Brian's Song
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40 free Brian's Song trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Brian's Song is the television movie that made a generation of football fans cry. First shown in 1971, it tells the true story of Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers, two Chicago Bears running backs with opposite temperaments who became close friends as roommates, and of the illness that cut Piccolo's life short. This quiz covers the story as the film and William Blinn's screenplay tell it: the training-camp pranks, the setback and the comeback, the diagnosis and the speeches. It also covers the people who made the film, the honors it won, the music, the 2001 remake, and what really happened to the two players before and after. It is written for anyone who watched the film or read the screenplay in class, for football fans who know the Bears of the 1960s, and for quiz hosts who want a round on one of the best-loved sports films.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which actor, soon to play Sonny Corleone in The Godfather, starred as Brian Piccolo in Brian's Song?
James Caan
James Caan earned an Emmy nomination as the dying running back, only months before his turn as a mobster's hot-headed son made him a film star.
Q 02Which actor played Gale Sayers in Brian's Song before finding fame as Lando Calrissian in Star Wars?
Billy Dee Williams
Billy Dee Williams drew an Emmy nomination as the Bears star, and a year later he played Billie Holiday's husband opposite Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues.
Q 03In Brian's Song, which food does Gale Sayers slip onto Brian Piccolo's chair to repay a prank?
Mashed potatoes
Mashed potatoes go on the seat while Piccolo is singing his college fight song, payback for a lie Piccolo had told the new arrival about their coach.
Q 04In Brian's Song, which ailment does Brian Piccolo falsely tell rookie Gale Sayers their coach has?
A hearing problem
A hearing problem is pure invention, a prank that leaves Sayers acting strangely in his first office meeting with the Bears' founder and coach.
Q 05What sidelines Gale Sayers in Brian's Song, leading Brian Piccolo to push him through recovery?
A knee injury
A knee injury ended the real Sayers's 1968 season too: he tore several ligaments and needed surgery, and Piccolo took his place in the starting lineup.
Q 06How did Brian Piccolo join the Chicago Bears in 1965 after leading the nation's college rushers?
As an undrafted free agent
As an undrafted free agent, Piccolo had to win a tryout: both pro leagues passed on him even though he had led the country in rushing and scoring as a senior.
Q 07Which animated sitcom nodded to the TV movie with an episode titled Movin' Out (Brian's Song)?
Family Guy
Family Guy built the pun on its talking dog, Brian, who moves in with his girlfriend Jillian in the episode. The other half of the title borrows from a Billy Joel hit.
Q 08In Brian's Song, Gale Sayers accepts an award for which quality, then says Brian Piccolo earned it?
Courage
Courage was the point of the George S. Halas award, and the real Sayers told the crowd, a month before his friend died, that they had picked the wrong man.
Q 09Which nickname did Gale Sayers, the Bears star of Brian's Song, earn for his dazzling college runs?
The Kansas Comet
The Kansas Comet was twice a consensus All-American for the Jayhawks, and the Bears made him the fourth overall pick of the 1965 draft.
Q 10In Brian's Song, what does Brian Piccolo haul to Gale Sayers's house to speed his teammate's rehab?
A weight machine
A weight machine is Piccolo's gift to the man whose place he is taking in the lineup. The real Piccolo also helped Sayers through his rehabilitation after surgery.
Q 11What does Brian Piccolo challenge the recovering Gale Sayers to in Brian's Song, a scene the ending replays?
A race across a park
A race across a park ends with Sayers stumbling but still winning, and the film closes on a flashback of the two friends running there.
Q 12Which starting role does Brian Piccolo win in Brian's Song, putting him on the field beside Gale Sayers?
Fullback
Fullback was the real Piccolo's job in 1969 as well: though undersized for it, he started beside Sayers, who had returned at halfback.
Q 13In Brian's Song, coach George Halas tells Gale Sayers that Brian Piccolo will lose part of which organ?
Lung
Lung surgery came second for the real Piccolo: after a tumor was taken from his chest, doctors removed his left lung and a chest muscle in April 1970.
