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Hollywood Screen Legends Quiz

The American Film Institute compiled a list of the top 25 male and female movie legends. How many can you name?
Stars who debuted before 1955, and who were dead or mostly retired in 1999
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 7, 2019
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First submittedApril 10, 2011
Times taken32,467
Average score30.0%
Rating3.94
6:00
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#
Actor
1
Humphrey Bogart
2
Cary Grant
3
James Stewart
4
Marlon Brando
5
Fred Astaire
6
Henry Fonda
7
Clark Gable
8
James Cagney
9
Spencer Tracy
10
Charlie Chaplin
11
Gary Cooper
12
Gregory Peck
13
John Wayne
#
Actor
14
Laurence Olivier
15
Gene Kelly
16
Orson Welles
17
Kirk Douglas
18
James Dean
19
Burt Lancaster
20
The Marx Brothers
21
Buster Keaton
22
Sidney Poitier
23
Robert Mitchum
24
Edward G. Robinson
25
William Holden
#
Actress
1
Katharine Hepburn
2
Bette Davis
3
Audrey Hepburn
4
Ingrid Bergman
5
Greta Garbo
6
Marilyn Monroe
7
Elizabeth Taylor
8
Judy Garland
9
Marlene Dietrich
10
Joan Crawford
11
Barbara Stanwyck
12
Claudette Colbert
13
Grace Kelly
#
Actress
14
Ginger Rogers
15
Mae West
16
Vivien Leigh
17
Lillian Gish
18
Shirley Temple
19
Rita Hayworth
20
Lauren Bacall
21
Sophia Loren
22
Jean Harlow
23
Carole Lombard
24
Mary Pickford
25
Ava Gardner
+1
Level 79
Apr 11, 2011
I only got 15, and I missed a lot of easy ones.
+1
Level 37
Oct 16, 2017
same here. I spent so much time trying to figure out the last names of some actresses that I just gave up after a while.
+2
Level 55
Apr 12, 2011
I am so mad at myself for missing so many.
+1
Level 82
Mar 27, 2014
yeah me too, I don't think I've ever missed so many obvious (in retrospect) answers on a quiz before.
+1
Level 44
Jan 21, 2015
yup I did terrible. only got 15. Maybe i will take this one again and get more haha
+1
Level 71
Apr 1, 2017
Wow, all these stars I know so well and when it came to name then I was hopeless, I guess naming stars is not my strong point 15/50.
+5
Level 57
Jun 23, 2011
Did anybody else go through the middle part of "Vogue"?
+1
Level 55
Jun 25, 2011
@high fidelity---YES! I did the same thing. hahaha
+1
Level 37
Jan 14, 2012
I've only seen Rebel Without a Cause, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Wizard of Oz and Rear Window that any of these people appeared in, I think, and I got 23, so I'm pretty happy. I was trying to remember Marlene Dietrich the whole time - I just kept thinking 'that actress Edith Piaf spoke to in La Vie En Rose'...didn't work
+1
Level 65
Mar 21, 2012
I think the name of this quiz should be changed. although it was compiled by the AFA many of the names listed are not "American"...
+1
Level 33
Feb 10, 2013
Yeah, good call Lady D. Lots of these people aren't American. Hollywood Screen Legends perhaps?
+1
Level ∞
Mar 14, 2014
Changed!
+1
Level 78
May 10, 2013
Never heard of Lillian Gish, Jean Harlow and Claudette Colbert were difficult, but I expected Veronica Lake to be in the list. Didn't know Sidney Poitier was acting before 1950.
+2
Level 37
Sep 11, 2014
Jean Harlow was wonderful. She was Marilyn Monroe before Marilyn was, but smarter, trashier and with a bit more chutzpah. And a bit less clothing. It was largely because of her movies that Hollywood started the decency code in 1935 requiring conservatism in dress, language and content. Unfortunately she died at 26 of kidney failure. "Dinner at Eight" is my favorite if you get the chance.
+1
Level 78
Nov 18, 2018
I can't believe that I didn't know them all five years ago. But it's not easy accessing some of their best movies, so there's still a lot of watching for me to do.
+1
Level 72
Jun 6, 2013
I was shocked that Sidney Poitier wasn't on here...because I put "Portier"
+1
Level 90
Mar 27, 2014
That caveat still doesn't hold water. James Dean's first role, credited or uncredited was on a TV series in 1951. He didn't appear in a credited film role until East of Eden in 1955. Audrey Hepburn's first role was in 1951 as well. Poitier's first credited role was in 1950, so he technically doesn't meet the criteria either (it says *before* 1950).
+1
Level 90
Mar 27, 2014
Marlon Brando also didn't appear in his first film role until 1950, though he was in a single TV role in 1949.
+1
Level ∞
Mar 27, 2014
Haha. The AFI can't even get their own list right. I trusted them to be accurate, which is my mistake I guess. Changed the date to 1955.
+3
Level 42
Mar 27, 2014
How is Paul Newman not on this list?!
+1
Level 88
Dec 26, 2019
Empire Falls

