Famous Mainers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. According to King, he began writing at about six or seven years old. He adds that his interest in horror stemmed from his liking to be scared. While he was in college at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote for the school paper.

In 1967, he sold his first short story "The Glass Floor" to "Startling Mystery Stories." His first novel "Carrie" was published in 1974. "Carrie" is the story of a high school student who is picked on by everyone in the school. When she has her menarche start after gym class, she thinks she is bleeding to death, because she was never taught better. This leads to the girls in the class taunting her even more. On the way home, she accidentally discovered she had telekinetic powers. I am not going to give away the whole story, but she eventually goes to prom, and things go badly.

In 1977, he published "Rage" about another high schooler in Maine who attacked a teacher with a pipe wrench. In 2011, he published his novel "11/22/63" about going back in time to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In 2016, this was also made into a TV miniseries. Stephen King has written over 60 novels.

Answer: Patrick Dempsey

Patrick Galen Dempsey was born on January 13, 1966, in Lewiston, Maine. Growing up, he was a juggler and came in second place in the 1981 International Jugglers' Association Championship, for the Juniors category. Anthony Gatto beat him, and he is considered to be "the best technical juggler of all time."

In 1983, he was in a production of "Torch Song Trilogy" and went on tour. It was at this time that he was also discovered. His first major movie role was in the World War II movie "In the Mood" (1987). In 1989, he played the titular role in the movie "Loverboy" with Kirstie Alley. In the movie, Dempsey's character Randy Bodek works as a pizza delivery driver.

Answer: Hannibal Hamlin

Hannibal Hamlin was born on August 27, 1808, in Paris, Massachusetts; however, it's now Paris, Maine. He began his career in politics as a Democrat in the House of Representatives in the Maine House of Representatives. After two terms there, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He was the 15th vice-president of the United States of America.

He left the Democrat party in 1856 to join the newly created Republican Party because he was an abolitionist. He was Lincoln's vice president because of their similar views. He was replaced in the 1864 election by Andrew Johnson, who was well-liked by the South but wanted to preserve the Union.

Hamlin did not have much influence as the vice president, but he did urge Lincoln to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. It was signed on September 22, 1862. This is the document that freed the slaves in the South. Hamlin died on July 4, 1891, in Bangor, Maine, after collapsing at the Tarratine club while playing cards.

Answer: John Ford

John Martin Feeney was born on February 1, 1894, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He changed his name to Ford, like his older brother Francis Ford, when he moved to Hollywood so that he would sound less Irish. Between 1917 and 1970, he directed more than 130 movies. Unfortunately, most of the films he directed during the Silent Era have been lost. He won the Oscar for Best Director for four of the movies he directed: "The Informer" (1935), "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940), "How Green Was My Valley" (1941), and "The Quiet Man" (1952).

He is best known for his Westerns, fourteen of which starred actor John Wayne. Some of his westerns are "Stagecoach" (1939 - with John Wayne), "My Darling Clementine (1946), "Fort Apache" (1948 - with John Wayne), and "The Searchers" (1956 - with John Wayne). His last film was "7 Women" (1966), a drama set in 1935, about missionary women in China. The movie did not do well at the box office. His last work was the 1976 documentary "Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend," which he completed in 1970, but was released three years after his death. The documentary, about U.S. Marine General Lewis B. Puller, was narrated by John Wayne.

In 1973, he was awarded the AFI (American Film Institute) Lifetime Achievement Award. That same year, President Richard Nixon promoted him to full Admiral (he was in the United States Navy Reserve as head of the photographic unit for the Office of Strategic Services during WWII). John Ford died on August 31, 1973, at age 79, in Palm Desert, California, from stomach cancer.

Answer: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

On February 27, 1807, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, District of Maine, Massachusetts (now Portland, Maine). He published his first poem, "The Battle of Lovell's Pond," in the "Portland Gazette" at age 13.

In 1834, Longfellow was asked to work as a professor at Harvard University, but was asked to study overseas for a year first. In 1835, his first wife died, and he had a hard time dealing with the grief he felt. Three years later, he wrote the poem, "Footsteps of Angels," about his late wife. While he continued writing during his time at Harvard, he retired in 1854 to write full-time. In 1861, his second wife died after her dress caught on fire. Longfellow was badly burned trying to save her and was unable to attend the funeral. It was also from this point that he grew his beard, which he was known for, to hide the scars.

In 1855, he wrote the epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha." The fictional poem features Native American characters. Some of his material for this poem came from his friendship with the Ojibwe chief, Kahge-ga-gah-bowh. In 1863, during the Civil War, his son, Charles, was injured. Longfellow wrote the poem, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" (which in 1872 was set to music). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow died on March 24, 1882, in Cambridge, MA. He was 75 years old.

