Misery Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
49 free Misery trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
42 free Misery trivia questions with answers. Stephen King dreamed up Annie Wilkes on a transatlantic flight, wrote the first pages at Rudyard Kipling's desk in a London hotel, and published the novel in 1987; three years later Rob Reiner's film turned an unknown stage actress named Kathy Bates into an Oscar winner and put the words 'number one fan' into the language. This quiz covers the book, the film and the 2015 Broadway play: the plot from the snowbank to the typewriter, the differences between page and screen, the casting saga, the box office and the awards. The easy questions ask who plays Annie, what Paul writes and what Annie does to his ankles; the harder ones want the novel's working title, the pseudonym it was nearly published under, the actors who turned down Paul Sheldon, the real nurse Annie was loosely based on, the town where the exteriors were shot and Annie's favourite musician. It suits horror fans, King completists and anyone who flinches at the word 'cockadoodie'. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the novel, the film, the character and the cast, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Stephen King refused to sell Misery's film rights until the director of which earlier King adaptation asked for them?
Stand by Me
Stand by Me. King had held Misery back after watching studios mishandle his earlier books, but he thought that 1986 film the best yet made from his work, so its director got the rights.
Q 02Who plays Annie Wilkes in the 1990 film Misery?
Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates was a stage actress barely known to film audiences. The screenwriter had written Annie with her in mind, and an independent production company meant no studio could insist on a bigger star.
Q 03Who plays the captive novelist Paul Sheldon in the 1990 film Misery?
James Caan
James Caan spends nearly the whole film in bed or a wheelchair. He joked that it was a sadistic idea to cast someone as restless as him, and said playing a man who can only react was far tougher than his usual parts.
Q 04Who directed the 1990 film Misery?
Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner was known for comedies, and this was his first thriller. He said he identified with a writer afraid of breaking away from what his audience expected of him.
Q 05Which screenwriter adapted Misery for the screen?
William Goldman
William Goldman fought to keep the novel's scene in which Annie cuts off Paul's foot, and lost. He later admitted the change was right: audiences would have hated Annie, and then the film.
Q 06What kind of books has Paul Sheldon made his fortune writing?
Victorian romance novels
Victorian romance novels. When he crashes he has just finished a very different book, a rough-tongued contemporary novel that he hopes will finally make critics take him seriously.
Q 07What is the surname of Misery, the heroine of Paul's book series?
Chastain
Chastain. Paul has come to hate her, yet as his agent points out, Misery Chastain is the character who made him rich.
Q 08In Misery, Paul Sheldon marks every finished manuscript with a single cigarette and a glass of which champagne?
Dom Pérignon
Dom Pérignon. On the last night he asks Annie for the full ritual, then sends her back for a second glass so she can join the toast, which buys him the moment he needs.
Q 09In Misery, in which US state does Paul Sheldon crash his car in a blizzard?
Colorado
Colorado. The film never went there, though: its snowbound town of Silver Creek was built in Nevada, and the farmhouse interiors on a Hollywood soundstage.
Q 10In the film Misery, what car is Paul Sheldon driving when he crashes in the blizzard?
A Mustang
A Mustang, a 1965 model. When it is finally found under the snow, the sheriff spots crowbar marks on the door and realises that someone must have pulled the driver out.
Q 11What was Annie Wilkes's profession before she settled in her remote farmhouse?
Nurse
Nurse. It is how she can splint his shattered legs, reset his shoulder and dose him from her own stockpile of painkillers instead of taking him to a hospital.
Q 12How does Annie Wilkes describe herself to Paul Sheldon in Misery?
His number one fan
His number one fan. She means it literally: she admits she used to park outside the lodge where he writes, and she was right behind his car when the blizzard hit.
Q 13What sends Annie into a rage after she reads Paul's latest book?
The heroine dies at the end
Q 21Which mock swear word does Annie Wilkes use in Misery in place of real profanity?
Cockadoodie
Cockadoodie. 'Dirty bird' is another of her stand-ins, and the first glimpse of her temper is a furious lecture about the swearing in Paul's new manuscript.
