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50 free 12 Angry Men trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
12 Angry Men is ninety-six minutes in one room, and it has been taught in schools, quoted by a Supreme Court justice and remade in Russia, India, China and Korea. Reginald Rose wrote it after a stint of jury duty, Henry Fonda bought it after seeing a kinescope of the live 1954 broadcast, and Sidney Lumet shot it in twenty-one days on a budget smaller than most films' catering bill, tightening the lenses scene by scene until the room felt like a box. These 50 questions cover the case and the craft: the eighteen-year-old defendant, the switchblade, the elevated train, the woman with the marks on her nose, the torn photograph and the names exchanged on the courthouse steps. Every juror gets a question, from Martin Balsam's foreman to Robert Webber's ad man, with the television originals Robert Cummings and Franchot Tone thrown in. Production questions take in Boris Kaufman's seven-minute opening take, the 396 diagrams that came out right, Faith Hubley as script supervisor, the Orion-Nova budget and the Oscar that went to a Frenchman who spoke no English. Easy questions stick to Fonda, Lumet and the verdict; the hardest ask about the Hindi remake, the Japanese homage and Hey Arnold!. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a classic movie night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed 12 Angry Men, his feature debut?
Sidney Lumet
Fonda hired him because he was proficient and wonderful with actors after years of live TV.
Q 02Who wrote the screenplay, adapting his own 1954 teleplay?
Reginald Rose
He also co-produced the film with Henry Fonda.
Q 03In which year was the film released?
1957
It was a box office disappointment in the US until television finally found it an audience.
Q 04Who plays Juror 8, the lone initial holdout?
Henry Fonda
He saw a kinescope of the live TV version and wanted the part for himself.
Q 05Who plays the abrasive Juror 3, the last to change his vote?
Lee J. Cobb
The role earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Q 06Who plays the unflappable, analytical Juror 4?
E. G. Marshall
He later starred in the CBS legal drama The Defenders.
Q 07Which actor's breakthrough was Juror 7, the salesman who wants a quick verdict?
Jack Warden
Juror 7 would rather be at the ball game.
Q 08Who plays Juror 10, whose bigoted rant makes the others turn their backs?
Ed Begley
Begley won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar five years later for Sweet Bird of Youth.
Q 09Who plays Juror 1, the jury foreman?
Martin Balsam
Three years later he was the detective Arbogast in Psycho.
Q 10Which actor, later the voice of Piglet, plays the meek Juror 2?
John Fiedler
He was typecast early for delicate, quiet, nerdy characters.
Q 11Which future Odd Couple star plays Juror 5 and was the last surviving cast member?
Jack Klugman
Juror 5 grew up in a slum and knows how a switchblade is actually used.
Q 12Who plays Juror 6, the house painter?
Edward Binns
Binns later played General Walter Bedell Smith in Patton.
Q 13Who plays the elderly Juror 9, a role he had also played in the 1954 TV broadcast?
Joseph Sweeney
He was the only actor to carry his part over from the Studio One production.
Q 14Which Czech-born actor plays the polite immigrant Juror 11?
Q 21The woman who claims she saw the killing watched through the windows of what?
A passing elevated train
Juror 8 argues the train's noise would have drowned out what the downstairs neighbour claimed to hear.
Q 22What does Juror 9 notice about the woman witness after watching Juror 4 rub his nose?
She wore glasses
She had marks on her nose but was not wearing them in court and would not have had them on in bed.
Q 23In his final outburst, Juror 3 tears up a photograph of himself with whom?
His son
His broken relationship with his son is revealed as the source of his certainty.
George Voskovec
He was born Jiří Wachsmann and was long associated with Czech playwright Jan Werich.
Q 15Who plays Juror 12, the advertising man?
Robert Webber
Webber later played Cybill Shepherd's father on Moonlighting.
Q 16How old is the defendant?
18
He is characterised in court as a slum kid.
Q 17Whom is the defendant accused of killing?
His father
The two key witnesses are neighbours who claim to have seen and heard the crime.
Q 18What kind of weapon was found at the scene, wiped of fingerprints?
A switchblade
Juror 8 produces an identical one to show it is not unique.
Q 19What sentence would a guilty verdict automatically carry?
Death in the electric chair
The 1997 remake updated it to lethal injection.
Q 20Who becomes the second to vote not guilty, in the secret ballot?
Juror 9
He says he simply wants more discussion.
Q 24What do Jurors 8 and 9 briefly exchange on the courthouse steps at the end?
Their names
It is the only moment anyone in the film is named.
Q 25On which CBS anthology was Rose's original teleplay broadcast in September 1954?
Westinghouse Studio One
Rose cut dialogue to fit a fifty-minute slot, then restored it for the film.
Q 26Who played Juror 8 in the live 1954 television version?
Robert Cummings
Franchot Tone was Juror 3, and Franklin Schaffner directed.
Q 27How many Emmys did the 1954 television production win?
Three
They were for acting, direction and writing, out of four nominations.
Q 28What experience inspired Rose to write the story?
Serving on a jury in a manslaughter case
He realised few people knew what happened inside a deliberation room.
Q 29What was the name of the production company Fonda formed in 1955?
Orion Productions
It merged with Rose's Nova Productions to become Orion-Nova for the film.
Q 30Which studio distributed the film?
United Artists
It was an independent production made under Fonda's three-year deal with the distributor.