Q 21Which veteran Twilight Zone director won a Directors Guild award for Brian's Song?
Buzz Kulik
Buzz Kulik had also directed for the anthology Playhouse 90, and later worked with Burt Reynolds on Shamus and Steve McQueen on The Hunter.
Q 22Brian's Song writer William Blinn won his second Emmy for which miniseries that aired over eight nights in 1977?
Roots
Roots was shown on eight straight nights because nervous executives expected it to flop, and instead it became a ratings sensation.
Q 23Which Prince film did Brian's Song screenwriter William Blinn co-write, working from the star's own ideas?
Purple Rain
Purple Rain began when Prince's manager hired Blinn to turn plot points the musician had written into a screenplay.
Q 14In Brian's Song, which keepsake does Gale Sayers vow the Bears will win for the hospitalized Brian Piccolo?
The game ball
The game ball never arrives: the Bears lose, and Piccolo teases his visiting teammates about it from his hospital bed.
Q 15In Brian's Song, what does Gale Sayers reveal he gave Brian Piccolo while his friend lay in critical condition?
A pint of blood
A pint of blood is the gift Sayers mentions in a phone call near the end of the film, shortly before Piccolo dies with his wife at his side.
Q 16How do rookies Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo first cross paths in the opening scene of Brian's Song?
Over a stray punt
Over a stray punt: the ball lands near Sayers as he arrives at practice, Piccolo comes to fetch it, and Sayers flips it back to him.
Q 17Which US network premiered Brian's Song in November 1971 as part of its Movie of the Week series?
ABC
ABC saw it become the most-watched made-for-TV movie up to that time, with a 48% share of the audience.
Q 18Brian's Song was adapted from which 1970 autobiography by Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers?
I Am Third
I Am Third, written with Al Silverman, came out the year Piccolo died, and the film reached screens less than 18 months after his death.
Q 19Which actor, a juror in 12 Angry Men, won an Emmy as coach George Halas in Brian's Song?
Jack Warden
Jack Warden took the supporting-actor Emmy as the Bears' founder, and later earned Oscar nominations for Shampoo and Heaven Can Wait.
Q 20Which actress, who sang the 1962 chart-topper Johnny Angel, played Joy Piccolo in Brian's Song?
Shelley Fabares
Shelley Fabares earned a Golden Globe nomination as Piccolo's wife; viewers already knew her as teenage Mary Stone on The Donna Reed Show.
Q 24Which French composer, known for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, wrote the score for Brian's Song?
Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand earned an Emmy nomination for the score, and his own instrumental recording of the theme reached the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972.
Q 25The theme from Brian's Song became a standard under which title, with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman?
The Hands of Time
The Hands of Time is the theme's title as a song, and an instrumental recording of the melody won a Grammy for best instrumental composition.
Q 26Which vampire TV movie set in Las Vegas took the ratings record from Brian's Song in January 1972?
The Night Stalker
The Night Stalker introduced Darren McGavin as reporter Carl Kolchak, and its success led to a sequel and a weekly series.
Q 27Which broadcasting honor did Brian's Song win alongside its Emmys, with judges praising its sensitive production?
A Peabody Award
A Peabody Award went to the network and to writer William Blinn, with a citation that also praised skillful writing and an outstanding production.
Q 28Brian's Song was filmed at Saint Joseph's College, the Bears' training camp for three decades, in which state?
Indiana
Indiana hosted the Bears' camp from 1944 to 1974 at the small Catholic college in Rensselaer, and the film was shot on the same campus.
Q 29Which feared Chicago Bears linebacker, later a Hall of Famer, appears as himself in Brian's Song?
Dick Butkus
Dick Butkus was one of several real Bears on screen, and in June 1970 he had been one of the six teammates who carried Piccolo's coffin.
Q 30Which actor, later Dr. Gregory Pratt on ER, played Gale Sayers in the 2001 remake of Brian's Song?
Mekhi Phifer
Mekhi Phifer took the part thirty years after the original aired, a few months before his first ER episode in April 2002.