A Star Is Born Trivia
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48 free A Star is Born trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
A Star Is Born has been made four times: with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in 1937, Judy Garland and James Mason in 1954, Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson in 1976 and Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in 2018, and each version has its own legends. This quiz covers all four, plus the 1932 film that started it all, What Price Hollywood?. It asks about Esther Blodgett and Vicki Lester, Norman Maine's walk into the sea, the studio butchery of the 1954 cut and its 1983 restoration, Elvis nearly playing the 1976 lead, Evergreen and Shallow, Beyoncé's departure from the 2018 remake and how Bradley Cooper found Jackson Maine's voice. Easy questions ask who directed the 2018 version and which song won its Oscar. Harder ones dig into which Oscar statuette Janet Gaynor holds on screen, what Groucho Marx telegrammed Judy Garland, whose closet supplied Streisand's wardrobe, and where the 2018 concert scenes were filmed with only eight minutes to shoot. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia's articles on the films and their songs, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In the 2018 film A Star Is Born, at what kind of venue does Jackson Maine first hear Ally sing?
A drag bar
A drag bar: Bradley Cooper set the couple's first meeting there after Lady Gaga told him about her early days performing in drag bars on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Q 02Which 1932 film's plot heavily inspired the original A Star Is Born?
What Price Hollywood?
What Price Hollywood? (1932) follows a waitress turned star and her self-destructing alcoholic mentor; RKO considered suing producer David O. Selznick over the 1937 film's similarities.
Q 03Who starred as Esther Blodgett in the 1937 original?
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor played Esther Blodgett, a small-town girl who dreams of Hollywood; the role brought her a Best Actress nomination at the 1938 Academy Awards.
Q 04The 1937 A Star Is Born was the first Best Picture nominee of what kind?
A colour production
A colour production: its Technicolor photography won W. Howard Greene an honorary plaque, because the Academy had no separate colour cinematography award until 1939.
Q 05What stage name does the studio give Esther Blodgett?
Vicki Lester
Vicki Lester is the name the studio invents for her; in the 1954 film Esther only learns it when she tries to collect her paycheck.
Q 06In the 1937 and 1954 films, how does Norman Maine die?
He walks into the sea and drowns
He walks into the sea and drowns after overhearing Esther plan to give up her career to care for him; in the 1932 precursor the equivalent character shot himself.
Q 07With what line does Esther end the 1954 A Star Is Born?
'Hello, everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine'
She introduces herself with 'Hello, everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine' at the benefit; her old bandmate Danny McGuire had coaxed her out of seclusion.
Q 08Who directed the 1954 musical version starring Judy Garland?
George Cukor
George Cukor directed it; he had turned down the 1937 film, and the long 'Born in a Trunk' sequence was added after he left the production.
Q 09Which actor did the 1954 film's director want as the male lead, reading the whole script with him?
Cary Grant
Cary Grant turned it down even after Cukor read the entire script aloud with him; Cukor had directed Grant in Sylvia Scarlett, Holiday and The Philadelphia Story.
Q 10Which 1954 A Star Is Born song ranked No. 11 on the AFI's list of top movie songs?
'The Man That Got Away'
'The Man That Got Away', Judy Garland's torch song by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin, ranked No. 11, yet it lost the Best Original Song Oscar to 'Three Coins in the Fountain'.
Q 11Why did Warner Bros. cut the released 1954 A Star Is Born by nearly half an hour?
To fit in more daily showings
To fit in more daily showings: the studio feared a three-hour film meant too few screenings, so it cut two songs and key scenes without its director, who found the result painful to watch.
Q 12How did the 1983 restoration of the 1954 A Star Is Born fill scenes whose footage was never found?
With production stills
With production stills: the complete soundtrack had survived, so historian Ronald Haver laid still photographs over the dialogue for the minutes of film he could not find.
Q 13Whose 1954 Best Actress Oscar win over Judy Garland did Groucho Marx call 'the biggest robbery since Brink's'?
Q 21Which earlier film theme was Barbra Streisand's only US number one before the 1976 A Star Is Born love theme?
'The Way We Were'
'The Way We Were' topped the Hot 100 in 1974; the 1976 love theme matched it with three weeks at number one in 1977, though it had to share its Song of the Year Grammy in a tie.
