Mom At the Movies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Spring Byington, Mary Astor, Susan Sarandon

I'm not usually a fan of remakes, but I preferred the 1994 version of 'Little Women' to the two earlier versions. In the 1933 version Katherine Hepburn (Jo) dominated the screen and I'd be surprised if anyone can remember who else was in the movie. The 1949 version was so badly miscast that it was more of a comedy than a drama (June Allyson as Jo? Give me a break.)

Not only was the 1994 version true to Louisa May Alcott's seminal work, but Wynona Ryder was perfectly cast as Jo and Susan Sarandon played Marmee just as Louisa May had written her, as a strong woman of strong principles. Spring Byington's Marmee in the 1933 version was too fluttery, and Mary Astor's Marmee in the 1949 film was too bland.

You may remember Spring Byington as the Mother General in the TV series 'The Flying Nun'. Mary Astor was the mysterious Brigid O'Shaughnessy in 'The Maltese Falcon', which also starred Humphrey Bogart, Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. It was probably the best role of her career and the best performance she ever gave.

Answer: Barbara O'Neil

Barbara O'Neil (or Barbara O'Neill as she was billed in the 'GWTW' credits) was born into a socially-prominent family in St. Louis, Missouri in 1910. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College she began her stage career with the Cape Cod University Players, a company co-founded in 1928 by Joshua Logan. She was married to Logan in the 1930s but the brief marriage ended in divorce. Other actors who got their start with the company were Henry Fonda, Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Mildred Natwick.

O'Neil's movie career never made full use of her talent, because she was always cast in supporting roles, usually playing neurotic wives or sophisticated socialites. Her last movie was 'A Nun's Story' in 1959 in which she played Mother Didyma. She died in 1980.

When Ms O'Neil played Ellen O'Hara she was 28, just two years older than her screen daughter Scarlett, played by 26-year-old Vivien Leigh.

Mary Astor played a whole slew of screen mothers - Marmee in the 1949 version of 'Little Women' and Judy Garland's mother in 'Meet Me in St. Louis' to name two. Bette Davis coveted the role of Scarlett and wouldn't have thanked anyone for the chance to play Mrs. O'Hara, and Tallulah Bankhead was probably too busy being a Broadway star.

Answer: Mary Boland

Mary Boland (1880-1965) was born in a trunk in Philadelphia, PA, where her actor father was performing at the time. She made her own stage debut at the age of 15 and by 1907 she was starring on Broadway. Hollywood beckoned in the silent film era and Mary made her way west, appeared in nine largely forgettable movies and then beat a hasty retreat back to Broadway in 1920. In 1925/26 she starred in a play called 'The Cradle Snatchers' with a very young Humphrey Bogart as her leading man.

With the advent of talking pictures Hollywood beckoned again, needing actors with trained speaking voices, and Mary answered the call. She was a bigger success this time and became one of filmdom's most popular character actresses, in a number of screwball comedies, a popular genre in the 1930s. In 1940 she played the annoying Mrs. Bennet in the film adaptation of Jane Austen's beloved novel.

In the 1940 version of 'Pride and Prejudice' Frieda Inescort played the snobbish Caroline Bingley, Edna May Oliver played Mr. Darcy's aunt Lady Catherine de Burgh, and Maureen O'Sullivan played Jane Bennet.

My favourite version of 'P and P' is the 1995 BBC-TV series with Bernard Whitrow and Alison Steadman giving superb performances as Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (not to mention Colin Firth's unforgettable Mr. Darcy!)

Answer: Joan Crawford

If her daughter Christina's book 'Mommie Dearest' is to believed, Joan Crawford was the antithesis of the character she played in 'Mildred Pierce'. According to Christina, Crawford was a controlling, demanding parent who made life more than difficult for her four children if they didn't live up to her expectations.

In 'Mildred Pierce', Crawford portrayed a self-sacrificing single mother who pandered to her selfish daughter's whims. Ann Blyth played Veda, the daughter, and Zachary Scott played Mildred's philandering second husband, Monte, who had an affair with his stepdaughter. The whole movie was very over-the-top and just too breathlessly dramatic for words and they must have had to replace the scenery several times because everyone in the movie chewed it up. However, Ms Crawford won the 1945 Best Actress Oscar for her performance, beating out Ingrid Bergman (who should have got it for 'The Bells of St. Mary'!), Jennifer Jones, Gene Tierney and Greer Garson.

Bette Davis, Margaret Sullavan and Mary Astor were not in 'Mildred Pierce'.

Answer: Glynis Johns

Glynis Johns was born in 1923 in Pretoria, South Africa to British actor Mervyn Johns and his concert pianist wife Alys, while Mervyn was on tour. Glynis' stay in South Africa was brief because the family returned to England shortly thereafter and Glynis grew up in London.

She made her stage debut at the age of 12 in 1935 in 'Buckle's Bears' and the following year she appeared in Lillian Hellman's 'The Children's Hour'. In addition to being a fine comedic and dramatic actress, Johns is also a gifted dancer, singer and pianist (she was actually qualified to teach ballet when she was only ten!). She won a Tony for her role as Desiree in 'A Little Night Music' on Broadway (playing opposite Len Cariou, an actor from my Canadian home town). 'Send in the Clowns', one of the hit songs from the show, was her big number.

