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50 free Gene Kelly trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Gene Kelly trivia quiz follows the Pittsburgh kid who wanted to play shortstop for the Pirates and ended up redefining how dance is filmed. It covers his Broadway breakthrough in Pal Joey, the MGM years with Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, the animated duet with Jerry Mouse in Anchors Aweigh, the six-Oscar triumph of An American in Paris and the puddle-stomping title number of Singin' in the Rain that he choreographed and co-directed with Stanley Donen. It also digs into the less-told chapters: the Navy documentaries, the ballet he built for the Paris Opéra, the sitcom where he played a priest, the Emmy-winning Jack and the Beanstalk, the Madonna tour that fired him and the 1983 house fire that cost him his honorary Oscar. Early questions are friendly to anyone who has seen the umbrella routine; the later ones reward real devotees of the Freed Unit. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which American city was Gene Kelly born?
Pittsburgh
He grew up in the East Liberty neighborhood and later ran a family dance studio in Squirrel Hill.
Q 02Which 1952 film features Kelly's famous solo dance to its title song?
Singin' in the Rain
The routine with the umbrella and the lamppost has been imitated countless times and topped a 2013 poll of the nation's favorite dance moments.
Q 03Which Kelly musical won the Academy Award for Best Picture?
An American in Paris
It took six Oscars in total, and its 17-minute dream ballet was the most expensive production number ever filmed at the time.
Q 04Who co-directed On the Town (1949) with Kelly?
Stanley Donen
Kelly had brought Donen to Hollywood as his assistant choreographer and insisted he get screen credit on On the Town.
Q 05For which film did Kelly earn his only Academy Award nomination for Best Actor?
Anchors Aweigh
The same film contains his celebrated duet with an animated mouse, supervised by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Q 06Which cartoon character did Kelly dance with on screen in 1945?
Jerry Mouse
The sequence blended live action and animation years before Mary Poppins or Who Framed Roger Rabbit made it routine.
Q 07Who was Kelly's co-star in his 1942 film debut, For Me and My Gal?
Judy Garland
Kelly said seeing himself blown up twenty times on screen left him with an awful feeling that he was a tremendous flop.
Q 08What phrase did Kelly use for the accessible art form he wanted to create?
Dance for the common man
He reinforced the idea by dancing in T-shirts, sailor suits and loafers instead of top hat and tails.
Q 09What was Kelly's full first name?
Eugene
He was the middle of five children of a phonograph salesman and Harriet Catherine Curran, whose father emigrated from Derry.
Q 10Which film was Kelly's final screen role, a 1980 flop with a hit soundtrack?
Xanadu
The soundtrack spawned five Top 20 hits by ELO, Cliff Richard and co-star Olivia Newton-John; Kelly thought the concept marvelous but felt it never came off.
Q 11Which Broadway role in 1940 propelled Kelly to stardom?
Joey in Pal Joey
Van Johnson, also in the cast, recalled finding Kelly alone on stage rehearsing under a single lamp at midnight.
Q 12Which 1969 film, starring Barbra Streisand, did Kelly direct?
Hello, Dolly!
Fox commissioned it after The Sound of Music's returns; it was nominated for seven Oscars and won three.
Q 13Which 1965 film did Kelly refuse to direct, calling it a "piece of shit"?
The Sound of Music
He escorted screenwriter Ernest Lehman out of his house; the job had already been turned down by Stanley Donen too.
Q 21Which singer partnered Kelly in three films, ending with On the Town?
Frank Sinatra
On the Town was the third and final time the two were paired on screen.
Q 22What prop did Kelly dance with in "You, You Wonderful You" in Summer Stock?
A newspaper
A squeaky floorboard was the other co-star; the film was Judy Garland's last musical for MGM.
Q 23What did Kelly wear on his feet for "I Like Myself" in It's Always Fair Weather?
Roller skates
The 1955 satire on television and advertising was the last film he directed with Stanley Donen.
Q 14Which branch of the US military did Kelly serve in during World War II?
Navy
Stationed in a Washington photographic section, he wrote and directed documentaries, which sparked his interest in production.
Q 15With which dancer did Kelly perform "The Babbitt and the Bromide" in Ziegfeld Follies?
Fred Astaire
Kelly held Astaire in the greatest admiration; they appeared together again decades later in That's Entertainment, Part II.
Q 16Which film did Kelly leave after breaking his ankle playing volleyball?
Easter Parade
He persuaded Fred Astaire to come out of retirement to take over the role opposite Judy Garland.
Q 17Which swashbuckler did Kelly play in a 1948 MGM adventure film?
d'Artagnan
The role let him cash in on an athletic image while he fought for the chance to direct a musical.
Q 18Which 19-year-old ballerina did Kelly spot in Paris and bring to Hollywood?
Leslie Caron
She was 19 when Kelly brought her from Paris to Hollywood for the part.
Q 19Which household object was Kelly's dance partner in Thousands Cheer?
A mop
It was the first film in which he danced to his own choreography, in a mock love dance.
Q 20In Cover Girl, Kelly famously danced with what?
His own reflection
MGM lent him to Columbia for the film with Rita Hayworth, which foreshadowed the best of his later work.
Q 24Kelly's 1956 passion project Invitation to the Dance won which festival prize?
Golden Bear
Despite the Berlin honor, the film was beset by delays and flopped commercially.
Q 25Which 1954 musical was Kelly forced to shoot on backlots rather than in Scotland?
Brigadoon
MGM cut the budget as television began to squeeze the film musical.
Q 26Who was Kelly's first wife, an actress he married in 1941 when she was 17?
Betsy Blair
They met at an audition in 1940 where he hired her as a dancer for a nightclub revue; they divorced in 1957.
Q 27Kelly's second wife Jeanne Coyne had earlier been married to which man?
Stanley Donen
Coyne, Kelly's choreographic assistant, married him in 1960; the marriage lasted until her death in 1973.
Q 28How old was Kelly when he married Patricia Ward in 1990?
77
Ward was 30; she later initiated his successful application for Irish citizenship.
Q 29What cause was blamed for the 1983 fire that destroyed Kelly's Beverly Hills home?
Faulty Christmas tree wiring
His honorary Oscar was lost in the blaze and replaced at the 1984 Academy Awards.
Q 30What did Kelly study at Pitt, graduating in 1933?
Economics
He had started as a journalism major at Penn State before the 1929 crash forced him to leave and help support his family.