Q 22Which venue hosted the big outdoor rock concert filmed for the 1976 A Star Is Born?
Sun Devil Stadium
Sun Devil Stadium hosted a real rock concert, staged by promoter Bill Graham in March 1976 with Santana and Peter Frampton on the bill, so the film had a genuine crowd to shoot.
Q 23In the 1954 A Star Is Born, what does drunken Norman do during Esther's Oscar speech?
Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly won for The Country Girl; Groucho's telegram to Garland called it 'the biggest robbery since Brink's', a nod to the 1950 raid on the Brink's building in Boston.
Q 14A Star Is Born (1954) was Judy Garland's first movie since leaving which studio in 1950?
MGM
MGM parted with her in September 1950, months after suspending her for failing to report to the set of Royal Wedding; the 1954 film was promoted as her comeback.
Q 15In A Star Is Born (1954), how does Esther save Norman from humiliation?
She pretends he is part of the act
She pretends he is part of the act, steering the drunken Norman through her number at the benefit; later that night he hears her sing at an after-hours club and urges her to try movies.
Q 16The 1976 A Star Is Born moved the story from Hollywood filmmaking to which world?
The music business
The music business, so the heroine wins a Grammy rather than an Oscar, a change the 2018 film kept.
Q 17Who plays fading rock star John Norman Howard opposite Barbra Streisand in 1976?
Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson played John Norman Howard and won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy; his then-wife Rita Coolidge appears briefly as herself at the Grammy scene.
Q 18Which superstar did Streisand and Jon Peters want for the 1976 male lead, only for his manager to scupper it?
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley wanted the part, hoping it would revive his film career, but his manager Colonel Tom Parker demanded top billing and a large fee, and the talks collapsed.
Q 19Where did the credits of the 1976 A Star Is Born say Barbra Streisand's wardrobe came from?
Her own closet
Her own closet, the end credits said; Streisand was also the executive producer, and after the director delivered his cut she re-edited the film herself.
Q 20Which love theme from the 1976 A Star Is Born, composed by Barbra Streisand, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song?
'Evergreen'
'Evergreen' grew out of the guitar lessons Streisand took for her role: she worked out the melody on the instrument and played it to her lyricist, who told her it was the film's big love song.
Accidentally hits her in the face
Accidentally hits her in the face: he climbs on stage to beg the audience for a job and, gesturing wildly, strikes Esther in front of the audience.
Q 24Which pair of married writers co-wrote the 1976 screenplay with director Frank Pierson?
John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion
John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion conceived the rock-world update and wrote the early drafts; Frank Pierson rewrote it, directed, and later published 'My Battles with Barbra and Jon' about the shoot.
Q 25At which festival did the 2018 A Star Is Born have its world premiere?
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival showed it out of competition; by 2018 the Lido had become a launch pad for Oscar hopefuls, the route Gravity and La La Land had taken.
Q 26Which singer was attached to the lead role of the 2018 A Star Is Born before Lady Gaga was cast?
Beyoncé
Beyoncé was attached until her pregnancy delayed the project; Bradley Cooper later cast Lady Gaga after watching her sing 'La Vie en rose' at a cancer benefit.
Q 27In which US state did Jackson Maine of the 2018 A Star Is Born grow up?
Arizona
Arizona: when Jackson takes Ally to the ranch where he grew up and his father is buried, he finds Bobby has sold the land and it is now a wind farm.
Q 28Which song from A Star Is Born (2018) won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, one of the film's eight nominations?
'Shallow'
'Shallow' began life as an end-credits song and became Jackson and Ally's duet when the script changed; Gaga wrote it with Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt.
Q 29Where was Ally's first duet with Jackson in the 2018 A Star Is Born filmed?
The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles
The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles stood in for a Northern California venue when the duet was shot in 2017, with Lady Gaga's own fans recruited to fill the seats.
Q 30Which veteran actor plays Bobby, Jackson Maine's older half-brother and manager?
Sam Elliott
Sam Elliott's voice was the model for Jackson's before Cooper even approached him; Howard Stern was reportedly the first choice for Bobby and passed.