80s Trivia Questions and Answers
Trivia about the 1980s, with plenty on the decade's films, television and music, plus some sport and world news. Every question is tied to the years 1980 to 1989. The answers are printed with the questions.
There are 50 questions on this page. They are free to use for quiz nights, classrooms and pub quizzes, and each one links to its own page.
Related lists: 90s trivia questions, 70s trivia questions, Oscars trivia questions, Music trivia questions.
1.In 1981, the Academy Award Winning film was about two runners Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddel competing in the 1924 Olympics. What was the name of the film, and in which city did the 1924 Olympic Games take place?
Answer: CHARIOTS OF FIRE / PARIS
Open this question2.In 1985, Olympic basketball star Lynette Woodward made history when she became the first female member of a professional basketball team. Which team did she join?
Answer: HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS
Open this question3.Which young actor and actress starred in, and which young actor directed, the 1984 film, Splash?
Answer: TOM HANKS / DARYL HANNAH / RON HOWARD
Open this question4.Who was Madonna married to from 1985-1989?
Answer: SEAN PENN
Open this question5.By 1984, this singer/entertainer had sold around 100 million record albums and given over 2,000 live concerts, yet he was relatively unknown in the United States. Who is he?
Answer: JULIO IGLESIAS
Open this question6.Which women won Academy Awards as Best Actress and Supporting Actress for their roles in the 1987 film, Moonstruck?
Answer: CHER / OLYMPIA DUKAKIS
Open this question7.Which deaf person won the Oscar as Best Actress in 1986 and for which film?
Answer: MARLEE MATLIN / CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD
Open this question8.In the 1980 film Raging Bull, Robert DeNiro played the role of which boxer?
Answer: JAKE LA MOTTA
Open this question9.What was the name of the 1980 film which starred John Travolta, Debra Winger, and a mechanical bull?
Answer: URBAN COWBOY
Open this question10.In the early 1980's, Disney Studios' Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg created a new division, Touchstone Pictures, to produce more adult-oriented films. Their first effort, in 1984, was a big hit. What was the title of this film with a wet theme?
Answer: SPLASH
Open this question11.In 1988, 160,000 people attended the largest rock music gathering ever held in East Germany. The Communist newpapers hailed the American rock performer as a friend of the working class. Who was he?
Answer: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
Open this question12.One was a former Olympic gymnast who won the Gold in the 1984 Olympics, the other a perennial tennis champion. They were the first two women athletes to appear on the box of Wheaties cereal. Who are they?
Answer: MARY LOU RETTON / CHRIS EVERT
Open this question13.What was the name of the 1988 comedy in which Eddie Murphy, as an African prince, travels to New York to find a bride, and which person co-starred as his travel companion?
Answer: COMING TO AMERICA / ARSENIO HALL
Open this question14.One of the most successful films to come out of Australia was a 1981 anti-war film, which starred Mel Gibson. What was the title?
Answer: GALLIPOLI
Open this question15.This woman is a movie star, a singing star, and was Miss America in 1984. What is her name?
Answer: VANESSA WILLIAMS
Open this question16.Which TV newsreporter in late 1986 was embarrassed when he showed a police drug bust on live television only to end up being sued for false arrest?
Answer: JOHN STOSSEL
Open this question17.One of the most popular films of 1982 was An Officer and a Gentleman. Can you name the three main stars of that film: the officer in training, the factory worker, and the tough drill sergeant?
Answer: RICHARD GERE / DEBRA WINGER / LOU GOSSETT, JR.
Open this question18.Which 1982 film, based on a novel written by John Irving, starred Glenn Close and Robin Williams?
Answer: THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP
Open this question19.One of Woody Allen's best films is the 1986 movie, Hannah and Her Sisters. Which three actresses played the roles of Hannah and her sisters?
Answer: MIA FARROW / DIANNE WIEST / BARBARA HERSHEY
Open this question20.The title of this 1982 horror film film, in which a normal suburban home became a house of horrors, was named after a type of ghost that creates disorder. What was the name of this film?
Answer: "POLTERGEIST"
Open this question21.Which woman served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1981 until 1985?
Answer: JEANE KIRKPATRICK
Open this question22.Actor Michael Caine received the Oscar as as Best Supporting Actor in 1986 for his role in which Woody Allen film?
Answer: HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
Open this question23.Madonna made her first national TV appearance in 1984 on what music and entertainment show?
Answer: DANCE FEVER
Open this question24.a. Jose Canseco was born in which country? b. Was he ever voted MVP in the American League?
