Another One Bites the Dust: 18 Quiz

Answer: Robert Shaw

His father committed suicide when he was 12 years old. After making "The Sting" and "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974), he had re-established himself with American audiences and was unsure about his next film, "a movie about this big fish" he is reported as saying.

He had never heard of the director (Steven Spielberg) and didn't like the title ("Jaws"). It was of course the biggest film ever at the time and the first to make over $100 million worldwide. He died on 27 August, 1978.

Answer: Charles Boyer

His son had committed suicide on 22 September 1965 after quarrelling with a girlfriend. In 1934 he married Pat Paterson, his first and (unusually for a star) only wife. He was so faithful to her that he decided to commit suicide on 26th August 1978, two days after her death.

Answer: Edgar Bergen

There were 3 versions of the Charlie McCarthy dummy. Magician David Copperfield owns one, bought at auction for $110,000. The other two are in museums, (the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago). His daughter is of course Candice Bergen. He died on 30 September 1978.

Answer: Keith Moon

He became addicted to alcohol in the 1970s and passed out several times while on tour with The Who and had to spend time in hospital. He returned to London in 1978 and died of an overdose of the drug Heminevrin which is intended to curb alcohol abuse. He died on 7 September 1978 in the same London flat as Mama Cass Elliott four years earlier.

Answer: Jack L. Warner

By 1973 he was becoming a little confused and even lost his way in the building housing his own office and retired. In 1974, he suffered a stroke which left him blind. Over the next few years he lost the ability to speak and withdrew into himself. He died on 9 September, 1978.

Answer: Hubert Humphrey

He was Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota (1943-48) and then a Senator from Minnesota (1948-64). After his defeat in the 1968 Presidential election he returned to the Senate from 1971 until his death on 13 January 1978.

Answer: Gig Young

On 27 September 1978, he married his fifth wife, 21 year old Kim Schmidt. He was approaching his 65th birthday. Just 3 weeks later on 19 October, 1978, he apparently killed Kim by shooting her and then shot himself. His Oscar was beside their bodies. His fourth wife, Elaine Young, is reported as saying that Gig was shattered that he had never made a "Gig Young movie" and that, to him, his Best Supporting Actor Oscar probably meant that he would never get the chance.

Answer: Ronnie Peterson

His car was involved in a shunt shortly after the start of the race and fully fuelled, went into the barriers where it exploded and bounced back into the middle of the track. He was pulled from the burning wreckage with severe leg injuries but amazingly, only minor burns.

He was taken to hospital where it was found he had three fractures to one leg and seven to the other. He was operated on, but overnight he developed an embolism and died on 11 September, 1978.

Answer: Will Geer

With his botany background, he had the unusual hobby of growing all the plants mentioned in the works of Shakespeare. He claimed that John Steinbeck himself cast him as 'Slim' in the Broadway version of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" when the way he was dressed at the audition matched the author's vision of the character. He died on 22 April 1978.

Answer: Bob Crane

He loved music. His favourites were jazz and big band. He played the drums and at one time was a drummer with the Connecticut Symphony Orchestra. He had a very successful career at KNX radio in Los Angeles. On 29 June 1978 he was attacked while he slept, beaten to death and strangled with an electrical cord. His murderer has never been caught.