From Rags to Riches Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 to June 15, 1996) lived on the streets of New York City when she was a teenager. Home was the streets of Harlem, for about a year. On November 21, 1934, at the age of seventeen, she entered a singing talent contest at the Apollo Theater and won. Her jazz career soared earning her fourteen Grammy awards, one of which was for Lifetime Achievement (1967). This impressive woman, who was awarded several other awards, went from rags to riches with great dignity and respect.

Answer: Harry Houdini

Erik Weisz, better known as Harry Houdini, lived from March 24, 1874 to October 31, 1926. He was born in Hungary and immigrated to Appleton, Wisconsin in 1878 with his parents and siblings. By the time he was twelve years old he left home to find work.

He traveled from Wisconsin to Missouri and eventually ended up in New York City, were he lived on the streets for a time. In 1899 he met his manager, Martin Beck, and from there his career skyrocketed. At the age of fifty two, Houdini died of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix.

Answer: David Letterman

When David Letterman set out for Los Angeles in 1975, in the pursuit of a career as a comedy writer, he lived in his 1973 red Chevy pick-up truck for a while. Letterman was born on April 12, 1947 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is known as the host of "Late Show with David Letterman".

Answer: Jim Morrison

James Douglas "Jim" Morrison (December 8, 1943 - July 3, 1971) was the lead singer for The Doors. Morrison moved to Los Angeles in 1964 to chase his dream of becoming a singer/musician. During the first few months he was homeless and slept in a variety of places from under bridges to the sofas of strangers.

In 1967 Jim Morrison and The Doors had a number one hit on the Billboard Pop Singles called "Light My Fire". The group went on to appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show" singing both "Light My Fire" and "People Are Strange". Morrison died in Paris in 1971. Since there was no foul play suspected an autopsy was never performed so the official cause of death is unknown.

Answer: Nathaniel Ayers

Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr. was born on the 22nd of January, 1951. He trained at the Julliard School of Music in New York, but suffered schizophrenia which caused him to wind up on the streets of Los Angeles, homeless, after his mother's death in 2000.

In 2005 journalist Steve Lopez found Ayers on the streets and listened to his story and wrote a book about Ayers called "The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music". The movie, "The Soloist" (2009), starred Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.

It brought Ayers into the spotlight. Ayers gradually made the transition from homelessness with the help of his friend, Steve Lopez.

Answer: Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat (Dec. 22, 1960 - August 12, 1988) ran away from home at the young age of 15. He panhandled and sold T-shirts and postcards to survive. He was a troubled youth, spray painting graffiti on the walls of buildings in Lower Manhattan, New York.

He signed his work "SAMO". The Village Voice published an article about "SAMO"'s graffiti starting in 1978 and ending in 1988 with the title "Samo is Dead". In 1984, Basquiat met Andy Warhol and they collaborated from 1984 to 1986. When Warhol died in 1987, Basquiat became very isolated and depressed.

His addiction to drugs intensified and in 1988 Basquiat died of a heroine overdose at the young age of 27.

Answer: Halle Berry

Halle Berry was born Maria Halle Berry on August 14, 1966. When she was around 21 years old she stayed in a homeless shelter while pursuing her acting career. When she was still a teenager she won the Miss Teen All-American Pageant in 1985. In 1986 she was first runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant after which she went in search of modeling and acting, living in a homeless shelter for a while.

She landed her first weekly television series role in 1989 on "Living Dolls".

Answer: Hilary Swank

Hilary Ann Swank was born on the 30th of July, 1974, in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1987, when Hilary was 13, she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, because Hilary's mother was in support of Hilary's acting desires. They ended up living in their car as well as in a friend's vacant house, in sleeping bags on the floor, until Hilary's mother could save enough for an apartment. To book Hilary's auditions, her mother had to use a pay phone at that time.

She landed parts in television shows like "Evening Shade" (1990) and "Growing Pains" (1985).

In 1994, Swank got her first leading film role in "The Next Karate Kid". She won Academy Awards for roles in "Boys Don't Cry" (1999) and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004).

Answer: Martin Sheen

Ramón Antonio Gerard Estévez, better known as Martin Sheen, was born the 3rd of August, 1940. As a young child, Sheen was interested in acting, but his father disapproved. Sheen headed to New York City and lived in the subway system while following his dreams of becoming an actor.

He worked at various jobs, changed his name to Martin Sheen (never legally), then got his start at the Living Theater alongside Al Pacino. In 1963 he got a part in television's "East Side West Side" playing the part of Vince Arno.

Answer: Rob Thomas

Robert Kelly "Rob" Thomas entered the world on February 14, 1972. Rob Thomas was the lead singer of Matchbox Twenty as well as the primary songwriter for this band. From 1989 to 1991, he was in search of his musical career and was homeless for three years.

He slept on park benches much of the time as well as on beaches and in friends' houses. Rob Thomas and Matchbox 20's first album was "Yourself or Someone Like You" (1996). This album was a diamond seller in the USA and a multi-platinum selling album in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

He received three Grammy awards for both singing and co-writing "Smooth" (1999) with Carlos Santana.