This Casper trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the friendliest ghost in cartoons from his 1945 Paramount debut to the 1995 movie and beyond. The film questions take in Whipstaff Manor and Friendship, Maine, Kat and Dr. Harvey, Carrigan and Dibs, the Ghostly Trio, the Lazarus machine, how Casper died, what the treasure really was, the cameo Steven Spielberg cut, the Ghostbuster who turns up, the eight-month CGI scene and the actor who played Casper alive for a single dance. The history questions go back further: the two men who both claimed to have created him, the $175 the rights sold for, the New York accent of the first short, the Harvey Comics redesign that gave him feet, Wendy the Good Little Witch, the Hanna-Barbera series that parodied Charlie's Angels, the Apollo capsule named after him and the sequels that starred Hilary Duff. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia pages for the character and the films, and each explanation adds one detail worth remembering.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In the 1995 film, Casper haunts a mansion called Whipstaff Manor in which small town?
Friendship, Maine
Some location footage was shot in Camden, Maine, but the manor itself was mostly a studio set.
Q 02Which actress plays Kat Harvey, the teenager Casper falls for?
Christina Ricci
Her later reluctance was one reason a planned Casper 2 was cancelled in 2000.
Q 03Who plays Dr. James Harvey, the 'ghost therapist' hired to clear out the manor?
Bill Pullman
He treats the 'living impaired' while secretly hoping to contact the ghost of his late wife Amelia.
Q 04Who plays Carrigan Crittenden, the greedy heiress who inherits only the haunted manor?
Cathy Moriarty
She came back for Casper Meets Wendy in 1998, this time as a different villain.
Q 05Which Monty Python member plays Dibs, Carrigan's lawyer?
Eric Idle
Dibs ends up launched out of a window when he tries to double-cross Carrigan over the treasure.
Q 06Who voices Casper in the 1995 film?
Malachi Pearson
He kept the role for the Fox Kids cartoon The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper.
Q 07Which young actor plays Casper in human form for the dance with Kat?
Devon Sawa
He remains the only actor ever to play Casper in live action; the following year he starred with Ricci again in Now and Then.
Q 08According to the film, how did the 12-year-old Casper McFadden die?
Pneumonia after playing in the cold
It is the only Casper story ever to address his death directly; some 1960s comics had him born a ghost to ghost parents.
Q 09What is the name of the machine Casper's inventor father built to bring the dead back to life?
The Lazarus
The newspaper clipping Kat finds says J.T. McFadden was declared legally insane for claiming it worked.
Q 10The 'treasure' hidden in Whipstaff Manor turns out to be what?
A baseball signed by Duke Snider
The treasure map was part of a game Casper played with his dad; Carrigan gets ejected into the afterlife the moment she grabs it.
Q 11Casper gives up his one chance to live again in order to do what?
Bring Dr. Harvey back to life
Kat's mother Amelia, now an angel, rewards him by making him human until the clock strikes ten.
Q 12Which of Casper's three uncles is known for his odour, particularly his bad breath?
Stinkie
Stretch is the hot-tempered leader and Fatso the usual outlet for his anger; Brad Garrett voiced Fatso.
Q 13Which future Everybody Loves Raymond star voices Fatso?
Brad Garrett
Joe Nipote voiced Stretch and Joe Alaskey voiced Stinkie; all three returned for the animated spin-off.
Q 21Who composed the film's score, including the track 'One Last Wish'?
James Horner
'One Last Wish' later accompanied Universal's centennial 'Logos Through Time' montage.
Q 22Casper cost about $55M to make. Roughly how much did it gross worldwide?
$290M
It opened at number one over Memorial Day weekend 1995 and stayed there the following week.
Q 23Which critic gave Casper a 'BOMB' rating, objecting to Casper being portrayed as a dead child?
Leonard Maltin
Ebert, by contrast, gave it three stars and called it 'a technical achievement'; audiences gave it an A CinemaScore.
Q 14Which Ghostbuster turns up, uncredited, after Carrigan calls in help to clear the manor?
Ray Stantz
Dan Aykroyd's Ray flees with the line 'Who ya gonna call? Someone else'; Father Guido Sarducci tries an exorcism first.
Q 15Who directed Casper, in his feature debut?
Brad Silberling
Spielberg spotted him directing an episode of Brooklyn Bridge; the film's success got him City of Angels next.
Q 16Which director left Lemony Snicket over creative differences, wanting a darker film akin to The Wizard of Oz?
Alex Proyas
J. J. Abrams later did an uncredited rewrite of the script, and Silberling was hired after Spielberg saw his TV work.
Q 17Which future Star Wars and Lost creator did an uncredited rewrite of the Casper script?
J. J. Abrams
The credited writers were Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver, both veterans of Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs.
Q 18In the mirror scene, Dr. Harvey was also meant to transform into which person, in a cameo filmed but cut?
Steven Spielberg
The executive producer was reportedly relieved, admitting he was nervous in front of the camera; Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson and Rodney Dangerfield did make the cut.
Q 19Which effects house created Casper's CGI ghosts, making it the first film with a fully computer-generated lead?
Industrial Light & Magic
One 90-second scene between Casper and Kat took eight months to complete.
Q 20How long did one 90-second scene between Casper and Kat take to create?
Eight months
Principal photography itself ran from January to June 1994; the effects took far longer.
Q 24Which pop star's first major film role was Wendy the Good Little Witch in Casper Meets Wendy (1998)?
Hilary Duff
The film was released six days before her 11th birthday; it went straight to video from Fox.
Q 25Which 1997 direct-to-video prequel has Casper falling off a ghost train into Deedstown?
A Spirited Beginning
It deliberately breaks continuity with the 1995 film; Fox had bought the prequel rights from Universal.
Q 26Casper made his debut in a 1945 Paramount short with what title?
The Friendly Ghost
In it Casper has a New York accent and, distraught at scaring everyone, lies down on a railway track before two children befriend him.
Q 27Which Paramount cartoon unit produced the original Casper theatrical shorts?
Famous Studios
It was the successor to Fleischer Studios, where Casper's two claimed creators had worked as animators.
Q 28How much did Joe Oriolo receive when he sold the rights to the Casper storybook to Paramount?
$175
That one-off payment was all he ever got; co-claimant Seymour Reit got nothing at all until the 1995 film's makers gave him an honorarium.
Q 29According to Joe Oriolo, he invented Casper on Halloween night to reassure whom?
His four-year-old daughter
He hung a cardboard cut-out of a friendly ghost in the backyard tree to show her that not all ghosts are bad; Seymour Reit disputed the whole story.
Q 30Which publisher took over Casper in 1952 and bought the character outright in 1959?
Harvey Comics
Artist Warren Kremer redesigned him with feet and gave him friends, steering away from the fact that he was a dead child.