Entertain Me, Fred Trivia Quiz

Answer: Fred Mertz

"I Love Lucy" was one of the most successful sitcoms of all time, and the part of Fred Mertz was hilariously played by veteran actor William Frawley. His wife in the show was Ethel Mertz, played by Vivian Vance, and the neighbors upstairs were of course, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz). Frawley's character was a bit of a cheapskate who was always looking for a scheme to make a buck but was reluctant to spend any money.

He also was a friend to the Ricardos and sometimes got involved in some of the hare brained schemes cooked up by the women, or in some instances the guys cooked up a scheme themselves to get even with the wives. Funny stuff. Frawley was a veteran actor who appeared in over 100 films spanning over 50 years.

He also spent 5 seasons on the sitcom "My Three Sons" before his death in 1966, but is remembered most for his role on "I Love Lucy".

Answer: Freddie Blassie

Blassie known as "Classy Freddie Blassie" began his wrestling career in 1935, and after a 42 month interruption to go overseas and fight in World War Two, he continued his wrestling career in such places as Atlanta Georgia, in the NWA in the 1950s, Los Angeles California in the WWA (World Wrestling Association) and on the East coast of the U.S. in the WWWA (World Wide Wrestling Association) in the 1960s, and into the 1970s. Blassie was cast as a villain during most of his active career.

He retired from active wrestling in 1974 and became a manager to some of the most well known wrestlers of the time, such as Hulk Hogan, George "The Animal" Steele, The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, and King Kong Bundy, just to name a few.

The term "pencil necked geek" was a term he came up with early in his career to describe a wrestler he had a feud with early in his career, and the term stuck. Blassie passed away in 2003.

Answer: Freddy Fender

Baldemar Huerta, a.k.a. Freddy Fender, was born in San Benito, Texas in 1937. Fender grew up traveling through the U.S. His parents were part of a circus act. He joined the U.S. military at age 16, and upon his return in the late 1950s, started performing in small venues in the south, mostly in Texas.

He also recorded two songs in Spanish, which had minor success. He spent time in jail in the 1960s for drug possession and was basically out of music after that. He tried again in the mid 1970s and that's when "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" became a major hit for him.

He had originally recorded the song back in 1959, with not much success. This time the song went to number one on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100 and number one on the country charts as well.

It was his second successive number one hit, following "Before the Next Teardrop Falls", which put him on the national map as a major crossover artist. These two songs were his greatest success. Fender passed away in 2006.

Answer: Fred Sanford

"Sanford and Son" was one of the most successful sitcoms in television history. The lead character, Fred G. Sanford, was played by veteran comedian Redd Foxx. The sitcom was based on a successful British comedy called "Steptoe and Son". Sanford was a widowed junk dealer who lived in Watts, in California.

He was continually coming up with hair brained money making schemes, which never worked, along with a wacky group of social buddies, and he was usually bailed out or taught a lesson by his son, Lamont, played by Demond Wilson.

The show had many racial overtones and was considered ground breaking for the times. It was created for U.S. audiences by Norman Lear, who had some success with another ground breaker, "All in The Family".

Answer: Freddie Prinze

Freddie Prinze was a stand up comedian who was born and raised in New York City to a Puerto Rican mother, and a German father. He stated playing comedy clubs in the early 1970s and ended up as a guest on first "The Jack Paar Show", and then "The Tonight Show".

He got his big break in 1974 when he was cast as Francisco Chico Rodriguez in the NBC television sitcom "Chico and The Man". The show ran successfully for four seasons, but Prinze's personal life was running afoul. He went through a divorce due to his wife's allegations of drug use, and tragically took his own life in January 1977 at age 22.

His son Freddie Prinze, Jr., is an actor as well, and has appeared in several major motion pictures.

Answer: Robert Englund

Robert Englund has portrayed the evil Freddy Krueger since the inception of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series of horror movies. He also played the razor handed villain in the television series of the same name which ran for two seasons in the U.S. in the late 1980s.

In reality, Englund is a classically trained actor who has appeared in over 100 motion pictures and television shows since 1974.

Answer: Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington

Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington, was known for his skills on the basketball court, as well as "pretending to play the bass" as he says. He had a number of catch phrases on the show such as going down to a bass voice as saying "Hi there" when introducing himself, addressing Kotter (Kaplan) as "Mr. Kot-tare", and when asked for his homework assignment claimed he "didn't have it here. Handy".

He has appeared in a number of movies and television shows since "Kotter", and played Joseph Jackson, the patriarch of the Jackson family in the television mini-series "The Jacksons: An American Dream".

Answer: Fred Dryer

Fred Dryer was drafted by the New York Giants out of San Diego State college in 1969. He played defensive end for the Giants for three years before being traded in 1972 and ultimately ending up with the Los Angeles Rams. It was here that he had his major success as a football player. Dryer retired from football in 1981, and turned to acting and television in the 1980s starring in "Hunter", a police drama which co-starred Stephanie Kramer and lasted seven years, from 1984 through 1991.

