscar; this partnership was always fair.

Answer: Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn

De Havilland was one of the few women in Flynn's life with whom he was not romantically linked, but they set the silver screen on fire! Their first collaboration was "Captain Blood" (1935), a tale of rebellion, slavery, and piracy in the colonial Caribbean. In 1936, they wandered India and the Crimea in a Hollywood take on "The Charge of the Light Brigade"; their most famous collaboration came two years later, in 1938's "The Adventures of Robin Hood". (Naturally, they starred as Robin Hood and Maid Marian.) Flynn wound up with a different girl in the 1938 comedy "Four's a Crowd," but the two were united again by the end of the 1939 western "Dodge City." Their roles in a Tudor love triangle led to tragedy in the 1939 drama "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex"; in their next two westerns, "Santa Fe Trail" (1940) and "They Died with Their Boots On" (1941), there were deaths aplenty, but it was historical accuracy that suffered the most.

In their last appearance together, they had bit parts as themselves in 1943's "Thank Your Lucky Stars," singing and dancing along with other Hollywood stars to raise more than two million dollars for servicemen. What a match they were: nine movies together in only eight years!

Answer: Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio

"Titanic" (1997) marked Winslet's and DiCaprio's first onscreen pairing, and it was a huge success. The tale of star-crossed love between upper-class Rose DeWitt Bukater and drifter Jack Dawson, each with doomed dreams of a new life in America, smashed box office records and secured its lead actors' places in the Hollywood pantheon.

The two didn't work together again for another decade, until 2008's "Revolutionary Road" explored the struggles of Frank and April Wheeler to find personal happiness while meeting society's expectations. Each movie climaxed in the premature death of one of the lovers; life can be hard, even when your life is a movie.

Answer: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart

Bacall and Bogart first met while filming "To Have and Have Not" (1944). She was 19, he was 45 and unhappily married, and their chemistry was palpable. Their characters, pickpocket Marie "Slim" Browning and boat captain Harry "Steve" Morgan, captivated audiences; the actors captivated each other. They were married by the time their film noir collaboration "The Big Sleep" was released in 1946; as Philip Marlowe, Bogart nearly had more than he could handle when he agreed to help Vivian Rutledge (Bacall)'s father.

The pair wrapped up the decade with two more crime movies. In 1947's "Dark Passage," Bacall's Irene Jansen helped Bogart's Vincent Parry as he looked for the man who had really killed his wife. And in "Key Largo" (1948), the help went the other way: Frank McCloud killed a passel of gangsters to keep Nora Temple and her family safe. Bogart was dead not ten years later, but he and his wife made a lasting contribution to movie romance.

Answer: Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire

The dance partnership of Astaire and Rogers has gone down in history as one of film's greatest collaborations. Astaire did most of the choreography, and Rogers did most of the acting, but it was the dancing that kept audiences coming back despite the thin plots.

Themes of love, comically and temporarily thwarted, united all their works: "Flying Down to Rio" (1933), "The Gay Divorcee" (1934), "Roberta" (1935), "Top Hat" (1935), "Follow the Fleet" (1936), "Swing Time" (1936), "Shall We Dance" (1937), "Carefree" (1938), "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" (1939), and "The Barkleys of Broadway" (1949).

Their first kiss, in "Carefree," was slow and intense; Astaire said this was "to make up for all the kisses I had not given Ginger for all those years."