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50 free The Green Mile trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free The Green Mile trivia questions with answers. The Green Mile started as a six-part serial paperback in 1996 and became one of the most-loved Stephen King films three years later. This quiz covers both: Cold Mountain Penitentiary and the linoleum that gives the Mile its name, John Coffey's gift and his fear of the dark, Percy Wetmore's dry sponge, Wild Bill, Del and Mr. Jingles, Warden Moores' wife, Top Hat, and Paul Edgecomb still alive at 108. It also covers how the film got made: Tom Hanks meeting Frank Darabont, Bruce Willis getting Michael Clarke Duncan the part, the Shaq rumour, the four Oscar nominations and the fight with the British censors. Easy questions ask who plays Paul and what animal Mr. Jingles is; the hard ones want the mouse's other name, the year King moved the story to, and how long the film's opening weekend trailed Toy Story 2. Written for King readers, film buffs and anyone who still cannot watch Del's execution. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the novel, the film and the cast, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Green Mile won the 1996 Bram Stoker Award. Its author is best known for which earlier book?
Carrie
Stephen King's 1974 debut. The Green Mile was also nominated for the British Fantasy Award and the Locus Award.
Q 02How was The Green Mile novel originally published?
In six monthly paperback volumes
The first volume, The Two Dead Girls, came in March 1996 and the last, Coffey on the Mile, in August. King liked that readers could not skip to the end.
Q 03Which Victorian author's practice inspired King to publish the story in installments?
Charles Dickens
Agent Ralph Vicinanza pitched writing the book 'the same way it would be read'. King later grumbled the six parts cost about nineteen dollars.
Q 04What gives the death row block its 'Green Mile' nickname?
The linoleum on the floor
It is the corridor the condemned walk down to the electric chair.
Q 05What is the name of the prison where the story takes place?
Cold Mountain Penitentiary
Briar Ridge is the mental hospital Percy is bound for; Trapingus County is where the murders happened.
Q 06In which year is the novel's main story set, later changed for the film?
1932
Darabont moved it to 1935 so the characters could watch Fred Astaire in Top Hat, which is not in the book.
Q 07How tall is John Coffey described as being in the novel?
6 ft 8 in
Michael Clarke Duncan was actually 6 ft 5 in and 315 pounds, and camera tricks did the rest.
Q 08What was John Coffey convicted of?
Raping and murdering two young girls
He was found cradling their bodies and sobbing that he tried to 'take it back'. The other crimes belong to Del and Arlen Bitterbuck.
Q 09What kind of animal is Mr. Jingles?
A mouse
Del teaches him tricks. After Coffey heals him he lives another 64 years.
Q 10What does Brutus 'Brutal' Howell call the mouse before Del names him Mr. Jingles?
Steamboat Willie
'The President' is actually another inmate, Arthur Flanders. Brutal's nickname is ironic; he is the gentlest guard on the block.
Q 11Why can the other guards not get rid of the sadistic Percy Wetmore?
He is the nephew of the governor's wife
They finally let him run an execution on the condition he take a job at Briar Ridge afterwards, which goes horribly wrong.
Q 12How is Percy able to sabotage Del's execution?
He leaves the electrode-cap sponge dry
The brine-soaked sponge is what conducts the current for a quick death. Without it, Del catches fire in the chair.
Q 13What is wrong with Warden Hal Moores' wife Melinda?
An inoperable brain tumour
Q 21Which Native American inmate, convicted of killing a man over boots, is the first execution in Paul's story?
Arlen Bitterbuck
He is nicknamed 'The Chief'. Toot-Toot is the trustee who plays the condemned man in execution rehearsals.
Q 22Besides the Bram Stoker, The Green Mile was shortlisted for the Locus and which UK prize?
The British Fantasy Award
It also made the BBC's Big Read poll of the UK's best-loved novels in 2003.
Q 23Who wrote and directed the 1999 film adaptation?
Frank Darabont
He was reluctant at first because the prison setting was so close to his Shawshank Redemption, then read the book and changed his mind.
Coffey draws it out through his hands and later discharges the sickness into Percy.
Q 14What ailment of Paul's does Coffey cure first?
A urinary tract infection
In the film Coffey absorbs it and expels it as a swarm of flies.
Q 15Who really committed the crimes Coffey was convicted of?
William 'Wild Bill' Wharton
He silenced the sisters by threatening to kill one if the other made a noise. Coffey had been trying to bring the girls back.
Q 16What nickname does Wild Bill Wharton prefer, and have tattooed on his forearm?
Billy the Kid
He fakes a drugged stupor on arrival, then tries to strangle Dean Stanton the moment he reaches E Block.
Q 17Which snack does Wild Bill spit, chewed up, into Brutal's face?
A Moon Pie
He also urinates on the guards. Solitary confinement never teaches him anything.
Q 18Why does John Coffey ask not to wear the black hood at his execution?
He is afraid of the dark
He also tells the guards about a dream in which he and the two girls are safe and happy.
Q 19How old is Paul Edgecombe at the end of the novel?
104
The film makes him 108. Everyone Coffey healed gained an unnaturally long life, including the mouse.
Q 20How many years does Mr. Jingles live after being healed by Coffey?
64
Paul introduces him to his friend Elaine just before the mouse finally dies.
Q 24How long did the director take to adapt the novel into a screenplay?
Under eight weeks
He had also written and directed The Shawshank Redemption from a King novella five years earlier.
Q 25Who plays Paul Edgecomb in the film?
Tom Hanks
He and Darabont had met at an Academy Award luncheon in 1994, and King had already pictured him in the role.
Q 26Why did Tom Hanks not also play the elderly Paul Edgecomb, as originally planned?
The old-age makeup tests were not credible
Character actor Dabbs Greer took the part in his final film role, at 82.
Q 27Which star from Armageddon did Michael Clarke Duncan credit with getting him the John Coffey audition?
Bruce Willis
Duncan had been a bodyguard for Will Smith and The Notorious B.I.G. before acting. Shaquille O'Neal says he turned the role down.
Q 28Which basketball star has said he turned down the role of John Coffey?
Shaquille O'Neal
Josh Brolin was considered for Wild Bill, a role that went to Sam Rockwell.
Q 29Which future Oscar winner played Wild Bill Wharton in the film, a King prison drama?
Sam Rockwell
He won Best Supporting Actor nearly two decades later for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Q 30Who played the sadistic guard Percy Wetmore?
Doug Hutchison
He was nominated for a Satellite Award for the role, and made a career of disturbed characters.