Answer: Mentally ill

Dorothea Lynde Dix was born on April 4, 1802, in Hampden, District of Maine. When she was twelve, she and her brothers moved in with their grandparents because their parents were alcoholics, and their father was abusive. At age fourteen, she started teaching at an all-girls school. She found it important to teach the girls to live ethically. In circa 1821, she opened a school in Boston for the children of wealthy families. Around the same time, she also held a "school" at her grandparents' barn for poor, neglected children. Dix herself suffered from depression and often could not teach due to depressive episodes.

In the 1840s, she looked into how people with mental illness were treated. The institutions where they were often neglected or treated as criminals. She wrote a report on what she saw and sent it to the state legislature. She asked that those who are mentally ill "be treated with modesty, chastity and delicacy." Dix passed away on July 17, 1887, at the age of 85. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY, in 1979. In 1983, a postage stamp was created in a Dorthea Dix series of stamps.

Answer: Leon Leonwood

Leon Leonwood Bean was born on October 13, 1872, in Greenwood, Maine. When he was nine, he showed interest in business, making his own money selling steel traps to his father. When he was 12, his parents died four days apart, and he had to move to South Paris, Maine, with other family members. When he was 19, he paid his way through a year-long business course by selling soap.

An avid hunter, Bean was frustrated with his boots getting soaked while he hunted, so he decided to create waterproof boots. He came up with the plans for it, brought the material to the cobbler, and had him put them together. Edgar Conant was his first customer, but that summer he sold a hundred pairs. Unfortunately, they did not stay together very well, and because he offered 100% money back guaranteed, he had to return 90% of the funds.

Because he returned the money, it helped promote his business skills. Boots were improved, and he continued selling more. By 1917, he had enough to buy his first building and set up a store. He died on February 5, 1967, at age 94 in Pompano Beach, FL. His company was worth about $5 million when he passed away. Until 2018, L.L. Bean, the company, continued to offer a 100% lifetime guarantee. In 2018, it changed to one year.

Answer: Christopher Daniel Barnes

Christopher Daniel Barnes was born on November 7, 1972, in Portland, Maine. He started as a child model, and then he started acting when he was eight years old. From 1988-1989 ge okayed Ross, the teenage son in the short-lived TV series "Day by Day." "Day by Day" had a dream sequence episode in which Ross dreams he is one of the Brady Bunch, a 4th brother named Chuck Brady. Ironically, in 1995, he played Greg Brady in "The Brady Bunch Movie."

In 1989, Barnes voiced Prince Eric in the Disney feature film "The Little Mermaid." He was unable to do the sequel; however, he did voice Eric in two video games, "Kingdom Hearts II (2005) and "Disney Dreamlight Valley" (2023). Perhaps is best known role as a voice actor is the titular character in "Spider-Man" (1994-1998). He also voiced Spider-Man in various video games such as "Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions" (2010) and "Spider-Man: Edge of Time" (2011). Barnes has also written short stories, which he publishes on his website.

Answer: Miami Heat

Duncan McBryde Robinson was born on April 22, 1994, in York, Maine. He started playing basketball in high school as a freshman. He played point guard, but until his junior year, he was not on the court much during the games. However, he practiced all the time, making it a goal to shoot 1600 baskets every week. When he was a senior, he averaged 18.5 points.

In 2013, he went to Williams College, where he was the only freshman starter on the basketball team. That year, he was named Player of the Week two different times by the NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference. He set a record in his freshman year for the most minutes played by a freshman (1,110) and for the most points scored by a freshman (548).

In his sophomore year, he transferred to the University of Michigan on a full scholarship. This meant he went from a Division III school to a Division I school. In 2018, he was not drafted, but played in the NBA Summer League. This summer league allows them the NBA to try out players who are not their regular team players. The goal is for these players to sign with a team, as Duncan did with the Miami Heat.

Answer: Danny Wilde

Daniel Thomas "Danny Wilde" was born on June 3, 1956, in Houlton, Maine. During the mid-1970s, he was a member of the California power pop band called The Quick. They mainly opened for bigger acts such as Van Halen or the Ramones. However, they did release a full-length album in 1976 called "Mondo Deco." They also recorded singles during the late 1970s. In 1986, he had a hit with the song "Isn't It Enough." Two years later, he had another hit with the song "Time Runs Wild."

In 1989, he and Phil Soldem formed the alternative rock duo group, "The Rembrandts. Earlier in the decade, they had worked together as members of another group called Great Buildings, a power pop quartet. In 1990, The Rembrants made their first album, "Just the Way It Is, Baby." The album reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. The group is perhaps best known for their number one hit song "I'll Be There For You" which they wrote for the TV show "Friends" (1994-2004). Wilde had been nominated for Grammy Awards. "I'll Be There For You" was inducted into the OFTA (Office for the Arts) Hall of Fame.