The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
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50 free The Man From U.N.C.L.E. trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. arrived in 1964, just as spy fever was taking over film and television, and it quickly became one of the decade's defining shows. Its two heroes, the smooth Napoleon Solo and the enigmatic Illya Kuryakin, came from opposite sides of a divided world and worked together anyway, which was a bold idea for a prime-time adventure series of its day. This quiz covers the whole story. There are questions on the agents, their chief and the organisation they fight, on the gadgets and the secret headquarters, on the famous faces who turned up as guest stars, and on the writers, producers and composers who shaped the series. It also takes in the spin-off, the reunion movie and the 2015 big-screen version: its cast, its plot and the long road it took to reach cinemas. It suits fans who grew up with the original run, viewers who came to the story through the film, and quiz hosts looking for a spy-themed round. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will pick up a few stories from behind the scenes along the way.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which British spy novelist proposed the characters Napoleon Solo and April Dancer for The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?
Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, joined the project after producer Norman Felton approached him. The series was at first meant to carry the novelist's name in its title.
Q 02David McCallum, who played Illya Kuryakin, spent twenty seasons as medical examiner Ducky Mallard on which crime drama?
NCIS
NCIS kept the old role in mind: Ducky's dog was named Solo, after the partner of McCallum's 1960s spy. He stayed with the drama until his death in 2023.
Q 03Which British actor replaced Tom Cruise as Napoleon Solo in the 2015 film The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?
Henry Cavill
Henry Cavill stepped in after Cruise left for a Mission: Impossible sequel. That put an Englishman in the part of the American half of the spy duo.
Q 04Which secret organisation, bent on conquering the world, is the main enemy of the agents in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?
THRUSH
THRUSH was never explained on screen. Producer Norman Felton always insisted the name was not an acronym and stood for nothing.
Q 05Illya Kuryakin, the partner of American agent Napoleon Solo in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., comes from which country?
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union and the United States sharing a spy team at the height of the Cold War was the show's boldest idea. Producer Sam Rolfe added Kuryakin to the format.
Q 06Robert Vaughn, TV's Napoleon Solo, played the hired gunman Lee in which Western remake of a Kurosawa film?
The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven came four years before U.N.C.L.E. made him a television star. When he died in 2016 he was the last surviving member of the seven.
Q 07Agents in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. reach their secret headquarters through a hidden passage in which kind of shop?
A tailor's
A tailor's called Del Floria's hid the usual way in. The agency's chief, Mr. Waverly, had a private secret entrance of his own.
Q 08Which pop duo, a real-life couple, made a joint guest appearance in a third-season episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?
Sonny and Cher
Sonny and Cher played garment-district workers: she was a model and he was the cutter with a crush on her. The story hid a villains' code in a dress pattern.
Q 09Which British director took on the 2015 film The Man from U.N.C.L.E. after two decades of abandoned scripts?
Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie signed on in 2013, twenty years after the film rights were first optioned. He went on rewriting scenes on the mornings they were shot.
Q 10In The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which two words do the first two letters of the spy agency's name stand for?
United Network
United Network was a legal fix. The studio's lawyers worried about using the initials of a real world body to sell a television show, so the writers found new words to fit.
Q 11Which network first broadcast The Man from U.N.C.L.E., rescuing its poor early ratings with a move to Monday nights?
NBC
NBC came close to cancelling the series in its first season, when it ran against The Red Skelton Show. The new time slot found it an audience.
Q 12Every episode title of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., starting with the pilot, ends with which word?
Affair
Affair is the agency's own term for one of its cases, as a first-season episode establishes. Each episode was also split into four acts with titles of their own.
Q 13Which English actor, a veteran of six Alfred Hitchcock films, played U.N.C.L.E. chief Alexander Waverly?
Leo G. Carroll
Leo G. Carroll had already played a spymaster for Hitchcock in North by Northwest. He was in his late seventies when the television series began.
Q 21Which Swedish actress played Gaby Teller, daughter of a nuclear scientist, in the 2015 film The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?