Answer: A. CUBA b. YES/1988
Open this question25.Oliver Stone won the Academy Award as Best Director twice in a four year span: for a 1986 film and a 1989 film, both related to the same subject. What were the film titles?
Answer: PLATOON / BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY Vietnam War
Open this question26.According to the popular 1980's television series, Dallas, J.R. Ewing and his clan live at what ranch?
Answer: SOUTHFORK
Open this question27.Can you name the Australian aborigine who won the Wimbledon Women's singles tennis championship in 1980?
Answer: EVONNE GOOLAGONG
Open this question28.Which popular fad of the 1980's included terms like "hand glide" and "back slide"?
Answer: BREAKDANCING
Open this question29.In April, 1982, war broke out between two very unlikely enemies, countries located almost 7,000 miles apart, in a neutral location. Who were the opponents, and generally where did they fight?
Answer: BRITAIN vs. ARGENTINA / FALKLANDS WAR
Open this question30.She died in 1987 in Vermont at the age of 82. Her life story became the basis for the film, The Sound of Music. What was her full married name?
Answer: MARIA VON TRAPP
Open this question31.What is the title of the 1986 film written by Nora Ephron, directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep?
Answer: HEARTBURN
Open this question32.Which actress played the role of which country singer known as the first lady of country music in the 1980 film, Coal Miner's Daughter?
Answer: SISSY SPACEK / LORETTA LYNN
Open this question33.In which 1983 film did Meryl Streep play the role of a worker at a nuclear factory who risks her life to protect workers from safety hazards?
Answer: SILKWOOD
Open this question34."The Simpsons" first appeared in the mid-1980's as a short segment on what woman's TV series?
Answer: TRACY ULLMAN
Open this question35.In what 1989 Spike Lee film does Danny Aiello play a Brooklyn pizzeria owner involved in a racial conflict?
Answer: DO THE RIGHT THING
Open this question36.What was the name of the Secretary of the Interior under Ronald Reagan who was drummed out of office in 1983 because of his insensitivity to people and the environment?
Answer: JAMES WATT
Open this question37.When this person visited San Francisco for one day in September of 1987, it cost the city over $1 million. Who was this visitor?
Answer: THE POPE
Open this question38.Although accused of Nazi associations during WWII, he served as Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972-81, then was elected President of Austria in 1986. Who was he?
Answer: KURT WALDHEIM
Open this question39.What was the name of the 1984 musical film written by and starring Paul McCartney?
Answer: GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROAD STREET
Open this question40.What was the one-word name of the album released in 1986 by Huey Lewis and the News, in which five members of the San Francisco 49-ers sang along on the recording?
Answer: FORE - people will say "Sports" but that's a different album by the same group
Open this question41.This actor played an inspirational teacher helping his poor east-Los Angeles students pass the Advanced Placement Test in Calculus. Name the 1988 film, actor, and teacher.
Answer: STAND AND DELIVER // EDWARD JAMES OLMOS played teacher JAIME ESCALANTE
Open this question42.Which 1989 film starred Julia Roberts, Sally Field, Dolly Parton and Shirley MacLaine?
Answer: STEEL MAGNOLIAS
Open this question43.Dustin Hoffman won the Oscar twice in his career, once in 1979 and once in 1988. For which films?
Answer: Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) / Rain Man (1988)
Open this question44.In 1989, Oliver Stone directed a film about real-life Vietam vet Ron Kovic, who enthusiastically joined the Marines and came back from Vietnam as a quadriplegic, only to endure hostility at home. What was the name of the film, and which actor played the role?
Answer: BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY / TOM CRUISE
Open this question45.In 1986, in the largest covert CIA operation since the Vietnam War, the U.S. sent $400 million worth of weapons to support a rebel group fighting in which country?
Answer: AFGHANISTAN vs. the russians
Open this question46.Which European tennis star, in 1988, became only the 3rd woman ever to win the Grand Slam of tennis?
Answer: STEFFI GRAF
Open this question47.This 1983 Disney film was based on the real-life story of a Canadian author named Farley Mowat who survived alone in the Arctic, studying the behavior of a certain kind of animal. What was the title of this film?
Answer: NEVER CRY WOLF
Open this question48.One of the most popular TV shows of the mid 1980's was Cagney and Lacey . Who were the two stars of this show?
Answer: SHARON GLESS / TYNE DALY
Open this question49.When her mother, Queen Juliana, abdicated the throne in 1980, her daughter, Beatrix, became Queen of what European country?
Answer: NETHERLANDS
Open this question50.Who were the three female stars of the 1980 comedy, Nine to Five?
Answer: DOLLY PARTON / JANE FONDA / LILY TOMLIN
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