Question 1

True or false: Milos Forman was born in Czechoslovakia and later became a naturalized US citizen.

Accepted Answer

True. He was born in Čáslav, Czechoslovakia in 1932, and became a US citizen in 1977 after fleeing communist censorship.

Question 2

True or false: Forman began his career as a professional ice hockey player in Czechoslovakia.

Accepted Answer

False. He never played hockey professionally. He studied film at the Prague Film School and started as a screenwriter.

Question 3

True or false: Forman directed the music video for Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'.

Accepted Answer

False. John Landis directed 'Thriller'. Forman directed 'Amadeus' and 'Hair', but never a Jackson video.

Question 4

True or false: His film 'Amadeus' was originally written as a musical for Broadway.

Accepted Answer

False. 'Amadeus' was a stage play by Peter Shaffer, not a musical. Forman adapted it into a film with classical music.

Question 5

True or false: His film 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' won all five major Oscars (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay).

Accepted Answer

True. It achieved this rare sweep in 1976, only the second film in history after 'It Happened One Night' (1934).

Question 6

True or false: Both of Forman's parents died in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

Accepted Answer

True. His father Rudolf and mother Anna were killed at Auschwitz and Buchenwald respectively in 1942-43.

Question 7

True or false: Forman's first American film was 'Taking Off', a comedy about runaway teens.

Accepted Answer

True. Released in 1971, 'Taking Off' was his English-language debut and won the Jury Prize at Cannes.

Question 8

True or false: Forman was a professor at Columbia University's film school for over a decade.

Accepted Answer

True. From 1978 to 1995, he taught film directing at Columbia, mentoring future filmmakers like Todd Solondz.

Milos Forman Trivia Questions