Answer: Freddie Mercury

Born Farrokh Bulsara in 1946 on the island of Zanzibar, Freddie emigrated to London with his family at age 17. After schooling and some unsuccessful musical attempts, Mercury formed Queen in 1970 along with Roger Taylor and Brian May. Over the years Mercury wrote some of Queen's biggest hits such as "We Are the Champions" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" among others.

He was diagnosed with HIV in 1987, and passed away in 1991 at age 45.

Answer: Fred MacMurray

MacMurray was born in 1906 and began his career on Broadway in 1930 appearing in a show called "Three's a Crowd". He began appearing major motion pictures in 1934 and by the time he was done, had appeared in over 100 feature films. "Double Indemnity" a murder mystery, was probably his most famous film, along with co-stars Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson.

In the 1960 he played the character of Steve Douglas, a widowed father who was charged with the task of raising three children in the sitcom "My Three Sons" which ran for 12 seasons. MacMurray retired from acting in 1978 and passed away in 1991.

Answer: Fred Astaire

Astaire was born in 1899 in Omaha Nebraska, moved to New York with his family and started performing at age six. He performed with his sister Adele and fashioned first a Broadway and then a vaudeville career. He tried Hollywood in the early 1930s and according to Hollywood folklore, a screen test report on Astaire for RKO Pictures, is reported to have read: "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little." Boy, were they wrong. Astaire's career spanned 75 years. Astaire, in a 1980 interview on ABC's 20/20 with Barbara Walters, disputed that the report and claimed that the report had actually read: "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances".

His most famous films were "Top Hat", "Swing Time", "Holiday Inn" and "Zeigfeld Follies". His famous dance partner for at least ten of his major motion pictures was Ginger Rogers.

In his later years Astaire also had some serious acting roles and has been named on the American Film Institute's list of The Greatest Male Stars of All Time, coming in at number five. Astaire passed away in 1987.

Answer: Freddy Cannon

Freddy Cannon was a popular singing sensation of the early 1960. He began his career with a series of appearances on Dick Clark's American Bandstand in 1959 and his first single "Okefenokee", got as high as number 43 on the U.S. Billboard charts. Under the tutelage of producer Bob Crewe (the Four Seasons), Cannon scored with "Tallahassee Lassie" hitting number six on the U.S. charts, and number 17 in the U.K.

Other hits for Cannon included "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans", "California Here I Come", "Indiana" and the aforementioned "Palisades Park", which for those who don't know was a big amusement park located in New Jersey that had its heyday in the 1950s and early 60s,

Answer: Fred Willard

Fred Willard is a veteran comedy actor who has appeared both these television shows as well as countless others, and over 50 feature films. "Fernwood 2 Night", a fictional talk show, was a creation of legendary producer Norman Lear. The show was a spin off of another successful sitcom called "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" which was very popular in the 1970s.

The show also starred Martin Mull, and was a satire of real talk shows. Willard also had a recurring role in the hit series "Everybody Loves Raymond". On that show he played the character Hank MacDougall.

In between he has appeared in such motion pictures as "This Is Spinal Tap",(1984) "Moving Violations" (1985), "Roxanne" (1987), "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" (1999), and "The Wedding Planner" (2001), among many, many others.

Answer: Freddie Garrity

Freddie Garrity was a 5 feet 3 inch dynamo, who became very popular in the U.K. in the early 1960s along with his group Freddie and The Dreamers. He was very active on stage, moving around and jumping up and down while performing, making him appear as an eccentric figure when he performed.

His greatest U.S. success came as part of the British Invasion with such hits as "I'm Telling You Now", "You Were Made For Me" and the aforementioned "Do The Freddie" which was a song about a dance step that Garrity had made up. Garrity passed away in 2006 due to complications from emphysema.

Answer: Fred Gwynne

Fred Gwynne first appeared in Broadway Theater in minor roles in the early 1950s. He made a few guest appearances on "The Phil Silvers Show" on TV and that led to his role as Officer Muldoon on the late 1950s TV series "Car 54 Where Are You?" alongside veteran actor and comedian Joe E. Ross.

His most famous role came in the mid 1960 when he was cast as Herman Munster on the hit TV series, "The Munsters". Although he was typecast after the run of that show, he fashioned a successful acting career after the show's demise, gaining roles in a number of motion pictures including "The Cotton Club" (1984), "The Secret Of My Success" (1987), "Fatal Attraction" (1987), and most notably the role of Judge Chamberlain Haller in "my Cousin Vinny" (1992).

Unfortunately, this was to be his final role as Gwynne passed away 1993 at age 66 due to pancreatic cancer.