Their Final Acting Role Part II - Actresses Quiz

Answer: Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth Davis went by the nickname for her middle name since she was was young child. After working in summer stock and receiving prestigious acting training, Bette got her first film role in 1931 in "The Bad Sister", which also featured a young Humphrey Bogart. She started working steadily in films, and during WWII she joined many members of the Hollywood community promoting war bonds. She maintained her acting career after the war. Because she was featured in several movies that were considered risky she became known for playing a diverse array of characters.
In 1987 Bette was cast in "The Whales of August". "The Whales of August" was Ann Southern's final film and also marked the final role of a career that began in silent films for Lillian Gish. Mexican Actress Dolores Del Rio's final non-documentary film was fittingly "The Children of Sanchez" in 1978.
Interesting fact; Joan Crawford won an Academy Award for "Mildred Pierce" after Bette Davis turned it down.

Answer: Trog

Joan Crawford started her show business career as a chorus dancer and gradually got bit parts and small roles in films. Her first significant role came in the 1925 silent film "Pretty Ladies". She eventually started working with such great actors of the twenties and thirties as Lon Chaney, Sr., Ramon Novarro and Clark Gable. By the end of the thirties the studio she was under contract with terminated her when her appeal began to decline. She managed to get a contract with Warner Brothers and received an Oscar for her role in "Mildred Pierce". She kept getting offered interesting and challenging roles through the fifties and sixties.
"Trog" featured Crawford as a doctor who attempted to sedate and communicate with a primitive caveman who was found alive hiding in a cave. "Autumn Leaves" featured Joan Crawford in 1956, "Strait-Jacket" in 1964 and "The Caretakers" in 1963.
Interesting fact; Joan Crawford respected her fans so much that she personally replied to literally thousands of letters every month until her death.

Answer: Candleshoe

Helen Hayes was born at the turn of the century in 1900 in Washington, DC. She focused primarily on Broadway and theater work, but also appeared in numerous movies beginning in 1917 in "The Weaver of Life". She won an Academy Award in 1931 for the first talking movie she starred in, "The Sin of Madelon Claudet".

In her later years she was cast in Disney movies such as "Herbie Rides Again" and "Candleshoe". She won an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor when she starred as an unauthorized passenger in the 1970 film, "Airport". Jodie Foster and David Niven co-starred with Hayes in the movie about treasure on the Candleshoe estate. "One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing" was a 1976 British film produced by Disney that also featured Helen. "The Rescuers Down Under" was an animated feature with the voices of John Candy, Eva Gabor and Bob Newhart. "The Aristocats" was a Disney animated movie that paired the voices of Eva Gabor and Phil Silvers. Interesting fact; Helen Hayes' adopted son is James MacArthur, who played Danny Williams on "Hawaii 5-0".

In 1975 Helen appeared in an episode playing his aunt.

Answer: Audrey Hepburn

After WWII Audrey Hepburn studied ballet in Holland and went on to study acting under the guidance of a prominent British acting coach. She took a role in a Dutch documentary to earn some extra money for the household then signed up for acting parts to augment her modeling income.

Her first role in a feature film was in the 1951 film, "One Wild Oat". She kept getting bigger roles and by 1953 she was cast in "Roman Holiday" opposite Gregory Peck. She was cast in such films as "Sabrina", "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "My Fair Lady".

After her film career she became a dedicated UNICEF worker and passed away from cancer in 1993. Deborah Walley and Sandra Dee both played the role of Gidget in the movie series about the surfing teen. Debbie Reynolds' recent film was "Return to Halloweentown" in 2006. Interesting fact; During an early screen test the cameras were left on after the actual test. Audrey got a major role based primarily on her relaxed, natural demeanor when she didn't know the camera was on.

Answer: I Could Go On Singing

Judy Garland was signed at the young age of 13 by MGM without a screen test. She wasn't as glamorous as other stars of the day and always felt self-conscious about her appearance. After some minor roles, Garland was paired in 1937 with Mickey Rooney and the on-screen chemistry was so good that they ended up doing several films together. Shirley Temple was considered for the role of Dorothy in 1939's "The Wizard of Oz", but the producers wanted Judy and prevailed. Judy continued to appear in films while battling personal problems until her death in 1969.

She received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for her work in the 1961 film "Judgment at Nuremberg". "I Could Go On Singing" was about a singer who allowed her son's father to raise the boy rather than quit show business. Garland lent her voice to the animated Warner Brothers film "Gay Purr-ee" and she received a Golden Globe for her role in the 1954 film, "A Star is Born". Interesting fact; During the 1963-1964 television season Judy Garland had her own show.

The show aired 26 taped episodes and the original producer was George Schlatter who would go on to direct "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" (1968).

