You'll Die Laughing - "Murder By Death" Quiz

Answer: Neil Simon

Simon dunnit again (and again - he wrote the sequel too)! Stoppard has written a couple of spoof mysteries, 'The Real Inspector Hound' and 'After Magritte', and Schaffer wrote the brilliant and engaging 'Sleuth' (one of only two films in history whose entire casts have been nominated for the Best Actor Oscar). Agatha Christie, of course, created Poirot and Miss Marple, on whom two of the characters in 'Murder By Death' are based.

Answer: Jamesir Bensonmum

Dora: 'Thank you, er...'
Butler: 'Bensonmum.'
Dora: 'Thank you, Benson.'
Butler: 'No, no; Bensonmum. My name is Bensonmum.'
Dick: 'And your first name?'
Butler: 'Jamesir.'
Dick: 'Jamesir? Jamesir Bensonmum?'
Butler: 'Yes sir.'
Dick: 'How odd.'
Butler: 'My father's name, sir.'
Dick: 'What was your father's name?'
Butler: 'Howard Bensonmum. Ma'am...'

Answer: We don't know - he never gets to finish his metaphor

Peter Sellers is fantastic in this role. 'Idiot! Not finish mushroom story!' Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) is quite right in asking how one of the finest minds in detective history still cannot grasp the simplest grammatical concepts, such as prepositions and articles.

Other Wangisms include 'Weather report like television set on honeymoon - unnecessary!' and 'Conversation like athlete's foot - after a while, very irritating!'

Answer: A groaning death mask

The scream, of course, is the doorbell. This allows for much confusion.

Answer: Dr. Kay Scarpetta

Considering that the film was made in 1976 and Patricia Cornwell's first murder mystery, 'Postmortem', appeared in 1990, Chief Medical Examiner Scarpetta is the obvious odd-one-out. The spoofed characters are as follows:
M. Milo Perrier - M. Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie's 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' et al)
Miss Jessica Marbles - Miss Jane Marple (Agatha Christie's 'The Murder at the Vicarage' et al)
Dick and Dora Charleston - Nick and Nora Charles (Dashiell Hammett's 'The Thin Man' et al)
Sidney Wang - Charlie Chan (Earl Der Biggers's 'The House Without a Key' et al)
Sam Diamond - Sam Spade (Raymond Chandler's 'The Maltese Falcon')

Answer: Tess Skeffington and Mrs. Peacock

Brennan, a masterful character actress, also appeared as the Cat Lady in 'Jeepers Creepers'. In 'Clue' she is overshadowed only by Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White.

Answer: Stabbed twelve times in the back with a butcher's knife

Lionel Twain predicts the exact time and condition in which the victim will be found. The assembled detectives assume he is thus the murderer, but what a surprise when he is the one found murdered! Although the murderer later unmasks himself as Lionel Twain, once the guests leave he removes a mask once more and is shown to be Yetta, the cook.

Answer: She wrote to Twain and asked him

Tess: 'Oh, and Sam - Twain has one interesting physical characteristic: he has no pinkies.'
Sam: 'You mean Twain's only got eight fingers?'
Tess: 'No, he has ten. He just doesn't have any pinkies.'
Sam: 'You did good, angel. How'd you find out all that stuff anyway?'
Tess: 'Oh, I wrote to Twain and asked him.'

This classic exchange sets up Peter Falk's character as a clear parody of Raymond Chandler's Sam Spade (of course the name Sam Diamond, too, is a dead giveaway). Tess is clearly Effie, the intrepid secretary played by Lee Patrick in Huston's 'The Maltese Falcon'.

Answer: A bear

Although I can find no references to it, I am certain that this is a spoof on Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None' (original title somewhat less savoury). In this story, ten people (all - or almost all - murderers in this case) are lured to a beautiful house by a person they do not know who then proceeds to kill them one by one. William Henry Blore, the third-last (or fourth-last, in truth) to die, has his skull crushed by a clock shaped as a bear which is pushed from a bedroom window. 'Three little Indian boys walking in the zoo/A bear hugged one and then there were two.'

Answer: Shark-infested fish pond

Sharks, of course, are more Goldfinger's style. The shrinking room is designed to crush Perrier and his chauffeur, Marcel (James Cromwell in his film debut); the poison gas is intended to kill Miss Marbles and her nurse, Miss Withers; a deadly venomous snake is placed in the Wangs' room; Dora is actually stung by the scorpion in her and Dick's room; Sam and Tess find a bomb (Tess throws it down 'the john').