And Then They Died Trivia Quiz

Answer: Humphrey Bogart

One of the most popular American actors of all time, Humphrey Bogart appeared in more than 70 feature films, including Academy Award winning performances in "Casablanca" and "The African Queen". 'Bogie', as he was dubbed by Spencer Tracy, died of cancer on January 14, 1957 with his wife, Lauren Bacall, by his side.

Answer: Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1940-1945, and again from 1951-1955. With his health failing, Churchill said his final words before slipping into a coma. He died 9 days later on January 24, 1965.

Answer: Lou Costello

Costello is best known for his long running partnership with Bud Abbott in a series of comedy films in the 1940's and 50's. In 1945's "The Naughty Nineties", the comedy team performed their legendary skit, "Who's on First?" Lou Costello said his last words after finishing a strawberry ice cream soda a friend brought to him while he was in the hospital. Lou died March 3, 1959.

Answer: Errol Flynn

Flynn was a swashbuckling hero of the silver screen in movies like 1935's "Captain Blood" and 1938's "The Adventures of Robin Hood". Credited by most as setting the standard for action heroes, the phrase "In like Flynn" originated as a reference to Flynn's power as a seducer. Errol Flynn died as the result of a heart attack on October 14, 1959 in Vancouver, British Colombia.

Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Roosevelt was elected President of the United States four times, the only president to serve more than two terms. Only three months after the beginning of his fourth term, and as World War 2 was drawing to a close, Franklin Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945 in Warm Springs, Georgia.

Answer: Oscar Wilde

A poet and playwright, Wilde is probably best remembered for the 1891 tale "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and the play "The Importance of Being Earnest". Wilde died in a Paris, France hotel room on November 30, 1900. What Wilde's final words were depends on the source they come from.

Some credit Wilde as saying, "And now, I am dying beyond my dreams", while others claim his last words were, "I am dying as I have lived, beyond my means." I went with the funniest.

Answer: Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.

An action hero of silent movies like "Robin Hood" in the 1920's, Fairbanks was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as serving as their first president. On December 11, 1939, Fairbanks fell ill after attending a USC-UCLA football game.

After visiting the doctor the next day, Douglas returned home and slept on and off throughout the day. That afternoon, his attendant opened a window at his request and asked, "How are you?" Fairbanks replied with a grin and fell back to sleep, never waking again.

Answer: Edmund Gwenn

An English stage actor originally discovered by George Bernard Shaw, Gwenn won an Academy Award for his role as Santa Claus in 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street". Gwenn's final words were in response to a friend at his death bed asking, "Is it hard?"

Answer: Joan Crawford

Called by many fans and peers alike the definition of a movie star, Crawford began her impressive career quietly as a double for Norma Shearer in the 1925 silent film "Lady of the Night". By the time she won an Academy Award for 1945's "Mildred Pierce", Joan Crawford was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Joan died on May 10, 1977 in New York City. On her deathbed, she said her final words to her housekeeper, who had begun to pray aloud.

Answer: Thomas Edison

The inventor of paraffin paper, the phonograph, and the light bulb, Edison also assisted the inventor of the typewriter in making the first working model of that device. In the spring of 1929, Edison collapsed after making a brief speech at a banquet celebrating the 50th anniversary of the electric light. President Herbert Hoover had introduced Edison, and it was the president's physician that determined the inventor was suffering from severe pneumonia. Never fully recovering, Edison collapsed again in August of 1931 and was bedridden the last two months of his life. On his last day, with his wife Mina at his bedside, Thomas Edison looked out his bedroom window and spoke his final words.

Answer: Babe Ruth

George Herman "Babe" Ruth is recognized by many as the greatest baseball player that ever lived, playing most of his career for the New York Yankees. After his retirement in 1935, his record of 714 career homeruns stood until Hank Aaron surpassed the mark in 1974. Gravely ill with throat cancer, Ruth left his hospital bed on August 16, 1948 and began to wander around his room.

A doctor noticed him and asked where he was going. After giving his answer, Ruth returned to his bed, lapsed into a coma, and died within an hour.

Answer: Nostradamus

Nostradamus was a prophet whose writings have been credited by some with foretelling events as much as 400 years before they happened, despite its vague language and lack of chronological reference. One evening in 1566, Nostradamus was writing at his bench when his assistant bid him good night, saying, "Tomorrow, master?" The prophet replied with his last words and the assistant left the room.

The next morning, Nostradamus was found dead.

Answer: Jane Austen

Probably best known for her 1811 novel "Sense and Sensibility", Austen was not only a master of light irony and humor, but also added an underlying serious quality to her writing. As death neared on July 18, 1817, Austen's last words came after her sister, Cassandra, asked if there was anything she wanted.

Answer: Charles Darwin

A scientist, Darwin produced an array of work, including 19 books. His most famous book, "On the Origin of Species", was published in 1859 and made public Darwin's belief in the theory of evolution. The book caused a considerable amount of controversy, though it was not in this book that Darwin says anything about man, though he does mention dogs, pigeons, beetles, and other forms of life.

It wasn't until his 1871 book, "The Descent of Man", that he argued that humans were no different than other forms of life and had an evolutionary past, specifically from an ape-like creature.

Some claim that Darwin renounced evolution and claimed Christianity with his last words, but that was denied by his daughter, Henrietta, who was at his bedside for many of his last days.

Answer: Karl Marx

Although Marx was largely ignored by scholars in his own lifetime, his economic, political, and social ideas gained acceptance in the socialist movement after his death in 1883. His 12,000 word pamphlet "The Communist Manifesto" summarized the nature of the communist society that would be established long after it's publication in 1848.

As he lay on his deathbed, his housekeeper asked if he had any last words as a message to the world.