Glynis Johns will always be remembered by Disney fans as the delightfully batty Mrs. Banks, the suffragette mother of the two tots in 'Mary Poppins'. Ms Johns has graduated from playing mothers to playing grandmothers, most notably Elsie, Peter Gallagher's grandmother in 'While You Were Sleeping'.

Answer: Lucille La Verne

Lucille La Verne (1872-1945) was born in Nashville, Tennessee and got an early start on her acting career. When she was 14 she was touring with a stock company, performing in Shakespeare's plays, and played both Juliet and Lady Macbeth in back-to-back performances. She made her Broadway debut in 1888 at the age of 16 and her motion picture debut in 1914. She migrated between film in Hollywood and the Broadway stage throughout the 1920s and '30s, both acting and directing on Broadway and touring throughout the US and Europe.

In 1939 Disney tapped her to provide the voice for the Wicked Queen in 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', the first full-length animated film. When it came time to record the voice of the Queen as the old hag who gives Snow White the poisoned apple, Disney asked if she could do something to change the timbre of her voice. Ms La Verne did so and he was delighted with the result. "How did you do it?" Disney enquired. "Easy," said the consummate pro, "I took out my dentures!"

Helen Hayes was appearing on Broadway in 'Ladies and Gentlemen' at the time, Margaret Hamilton was busy with her role as the Wicked Witch of the West in 'The Wizard of Oz' and Frances Farmer was having too many troubles of her own in 1939.

Answer: The Story of the Kelly Gang

'The Story of Ned Kelly' was not only the first full-length feature film to include a mother role, but it was the first full length feature film ever! D.W. Griffith (who produced and directed the other three choices) did not start producing full-length features until 1908, two years after 'The Story of the Kelly Gang' was released.

'The Story of the Kelly Gang' was made in Australia. Even today, Kelly is something of a Robin Hood-type folk hero in Australia, especially among those who espouse the republican cause. Kelly was hanged in 1880 after being found guilty of killing three policemen.

Only 17 minutes of the original 70 minute, six-reel 1906 movie are still extant, but the surviving scenes include the pivotal scene in which Kelly and his gang were captured (three of the four-member gang were shot and killed by police and only Ned Kelly survived to stand trial). At their last stand, all four members of the gang were wearing full suits of armour weighing 40 kg each!

It is also unfortunate that the name of the actress playing Ned Kelly's mother Ellen has been lost in the mists of history.

Answer: Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson played Karen in 'Love Actually'. Alan Rickman played Harry, and Daisy and Bernard were played by Lulu Popplewell and William Wadham. Ms McCutcheon, Ms Knightley and Ms Schiffer were also in 'Love Actually', but not as the mother of Daisy and Bernie.

In my highly prejudiced opinion, Emma Thompson is one of the most versatile actresses of the modern cinema, equally adept at drama and comedy. She not only acts but also writes. She wrote the screenplay for 'Sense and Sensibility' and won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay. The Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar statuette occupies a place of honour in the bathroom of her home alongside the Oscar she won as Best Actress for her role in 'Howard's End'.

Ms Thompson was married to actor/director Kenneth Branagh from 1989 to 1995 (one of my favourite films is 'Much Ado About Nothing' in which Branagh and Thompson co-starred as Benedick and Beatrice). She is now married to actor Greg Wise, who played the caddish John Willoughby in 'Sense and Sensibility'.

In addition to her career on stage and in film, Emma Thompson is an activist on behalf of refugees (an interest she shares with fellow actor Colin Firth) and the environment.

Answer: Bette Davis

The film was 'The Catered Affair'. It was a gritty American-style kitchen sink drama by Paddy Chayefsky, who also wrote 'Marty'. Davis played Agnes Hurley, the mother determined to give her daughter a dream wedding, the kind of wedding which her daughter Jane (Debbie Reynolds) didn't want! It is a gem of a movie and I recommend it highly. Also in the cast were Barry Fitzgerald as scapegrace Uncle Jack, Rod Taylor as Jane's fiance Ralph Halloran and Ernest Borgnine as Agnes' taxi-driver husband Tom Hurley.

All three other ladies mentioned have played mothers at one time or another but not in this movie.

Answer: Joan Bennett and Diane Keaton

The original 'Father of the Bride' was made in 1950 and reflected the mores of the period, while the 1991 was updated to reflect its times. Elizabeth Taylor played the daughter in the 1950 version. There was a lot of hoopla about the fact that Ms Taylor was about to embark on the first of her eight real-life marriages at the same time that she was embarking on a reel-life marriage. (Her first real-life bridegroom was Conrad Hilton Jr., who had something to do with hotels. The ubiquitous Paris Hilton is his great-niece.)

Both the 1950 and the 1991 films portrayed the fathers as hapless saps, the daughters as self-centred little princesses, the mothers as superior know-all beings, and bridegrooms who were completely forgettable. My favourite character is the wacky wedding planner, played by Martin Short, in the 1991 version.

Meryl Streep played the mother in 'Mamma Mia!', Jane Wyatt is best-remembered for her role as the mother in the television series 'Father Kows Best'.