Answer: Ship of Fools

Vivian Leigh was a British citizen born in India. When she was in her teens she told her parents that she aspired to be an actress. Her parents gave their approval and enrolled her in London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She met future husband Laurence Olivier while filming "Fire Over England" in 1937. David Selznick saw her performance and put her into serious consideration for the role of Scarlett O'Hara".

She worked diligently to capture the Southern accent required for the part. "Ship of Fools" was about the intertwining lives of passengers on a cruise ship in the thirties.

In 1967 she began filming "A Delicate Balance" but succumbed to tuberculosis before the project was completed. "The Deep Blue Sea" was a movie centered around a suicide attempt released in 1955, "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" was a 1961 film featuring Leigh and "That Hamilton Woman" paired Vivian with Olivier in 1941. Interesting fact; When Vivian took home an Academy Award in 1940 for "Gone With the Wind" she became the first British actress to take Oscar home. Katherine Hepburn was her maid of honor hen she married Olivier.

Answer: Carole Lombard

The 1942 release of "To Be or Not to Be" starred Carole Lombard along with Jack Benny and Robert Stack. The movie involved a Polish theater troupe and their tribulations before and during the Nazi occupation of WWII. Indiana native Carole Lombard was spotted by a director when she was playing baseball and he cast her as a tomboy.

She went on to appear in bit roles in a few silent films until 1934 when Howard Hawkes cast her with John Barrymore in "Twentieth Century". Carole married William Powell and later divorced him to marry Clark Gable. Jean Harlow passed in 1937. Mae West passed in 1980 at the age of 87 and Greta Garbo passed in 1990 at age 84. Interesting fact; Carole Lombard's plane crashed into a mountain while she was on a war bonds campaign.

Her husband, Clark Gable, then enlisted in the war effort and became a bomber gunner. In 1944 Gable attended the launching of the Liberty Ship "Carole Lombard".

Answer: Creepshow 2

Dorothy Lamour and George Kennedy were cast in the roles of a couple who ran a store. After they were murdered the wooden cigar store Indian that stood in front of the store came alive and exacted revenge. Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton was an elevator operator in a department store when she auditioned to be a singer in a big band.

Despite a lack of training as a vocalist she got the job. While singing in a popular New York nightspot she was spotted by Louis B. Mayer who arranged for her to have a screen test.

She adopted her screen name from a French word for love. In her first major starring role she portrayed a female jungle girl and wore a sarong, an accessory that became synonymous with Lamour throughout her career, including the famous "On The Road" films with Hope and Crosby.

After "Creepshow 2" she made public appearances and did guest shots on talk shows until her death in 1996 from a heart attack. Interesting fact; Dorothy Lamour and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover were once romantically linked.

Answer: Brainstorm

"Brainstorm" was a science fiction thriller that dealt with being able to invade someone's brain and play back their reality. Christopher Walken played Natalie's character's estranged husband who worked on the project with her. Famous for her role in "Miracle on 34th Street", Natalie had previously played an orphan in "Tomorrow Is Forever" with Orson Welles and Claudette Colbert.

She would go on the star is such classics as "Rebel Without A Cause", "West Side Story" and "Splendor in the Grass". Wood was almost done shooting scenes for "Brainstorm" in late 1981 when she, Walken and Robert Wagner took a Thanksgiving vacation on their yacht in Catalina. Natalie mysteriously fell overboard and drowned.

After some significant editing, "Brainstorm" was released in 1983.

It was not a box office success but did feature a brief memorial to Natalie at the end. Interesting facts; Elvis Presley dated Natalie in the late fifties and wanted to marry her. Presley's mother did not approve. She was fluent in Russian and English and was scheduled to perform in a play about Anastasia after "Brainstorm".

Answer: Rita Hayworth

Rita was another Hollywood star that began a stage career as a dancer. She originally went by the name Rita Cansino when she was with the dance troupe. She attracted the attention of Fox Studio executives and was signed in 1935. She was only given small roles until Fox let her go.

She then began a stint at Columbia where she changed her name to Hayworth. In 1939 her performance in "Only Angels Have Wings" began a transition into starring roles. In 1948 she married Prince Aly Khan and gave up her film career.

When they divorced in 1951 she returned to acting and was cast in some of the best roles in her career. When she made the offbeat and unsuccessful Western "Wrath of God" she was in the beginning stages of Alzheimers and her film career was over until she passed away five years later. Ava Gardner counted Mickey Rooney and Frank Sinatra among her husbands. Actress Grace Kelly was the The Princess of Monaco before her untimely death in an auto crash. Actor Lew Ayres was married to Ginger Rogers in 1934. Interesting fact; The same year "Wrath of God" was released, "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" and "Operation Wrath of God" were coincidentally released by other studios.