Alicia Vikander
Alicia Vikander joined the cast in 2013. Emily Blunt had come close to taking the female lead under an earlier director, then left the project soon after he did.
Q 22Which British star of romantic comedies played spy chief Alexander Waverly in the 2015 film The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?
Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant's Waverly appears late in the story. In the final scene he hands the three heroes a new mission under the code name that gives the film its title.
Q 23Which actress, cast after Charlize Theron was considered, played Victoria Vinciguerra in the 2015 U.N.C.L.E. film?
Elizabeth Debicki
Q 14Which hit ABC series of 1966 did The Man from U.N.C.L.E. try to copy by turning to slapstick and self-parody?
Batman
Batman was a camp sensation from its debut early that year. Chasing it cost U.N.C.L.E. dearly: the jokier third season brought a severe drop in the ratings.
Q 15Which actress, later the co-star of Hart to Hart, played April Dancer in the spin-off The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.?
Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers led the spin-off for its single season of 29 episodes, partnered with a British agent played by Noel Harrison.
Q 16In 1966, at the height of the spy craze, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. won which award for Best TV Show?
Golden Globe
Golden Globe voters gave the series their top television prize that year. Its Emmy nominations, including two for the actor behind Illya Kuryakin, never turned into wins.
Q 17Which composer, who later won an Oscar for The Omen, wrote the theme music for The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith wrote the theme but only three episode scores. Later composers rearranged his tune season by season, making it jazzier and then more camp as the show changed.
Q 18Which James Bond film, featuring a gangster called Mr. Solo, led to a legal threat against the U.N.C.L.E. pilot?
Goldfinger
Goldfinger was being filmed when the Bond producers claimed the name Solo as theirs. The settlement let the television hero keep his name but forced the show to change its title.
Q 19The pocket radios used in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. were disguised first as cigarette packs and finally as what?
Fountain pens
Fountain pens were the last and best-remembered disguise, after cigarette packs and then cigarette cases. One of the original props ended up in the CIA's own museum.
Q 20Which actor, who played both Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, was Illya Kuryakin in the 2015 U.N.C.L.E. film?
Armie Hammer
Armie Hammer played Kuryakin as short-tempered and volatile, a sharp break from the cool, quiet enigma of the 1960s series.
Elizabeth Debicki's Victoria outlasts Alexander Vinciguerra in the story, slipping away with the real warhead while he carries a decoy.
Q 24Which star was in talks to play U.N.C.L.E. agent Napoleon Solo on film until a recurring back injury ruled him out?
George Clooney
George Clooney was attached from 2010 and left the following year. More than a dozen leading men were then considered before the part was finally cast.
Q 25In the 2015 film The Man from U.N.C.L.E., to which Italian city do the agents travel to find the Vinciguerras?
Rome
Rome is where two of the agents pose as an engaged couple to get close to the Vinciguerras, Nazi sympathisers who are building a private nuclear weapon.
Q 26In the 2015 film The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which keepsake of Illya Kuryakin's father is stolen by muggers?
A watch
A watch is the keepsake Kuryakin lets the muggers take rather than break his cover. His partner later finds it on a guard and returns it.
Q 27In the 2015 film The Man from U.N.C.L.E., what was Napoleon Solo before the CIA recruited him in place of prison?
An art thief
An art thief of rare skill, the film's Solo stayed in Europe after serving in the Second World War. When he was finally caught he faced a fifteen-year sentence.
Q 28In the 2015 film The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Gaby Teller turns out to be an undercover officer of which service?
MI6
MI6 had planted her all along. Waverly reveals it late in the story, when he steps in to help the two agents raid the villains' island fortress.
Q 29Which composer wrote the score of flutes and harpsichord for the 2015 film The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?
Daniel Pemberton
Daniel Pemberton's music drew some of the film's warmest notices. One Los Angeles Times critic felt he understood the idea of the movie better than its director did.
Q 30Barbara Feldon played an U.N.C.L.E. translator eager for field work months before starring in which sitcom?
Get Smart
Get Smart cast her as Agent 99 from 1965. The eager translator finally got her field work, this time played for laughs.