Q 22Which flamboyant pianist is Annie's favourite musician in the film Misery?
Liberace
Liberace. When Paul's new chapters delight her, Annie promises to play her Liberace records all day long to inspire him.
Q 23In the film Misery, how does Annie kill the sheriff who finds Paul in her basement?
With a shotgun
With a shotgun, from behind, the moment he spots Paul. She plans to shoot Paul and herself next, and he survives only by persuading her to let him finish the novel first.
The heroine dies at the end. In the novel Annie's revenge is to drive off and leave Paul alone for more than two days with no food, water or painkillers.
Q 14What does Annie make Paul do with the only copy of his new manuscript?
Burn it
Burn it. She wheels a charcoal grill to his bedside and makes him strike the match himself, knowing he never keeps a second copy of a work in progress.
Q 15What is the title of the new book Annie forces Paul to write?
Misery's Return
Misery's Return. In the novel the pages Paul destroys in front of Annie are a decoy, so the real manuscript survives and is published after his rescue.
Q 16What does Paul use to unlock his bedroom door while Annie is out?
A bobby pin
A bobby pin that Annie dropped. It gets him only so far: the phone is dead and every outside door is locked, so he has to wheel himself back before she returns.
Q 17The scrapbook Paul finds reveals that Annie was tried in connection with what?
Several infant deaths at a hospital
Several infant deaths at a hospital, for which she walked free for lack of evidence. The scrapbook's last clipping is about Paul's own disappearance, which tells him who is next.
Q 18In the film Misery, what does Annie use to break Paul's ankles in the 'hobbling' scene?
A sledgehammer
A sledgehammer, with a block of wood wedged between his feet. The novel is bloodier, but the director said he cut its goriest moments to keep the story a chess match between writer and fan.
Q 19In the novel Misery, which tool does Annie use to cut off Paul's foot, a punishment the film toned down?
An axe
An axe, after which she seals the wound with a blowtorch. The screenwriter fought to keep the scene and lost; he later wrote that the director had been right.
Q 20In the novel Misery, what does Annie cut off with an electric knife when Paul complains about his typewriter?
His thumb
His thumb. The second-hand typewriter had already lost a key, and Annie took his grumbling about it as one insult too many.
Q 24Which veteran actor and former stuntman plays Sheriff Buster in Misery?
Richard Farnsworth
Richard Farnsworth spent decades as a stuntman, doubling for Western stars, before winning roles of his own. At 79, The Straight Story made him the oldest Best Actor nominee the Oscars had then seen.
Q 25In the film Misery, Sheriff Buster's wife Virginia also holds which town job?
Deputy
Deputy. Frances Sternhagen's Virginia exists only on screen: the novel has no sheriff couple, and it is a lone state trooper who turns up at Annie's door.
Q 26Which Hollywood legend plays Paul Sheldon's literary agent, Marcia Sindell, in Misery?
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall's agent is the one who raises the alarm: when Paul fails to turn up, she phones the sheriff in Silver Creek, and that call starts the search.
Q 27In the film Misery, what does Paul finally use to kill Annie in their last fight?
A heavy iron doorstop
A heavy iron doorstop. Paul had already hit Annie with the typewriter, and she seemed dead after falling head-first onto it, when she lunged at him one last time.
Q 28In Misery's final scene, eighteen months after his escape, whom does Paul briefly see as Annie?
A waitress
A waitress. He has just turned down his agent's idea of a book about the ordeal, admitting he is not over it, when she walks up and greets him as a devoted reader.
Q 29Which Oscar did Misery win at the 1991 Academy Awards?
Best Actress
Best Actress, for the film's Annie, who also took the Golden Globe. A year earlier she had been a stage performer hardly known to cinema audiences.
Q 30Which two actresses turned down the role of Annie Wilkes in the 1990 film Misery?
Anjelica Huston and Bette Midler
Anjelica Huston and Bette Midler both passed: Huston chose The Grifters instead, and Midler later called her own refusal stupid.