Born To Be Famous (1920-1929) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Peggy Lee

Norma Egstrom reinvented herself as Peggy Lee, a name soon to be associated with smooth jazz vocals and steamy ballads. She started singing professionally in the late 1930s, eventually hitting it big with hits like "Fever" (you've heard it), "Why Don't You Do Right?" and "Is That All There Is?" Lee had excellent vocal timing and in a nod to the power of subtlety, could express emotion with just a whisper or a pause.

Besides singing, Peggy Lee dabbled in acting and even co-wrote the songs for Disney's "Lady and the Tramp" (1955). She maintained a career spanning more than five decades, influencing jazz and pop to this day.

Answer: Peter Ustinov

Peter Ustinov was a man of many talents. He was an actor, writer, director, and occasional mischief-maker. He could bounce from playing the fastidious detective Hercule Poirot in moves such as "Death on the Nile" (1978) to commanding the dystopian world of "Logan's Run" (1976), all while maintaining his trademark charm. Ustinov co-wrote, directed, and starred in "Billy Budd", which brought him an Oscar nomination.

But that's only part of the story. Ustinov was equally impressive off the screen. He was a prolific writer, playwright, and director. He authored more than 20 plays, including "The Love of Four Colonels" and "Romanoff and Juliet", both of which gained international success. He also penned novels like "Krumnagel" and "The Old Man and Mr. Smith", as well as a stylized autobiography called "Dear Me".

Answer: Betty White

"The First Lady of Television" was born in 1922 and died just weeks shy of her 100th birthday. She performed on an experimental TV show just one month after her high school graduation in 1939, while television itself was barely a thing. She was a model and theatre actor prior to World War II, when she joined the American Women's Voluntary Services, driving military trucks in California and performing for American troops before they went overseas.

After the war, she spent some time on radio, before joining Al Jarvis as cohost of a variety television show in 1949. Two years later, she would get her first Emmy nomination. She finally got her own show, which was short lived, because she refused to keep off regular Arthur Duncan, an African American tap dancer to the great annoyance of the Jim Crow south. ("He stays... live with it.")

She continued in television through the fifties, becoming a game show staple in the sixties, and finally establishing herself in the seventies as a regular named Sue Ann Nivens on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". By the 1980s she was ready to establish herself with a brand new generation with as Rose Nylund on "The Golden Girls".

Answer: Bettie Page

Bettie Page was one of the original pinup icons of the 1950s. Her black hair, signature bangs, and mischievous expressions made her a favorite among photographers and fans. In 1959, Page converted to evangelical Christianity during a time of personal turmoil, and turned her back on her past life. Of course, this just made her legend grow, and she became a cult favorite as time passed. Her images became inspiration for artists, musicians, and fashion designers for decades.

(I dedicate this entire question and informational section to a friend of mine who for years had an all-consuming obsession with Ms. Page, at least until he found out about Salma Hayek.)

Answer: Marlon Brando

Yes, the answer is Marlon Brando, God's gift to bad voice impersonators everywhere. He was born in Omaha in 1924 and went on to become one of the biggest and most influential actors of the 20th century, helping to popularize method acting.

His iconic roles are too numerous to list, but he played Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire", Vito Corleone in "The Godfather", Terry Malloy in "On the Waterfront", and Colonel Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now". His performances had a raw, unpolished energy to them, and earned him two Academy Awards for Best Actor.

Off-screen, he was intensely private, often.. um, controversial, and involved in a number of social causes, notable civil rights, anti-apartheid causes, and Native American rights. His last film was "The Score", released in 2001, three years before his death.

Answer: Paul Newman

Paul Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He was an actor, director, philanthropist, and somewhat improbably, a race car driver. He earned nine Oscar nominations and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993 for his humanitarian efforts.

Newman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in "The Color of Money" released in 1986. His other Oscar-nominated performances were in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958), "The Hustler" (1961), "Hud" (1963), "Cool Hand Luke" (1967), "Absence of Malice" (1981), "The Verdict" (1982), "Nobody's Fool" (1994), and "Road to Perdition" (2002).

Newman won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing. He co-founded Newman's Own, a food company that donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity, a sum which has reached past $600 million.

Answer: Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner was born on April 9, 1926, in Chicago, Illinois. In 1953, he founded "Playboy" magazine, which became known for its blend of lifestyle content, literary works, and being an excellent alternative to the Sears catalog brassier section.

The magazine's first issue featured a nude calendar photo of Marilyn Monroe, which helped establish its general character and audience. Hefner's creation played a role in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and became a platform for discussions on civil rights, free speech, and sexual liberation. But yeah... the main attraction was probably not the articles.

Answer: Roger Moore

Roger Moore was born on October 14, 1927, in Stockwell, London, England. He was the third actor to portray James Bond in the film series, playing the character in seven feature films: "Live and Let Die" (1973), "The Man with the Golden Gun" (1974), "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977), "Moonraker" (1979), "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), "Octopussy" (1983), and "A View to a Kill" (1985).

Before his iconic role as Mr. Shaken-Not-Stirred, Moore was known for his role as Simon Templar in the British television series "The Saint" (1962-1969). He also appeared in American series, including Beau Maverick in the Western series "Maverick" (1960-1961), which he joined after James Garner left, and co-starred with Tony Curtis in the action-comedy "The Persuaders!" (1971-1972).

Answer: Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley was born Ellas Otha Bates on December 30, 1928, in McComb, Mississippi. He was adopted by his mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, and moved to Chicago at age six. While there, he became involved in music, initially playing the violin and later the guitar. He began using the stage name "Bo Diddley" somewhere around 1950, although nobody is quite sure when and where the name comes from.

Diddley was a pioneering guitarist and singer in rock and roll, known for his unique rhythm and innovative techniques. His use of the "Bo Diddley beat", a syncopated rhythm derived from Latin and African musical traditions, became his calling card and influenced many artists in various genres. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1998.

Answer: Grace Kelly

Grace Patricia Kelly was born on November 12, 1929, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the third of four children in an Irish-American family. Her father, John B. Kelly Sr., was a businessman and three-time Olympic gold medalist in rowing. Her mother, Margaret Majer, was a former model and the first woman to coach women's athletics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kelly's acting career began in the early fifties, and she found fame with roles in films such as "High Noon" (1952), "Mogambo" (1953), "Dial M for Murder" (1954), and "Rear Window" (1954). In 1955, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in "The Country Girl" (1954).

Elegant, beautiful, talented, accomplished... what else could you possible ask for? Well, how about royalty? In April 1956, at the age of 26, Kelly married the dashing Prince Rainier III of Monaco, becoming Princess Grace. She retired from acting to focus on her royal duties and humanitarian work.