Mustachioed Men Trivia Quiz

Answer: Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali's mustache, his iconic trademark, was so weird there was no name to describe it, so they called it the 'Salvatore Dali' mustache. It is said that he may have patterned it after the 17th century Spanish painter, Diego Velazquez, but Dali made it all his own.

When asked if the 'stache was a joke, he replied "It's the most serious part of my personality". Dali's surrealistic paintings seem like the result of psychotropic drugs, but he maintained that "I don't do drugs. I am drugs". He explained that he would doze off in a chair, holding a spoon above a plate.

When the spoon dropped and hit the plate, it would wake him and he would paint what he was dreaming.

Answer: Burt Reynolds

I've reviewed all the different types of 'staches and, although Burt Reynold's type is not listed, I think it seems to fit the 'natural', which may be styled without any aids. Whatever you call it, it has been Burt Reynolds trademark for almost every role he's played, with the possible exception of Quint Asper in "Gunsmoke" back in the early 1960s.

As for the 'pencil' mustache, it has been worn by: film director John Waters ("Hairspray"), Errol Flynn (a swash-buckling pirate) in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, and singer Little Richard whose hits were popular in the 1950s and 1960s, for example "Tutti Frutti" and "Good Golly Miss Molly".

Answer: Sam Elliott

Now Sam Elliott is another actor with an iconic mustache. He sports his own version of a thick walrus mustache (although occasionally he is known to grow a horseshoe type). With his lean build, resonant voice and Western drawl, he frequently portrays cowboys, as in "Tombstone" in 1993. Even more unusual, he has been married to actress Katharine Ross since 1984.

As far as the incorrect choices: actors Clark Gable ('Rhett Butler' in "Gone with the Wind") was known for his much thinner mustache, as was politician Thomas Dewey, whom some say his 'stache cost him the 1948 election. Will Smith, the "Fresh Prince", also has a thinner growth above his lip.

Answer: Handlebar mustache

Talk about a trademark! Former MLB relief pitcher, Rollie Fingers has the perfect handlebar mustache, which was more popular at the turn of the century (the nineteenth, that is!). It is bushy with small upward pointing ends, similar to the Pringles logo.

It has also been favored by Italian men who call it a 'spaghetti mustache'. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany wore an Imperial type; Panayot Hitov, a Bulgarian refugee, had an English mustache and Johnny Depp has what could be called a French style.

Other celebrities who wore a handlebar mustache include Stalin, Taft and Wyatt Earp.

Answer: Hulk Hogan

Also called a 'wrestler's mustache', the prototype would be the one worn by Hulk Hogan, nee Terry Bolea. Hulk Hogan is a professional wrestler, actor and TV personality. His facial growth is quite distinct because it is long and blonde and looks like an upside down horseshoe.

This type of mustache was probably more popular in the 1960s. Other stars who have sported the horseshoe 'stache include NFL football quarterback Joe Namath, actor Elliott Gould, Glenn Hughes of 'The Village People' and Axl Rose, frontman for the band 'Guns 'N Roses'.

Answer: Albert Einstein

Ah, the 'toothbrush mustache', rarely seen nowadays, presumably because of its association with Adolf Hitler, but also found on the faces of Charlie Chaplin ("The Little Tramp") and half of the comic duo of Laurel and Hardy (on the Hardy one!). Most recently, and for some unknown reason, it appeared on the face of the great NBA basketball legend, Michael Jordan, for a while. Albert Einstein's mustache was white, thick and shaggy - fitting for an unkempt genius or an 'absent-minded' professor who had more important issues to contemplate.

Answer: Yosemite Sam

All of the fictional people above are known for their mustaches but, perhaps,
none more so than Yosemite Sam with his enormous, red mustache which is longer than his arms. The 'stache not only covers his entire mouth and neck, but most of his ears, as well. It's sort of like animator Fritz Freleng (his Looney Tunes creator) took all the mustache types like the walrus, the imperial, the horseshoe, the Hungarian and the handlebar and put them together to make the 'Yosemite Sam'. I tried to find a 'real' person sporting this, but it would probably tip him over.

Answer: Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. King's mustache was as much a part of him as his 'dream'. Besides his commitment to Gandhi's ideology of non-violence, he may also have modeled his iconic mustache after that of Mahatma Gandhi. Not too thick, not too thin, his smooth, humble mustache seems to have inspired confidence and trust.

It certainly did not look like any of the mustaches the above presidents sported. Other than the incorrect choices, among the other mustachioed U.S. presidents were: John Quincy Adams, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison; although in modern times it seems very rare for a politician to sport facial hair.

Answer: Ron Burgundy

All the choices above were characters played (or voiced) by Will Ferrell, but it was anchorman Ron Burgundy who possessed that 'painter's brush' or 'modified lampshade' mustache. Who knew there were so many names for the follicly endowed? While nowhere near the trustworthy rating of a Walter Cronkite or the thickness of Mark Twain's, his upper lip hair does make him one of the manliest looking fictional anchormen of all time. Will's other characters i.e., NASCAR superstar Ricky Bobby, and "Night at the Roxbury's" Steve Butabi, were clean-shaven, as was cartoon patriarch Bob Oblong who not only had no mustache, but no nose either!

Answer: chevron

One of the world's best mustachioed men is Tom Selleck...I would be remiss not to include him in this quiz. His 'stache, the 'chevron', is thick, covers his upper lip, requires little maintenance and is a symbol of confidence. Tom has had his same mustache (well, not exactly the same) in the 1980s as Thomas Magnum and in the 2000s as Frank Reagan of "Blue Bloods", and almost all of the years in between. I must also pay tribute to those with iconic facial hair whom I haven't mentioned: Borat, Brimley, Nietzsche, Vincent Price, Freddie Mercury and Cheech Marin and all the others who dare to sport the 'stache!