Monday, February 20, 2017

Pop Quiz: Happy Presidents' Day

Can you guess the Presidents and the performers depicting them in this photo from the 1979 miniseries Backstairs at the White House? I got the better part of the performers, but I'm afraid I had almost no inkling of which Prez and First Lady was which....! Never fear, the second, smaller photo has the caption with all the answers. Be back soon!
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3 comments:

Gingerguy said...

LOL Lee Grant doesn't look very period there, it looks like she is doing "Lee Grant" love her!

February 21, 2017 at 11:24 AM
joel65913 said...

I LOVED this miniseries!!! The book was excellent as well. It’s been a while though since I’ve seen it but I’m going to take a whack at this without looking at the cheat sheet to see how I do.

Victor Buono & Julie Harris as Howard & Helen Taft
Robert Vaughn & Claire Bloom as Woodrow & Edith Wilson
George Kennedy & Celeste Holm as Warren & Florence Harding
Ed Flanders & Lee Grant as Calvin & Grace Coolidge
Larry Gates* & Jan Sterling* as Herbert & Lou Hoover
John Anderson* & Eileen Heckart as FDR & Eleanor Roosevelt
Harry Morgan & Estelle Parsons as Harry & Bess Truman
Andrew Duggan* & Barbara Barrie as Dwight & Mamie Eisenhower

*-missed

Okay so I did pretty well, just missed four. Now that I see it was Jan Sterling I can’t believe I didn’t realize but the others are the kind of fine actors that you say “I love that guy…what the hell is his name again?”

Very fun!!

February 21, 2017 at 9:36 PM
Poseidon3 said...

Ginge, at least Lee doesn't have the full-on, blown out feathered 'do she often sported during this period! She's at least a teensy bit matted down for authenticity's sake. LOLOL

Joel, you did amazingly well, especially in identifying the Presidents & First Ladies! I failed to recognize Celeste Holm (!) and I often have trouble coming up with Ed Flanders' name (somehow always wanting to say Richard Dysart, even when I know it isn't he! Ha!) I also had trouble with Larry Gates and had no idea that was Jan Sterling... You know, '60s & '70s TV had this fraternity of supporting actors/guest actors whose very names were distinctive and unusual... think Malachi Throne, Salome Jens or Nehemiah Persoff. The leads would have marquee-friendly names like Robert Horton, Raymond Burr, Clint Walker or Gene Barry and then the guests names would be so eye-catching! Thanks for playing.

February 23, 2017 at 8:13 AM

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