FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Metal is my Fate Trivia Quiz
Celebrity road deaths
All ten of these celebrities met an untimely end on the road, either in a car or on a motorcycle. Do you know however which kind of wheeled metal contraption they were riding on or in when fate struck in the harshest way possible?
A matching quiz
by WesleyCrusher.
Estimated time: 4 mins.
Grace Kelly's filmography as an actress spans only eleven feature films and two documentaries, but those roles earned her an Oscar (for "The Country Girl"), three Golden Globes (one of them an honorary award). After her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco, she no longer played in movies, even though she received several offers.
Her death came after she lost control of her car on a mountain road, allegedly after suffering a minor stroke. The car plunged down almost 40 meters, inflicting fatal injuries on Grace Kelly and severely hurting her daughter Stéphanie who rode with her as a passenger. Stéphanie made a full recovery.
2. Falco
Answer: Mitsubishi Pajero
Born Johann Hölzel, Falco was an Austrian singer who enjoyed worldwide success in the 1980s. His main hits were "Rock Me Amadeus", "Jeanny" and "Der Kommissar". At the time of his fatal road accident in 1998, he was preparing a comeback and his nearly finished album "Out of the Dark (Into the Light)" was published posthumously.
The accident itself happened in the Dominican Republic when Falco's rental car collided with a bus, killing him immediately. The singer was found to have a high blood alcohol level as well as significant concentrations of illegal drugs in his blood. Rumors that the death may have been a suicide, based on a lyric from the "Out of the Dark" album, have been disproven - the line had been written several years prior and not by Falco himself.
3. Jayne Mansfield
Answer: 1966 Buick Electra 225
Jayne Mansfield was a colorful and prolific entertainer with multiple film and television roles, two albums and frequent stage appearances, including striptease shows and risqué nightclub performances as well as a 1955 Playboy Playmate of the Month appearance.
Her fatal accident happened while she was being driven to a nightclub appearance in 1967 when the car ran underneath a tractor-trailer. Mansfield, her driver and her attorney all died on the scene while her three children, on the rear seat, all survived with minor injuries.
The destroyed car was bought by a private collector and has been publicly exhibited in multiple locations, most recently as the centerpiece of a "Dearly Departed" museum in Los Angeles beginning in 2017.
4. James Dean
Answer: Porsche 550 Spider
In spite of only three major film appearances, James Dean is widely known, also in part for the accident that prematurely ended his life and career. On the day of his death, Dean was driving his Porsche to a race he wanted to take part in, in order to gain more experience with the brand new car.
The fatal crash was a head-on collision with a left turning Ford truck whose driver had not seen the rapidly oncoming Porsche, but who was exonerated at trial citing where it was found that Dean had been speeding, although some later analysis concluded that the crash had not happened at a speed greater than 55 mph. Dean's passenger was severely injured but recovered; the driver of the Ford sustained only minor injuries and was not admitted to hospital.
5. Dale Earnhardt
Answer: 2001 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Dale Earnhardt had been racing in NASCAR for over 25 years at the time of his fatal accident on the last turn of the 2001 Daytona 500, the fourth and last of a string of fatal accidents - all involving severe head trauma - that had plagued NASCAR in 2000 and 2001. Earnhardt was in third place at the time of the crash that sent his car into the outside barrier at a high speed and steep angle.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital, but most witnesses agree that death must have been near instantaneous. Numerous safety improvements to motor racing, both in NASCAR and other series, were made in reaction to his fatal accident.
6. Steve Prefontaine
Answer: 1973 MGB convertible
In spite of no Olympic medals - his only noteworthy finish at the Games was a 4th place over 5000 meters in 1972 - Prefontaine is considered one of the United States' top middle and long distance runners ever, if not outright the best one. His death in 1975 at the age of 24 was caused by him losing control of his car and flipping over.
While not suffering severe wounds from the impact, he was pinned beneath the flipped-over car and died from asphyxiation before he could be rescued.
7. Lisa Lopes
Answer: Mitsubishi Montero
Lisa Lopes was one of the three singers making up the highly successful act TLC and at least partially wrote two of their Billboard #1 hits, "Waterfalls" and "No Scrubs". After TLC effectively dissolved in 1999, Lopes launched a solo career, but only managed to release one album before her death.
Her accident was caused by a swerving maneuver to avoid collision with an oncoming car. The car overturned multiple times and Lopes, who did not wear a seat belt, was ejected, suffering fatal head injuries.
The three passengers in the car with her all survived, with varying degrees of injury.
8. Isadora Duncan
Answer: Amilcar CGSS
Isadora Duncan, one of the most acclaimed dancers of the late 19th and early 20th century, also became one of the first famous victims of a road accident. At the time of the accident in 1927, her career as an active dancer had mostly faded out, although she was still active as a choreographer and dance teacher.
While she was riding in a typical open car of the times, her long scarf became entangled in one of the spoked wheels and violently pulled her out of her seat by the neck, causing a fatal fracture.
9. Duane Allman
Answer: Harley-Davidson Sportster
Duane Allman was one of the greatest guitarists of all time, with the 2003 issue of "Rolling Stone" listing him as second only to Jimmy Hendrix. He wrote and performed "Layla" together with Eric Clapton, the two artists' styles and instruments (Clapton playing a soft-sounding Fender and Allman a more aggressive Gibson) complementing each other in a unique way. Allman's death came when he hit a truck while riding on his Harley.
The heavy motorcycle fell on him inflicting fatal injuries.
10. Harry Chapin
Answer: 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit
Chapin was a prolific singer, songwriter and philanthropist. In his ten active years, he released eleven studio albums and fifteen singles and, in the decades after his death, multiple unreleased works were found in an advanced enough state to be released.
At the time of his accident, Chapin had encountered a problem of unknown nature in his car causing him to set the hazard lights, slow down, and swerve erratically. A tractor-trailer hit his car from behind, causing immediately fatal injuries as well as setting the car ablaze.
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ponycargirl before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
Our Commission authors are usually fairly prolific, and in this 56th Commission, our Author's Lounge patrons gave other authors the chance to work with their old titles. Participants submitted their own quiz titles and new authors received them, replaced a word, and submitted to a new category. This Commission launched in March 2019.