The Road To Perdition

Cars

+1
Level 93
Aug 31, 2020
Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
+2
Level 60
Mar 29, 2014
No Errol Flynn? No Douglas Fairbanks? The two greatest swashbuckling stars of all time? I might add William Powell and Myrna Loy as well.
+2
Level 75
Aug 30, 2016
I tried all of those, along with the Barrymores, Joan Fontaine, Theda Bera, Mary Pickford, Donald O'Connor, Clara Bow, Rudolf Valentino, and Gloria Swanson. Lauren Bacall was nominated for an Oscar in 2009, so I didn't think she qualified. Should have tried her anyway.
+2
Level 88
Dec 26, 2019
Fairbanks and Flynn were huge in movies in the pre-1955 time frame time; very strange they're missing.
+1
Level 63
Apr 6, 2014
Hey everyone! Take my greatest film performances quiz!

http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/66970/100-greatest-film-performances-of-all-time

+1
Level 37
Sep 11, 2014
I'm really stunned at the generally poor performance on this quiz. I guess people don't watch old movies anymore. Only 6/50 were guessed my more than half. It's interesting what people know and what they don't. They know all the flags of Asia but not this. Alas, I missed Brando and Garland.
+2
Level 32
Apr 15, 2015
Where was Paul Newman? And Flynn?
+2
Level 80
Jul 16, 2015
Joan Fontaine?
+2
Level 84
Aug 6, 2017
Or her sister, Olivia de Havilland.

Surprised to not see Charles Laughton, Ronald Colman or Lionel Barrymore. Especially Colman, who was way ahead of his time. Many performances by what are now screen legends do not age well. Not so for Ronald Colman. If you've never seen "A Tale of Two Cities", do yourself a favor.

And she wasn't a big enough star to expect her to show up here, but she was in a few great movies...June Duprez. Those eyes! And, oh, that voice!!!

+1
Level 75
Aug 30, 2016
I have a copy of Frank Capra's autobiography which helped me remember several of these. Lots of great movies were made in the golden days of Hollywood. They churned out so many pictures back then that I guess a few of them were bound to be memorable.
+1
Level 44
Sep 27, 2016
10 was my goal...I got 9.
+1
Level 34
Dec 29, 2016
No Meryl Streep or Paul Newman? Otherwise good quiz.
+2
Level 66
Dec 29, 2016
The list cuts off at 1955, about 20 years before Meryl Streep got her start.
+1
Level 66
Dec 29, 2016
Stan Laurel? Oliver Hardy? Bud Abbott? Lou Costello? Bela Lugosi? Boris Karloff? Lon Chaney? Once again, AFI proves that they know as much about films as Rolling Stone does about music (in other words, not much).
+1
Level 66
Oct 31, 2017
And this time I found even more holes. John and Lionel Barrymore, Errol Flynn, Douglas Fairbanks... it's like they excluded any sort of adventure, horror, or comedy films (except the Marx Brothers for whatever reason).
+1
Level 74
Apr 3, 2017
No one has named the most glaring omission; Bob Hope.
+1
Level 37
Sep 29, 2017
Bob Hope, an actor?
+1
Level 84
Aug 6, 2017
I wasn't alive in the 50's, but I appreciate events and people and accomplishments that predated my existence. Thank you, Quizmaster, for this once not treating anything that came before 1950 as irrelevant.
+1
Level 60
Sep 23, 2017
lots of famous actors missing ! lots of my favourites.... tried them all just a few of them in there.
+2
Level 24
Oct 31, 2017
Jack Lemmon? Olivia de Havilland? Joan Fontaine? Echo muchos en falta.
+2
Level 73
Mar 7, 2018
We all have favorites who didn't make the list for some reason. The actress list especially could go on much longer. I agree with your suggestion of the de Havilland sisters and would also like to mention Susan Hayward and Rosalind Russell, but I understand that the list is limited and opinions are many.
+1
Level 88
Jul 22, 2018
Most people remember male actors far more than female. They just had (and have) more and bigger roles. Lillian Gish, but not Douglas Fairbanks from the same era? Claudette Colbert, but no Errol Flynn? Vivien Leigh did one movie she's remembered for. (Streetcar was famously dominated by Brando.) It's definitely more inclusive of famous actresses at 25 apiece.
+1
Level 88
Jul 22, 2018
At least I've heard of all of them. The "legend" is either becoming inaccurate as hardly anyone knows anything they did anymore or apt in that no one has seen them.
+1
Level 79
Oct 30, 2022
I mean, these stars and their movies are from 70, 80, 90 years ago. It's honestly totally understandable that most people alive today aren't really into their movies and haven't heard of them. It's not a shame, it's just a fact of life. Time moves on. I know it's a REALLY unpopular opinion, but I don't really love most older black and white movies. The acting in particular is just hokey to me, and the trans-atlantic accent gets annoying. The movies from back then just don't pull me in like more modern movies.

I disagree that that was the golden age of movies. They were absolutely great for the time and paved the way, but I actually think movies from the 80's and 90's on are much better in just about every way.

+1
Level 88
Jul 22, 2018
Randolph Scott!
+1
Level 34
Aug 21, 2019
What - No Stan and Ollie ?
+1
Level 68
Jul 14, 2022
Tyrone Power?
+1
Level 79
Oct 30, 2022
Wow my brain really froze on this one. Forgot Marilyn Monroe of all people.
+1
Level 76
Nov 14, 2022
Memorizing the lyrics from Madonna's 'Vogue', Billy Joel's 'We didn't start the fire' and The Kinks' 'Celluloid Heroes' got me about half of the answers
+1
Level 72
Jan 30, 2023
I should have scored better. I got 26/50. I was surprised that AFI did not include Olivia de Havilland or Charlton Heston on these lists. Thanks for the quiz!