The Bridges of Madison County
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40 free The Bridges of Madison County trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Bridges of Madison County began as a slim 1992 novel about an Iowa farm woman and a travelling photographer who share four days together. It became a publishing phenomenon, then a 1995 film directed by and starring Clint Eastwood opposite Meryl Streep, and later a Broadway musical. This quiz covers all three versions. There are questions on Francesca and Kincaid's story, the people who made the film, the real bridges around Winterset, and the awards attention each version earned, from Streep's Oscar nomination to the musical's Tony night. It is written for fans of the film and the book, and for anyone checking which nominations the story collected and who went home with the prizes.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which magazine has sent photographer Robert Kincaid to Iowa in The Bridges of Madison County?
National Geographic
National Geographic gives Kincaid the assignment that brings him to Francesca's farm gate, where he stops to ask for directions.
Q 02What destroyed the Cedar Bridge, pictured on the cover of the novel The Bridges of Madison County, in 2002 and 2017?
Arson
Arson claimed the 1883 original in 2002 and then its replica in 2017. The bridge was built a third time and reopened in 2019.
Q 03Which Western star was born in Winterset, the Iowa town where much of The Bridges of Madison County was filmed?
John Wayne
John Wayne is Winterset's most famous son, and a museum devoted to him opened in 2015 across from the house where he was born.
Q 04Which actress won the Oscar that Meryl Streep was nominated for as Francesca in The Bridges of Madison County?
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon won for playing Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking, her first victory after four losing nominations.
Q 05Which 1995 film with a Clint Eastwood cameo kept The Bridges of Madison County from opening at number one?
Casper
Casper was in its second weekend when the romance opened behind it at number two. Eastwood appears in the ghost comedy as himself.
Q 06Meryl Streep gained weight for The Bridges of Madison County to resemble Italian film stars such as which actress?
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren was Streep's model for a fuller-figured Francesca, a look that deliberately departed from the character described in the novel.
Q 07Which director's company bought the film rights to The Bridges of Madison County before the novel was even published?
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg's Amblin paid just $25,000 for the rights. He helped rewrite the script and thought about directing the film himself.
Q 08Which Iowa author wrote the 1992 bestselling novel behind The Bridges of Madison County in just eleven days?
Robert James Waller
Robert James Waller got the idea after photographing the county's covered bridges, and his book stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for more than three years.
Q 09From which bridge does Francesca Johnson ask to have her ashes scattered in The Bridges of Madison County?
Roseman
Roseman Bridge is where Kincaid was heading when he first met Francesca. Her request shocks her children, who expected a burial beside their father.
Q 10Which Irish Nobel laureate wrote The Song of Wandering Aengus, the poem referenced in The Bridges of Madison County?
W. B. Yeats
W. B. Yeats wrote it about an old man still searching for a girl who vanished, a fitting echo for two lovers who part after four days.
Q 11Which American Film Institute list, unveiled in 2002, ranks The Bridges of Madison County at number 90?
100 Years...100 Passions
100 Years...100 Passions counts down the greatest love stories in American film, and was revealed in a TV special hosted by Candice Bergen.
Q 12After Clint Eastwood appealed, which rating replaced the R first given to The Bridges of Madison County over one line?
Rated PG-13
Rated PG-13 on appeal, the film had first been marked up for a single sarcastic remark of Francesca's that contains a strong swear word.
Q 13In the film The Bridges of Madison County, where do Francesca's husband and children spend the four days of her affair?
Q 21In The Bridges of Madison County, where do Michael and Carolyn find the envelope of photographs, letters and a key?
In a safe deposit box
In a safe deposit box, opened while they settle the estate, they find pictures of their mother and letters from a man they have never heard of.
Q 22Which keepsake of Francesca's is Robert Kincaid wearing in his magazine portrait in The Bridges of Madison County?
Her crucifix pendant
Her crucifix pendant hangs at his neck in the portrait printed beside his bridge pictures, which her children discover among her mementos.
Q 23In the novel The Bridges of Madison County, Robert Kincaid drives to Iowa from his home in which Washington city?
Bellingham
At the state fair
At the state fair, the family is away just long enough for Francesca to guide a lost stranger to a bridge and fall in love with him.
Q 14In which Iowa city did the US tour of the musical The Bridges of Madison County open in November 2015?
Des Moines
Des Moines hosted the opening at its Civic Center, a short drive from the real bridges, with the show's composer conducting the orchestra.
Q 15What was the day job of the author of the novel The Bridges of Madison County before it made him famous?
Business professor
A business professor at the University of Northern Iowa, he taught management and economics and was the founding dean of its business college.
Q 16In which nation did The Bridges of Madison County spend nine straight weeks at number one and win a Blue Ribbon Award?
Japan
Japan embraced the film: it took over $35 million there, and Tokyo's film journalists voted it the Best Foreign Film of its year.
Q 17Which film beat The Bridges of Madison County to the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama of 1995?
Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility won the Globe over a field that also included Braveheart and Apollo 13. Braveheart went on to take the Oscar instead.
Q 18What did the author of The Bridges of Madison County release in 1993 as The Ballads of Madison County?
An album of songs
An album of songs, issued by Atlantic Records while the novel was America's top bestseller: he was a musician as well as a writer.
Q 19In the film The Bridges of Madison County, war bride Francesca Johnson originally comes from which Italian city?
Bari
Bari, a port on the Adriatic coast, is the home Francesca left as a WWII war bride to follow her husband to his Iowa farm.
Q 20The key that Francesca's children find in The Bridges of Madison County unlocks which item holding her notebooks?
Her hope chest
Her hope chest holds three hardbound notebooks, old cameras and magazines: the record of an affair she had kept from her family.
Bellingham lies just 21 miles south of the Canadian border, so Kincaid crosses half a continent to reach the bridges.
Q 24Which European film star screen-tested for Francesca in The Bridges of Madison County before Meryl Streep won the role?
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve tested for the part, but Eastwood had championed Streep from the very beginning and prevailed.
Q 25Which producer, later the president of Lucasfilm, co-produced The Bridges of Madison County with Clint Eastwood?
Kathleen Kennedy
Kathleen Kennedy had produced E.T. and Jurassic Park before this quiet romance, and later oversaw the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Q 26A Clint Eastwood biographer calls The Bridges of Madison County an update of the play behind which David Lean film?
Brief Encounter
Brief Encounter was adapted from Noël Coward's short play Still Life, about a married woman and a doctor whose affair ends in parting.
Q 27Which composer won two Tony Awards for the Broadway musical of The Bridges of Madison County after it had closed?
Jason Robert Brown
Jason Robert Brown took Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations three weeks after the final curtain; the show had lasted only 100 performances.
Q 28Which Broadway star earned a Tony nomination as Francesca in the musical of The Bridges of Madison County?
Kelli O'Hara
Kelli O'Hara missed the show's first staging because she was expecting her second child, then led the Broadway cast and earned the nomination.
Q 29Which Pulitzer-winning playwright of 'night, Mother wrote the book for the musical of The Bridges of Madison County?
Marsha Norman
Marsha Norman had already won a Tony for the book of The Secret Garden, another musical drawn from a much-loved novel.
Q 30Which design field earned the Broadway musical of The Bridges of Madison County one of its four Tony nominations?
Lighting
Lighting brought a nomination for designer Donald Holder, though the award went to Kevin Adams for Hedwig and the Angry Inch.