Celebrities Born in the Great State of Louisiana Quiz

Answer:

FYI - All incorrect answers are people born in Wyoming.

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Truman Capote (New Orleans) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor. He had a rather obsessive fan, a young man trying to break into the art world. He said, "He's one of those hopeless people you know nothing's ever going to happen to" and "a born loser." That persistent fan was named Andy Warhol. He inspired the character "Dill" in Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". He and Lee were childhood friends.

- Fats Domino (New Orleans) was an American singer-songwriter and pianist. He had numerous hit songs between 1952 and 1960, including "Ain't That a Shame", "Blueberry Hill", "I'm Walkin'", and "I Want to Walk You Home". He was one of the biggest stars of rock and roll in the 1950s and one of the first rhythm and blues artists to gain popularity with white audiences.

- Bryant Gumbel (New Orleans) is an American television journalist and sportscaster. He was best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's "Today" show. He made history by becoming the first African-American to host a morning news show on a major network which broke barriers and paved the way for diversity in broadcasting.

- Al Hirt (New Orleans) was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He had 21 Grammy nominations in a career spanning over 50 years, winning in 1964 for best non-jazz instrumental for "Java". He began his career with Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (1946). In 1987, he played a solo rendition of "Ave Maria" for Pope John Paul II's visit to New Orleans.

- Dorothy Lamour (New Orleans) was an American actress and singer. At the start of her career, she was in a romantic relationship with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. During World War II, she toured the country, selling more than $300 million worth of war bonds. She was considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" (1939), which went to Vivien Leigh.

- Reese Witherspoon (New Orleans) is an American actress and producer. She is the second actress to win the best actress Oscar for portraying a female singer in a biography - June Carter Cash in "Walk the Line" (2005). The first was Sissy Spacek for "Coal Miner's Daughter" (1980). A few companies approached her to record music after she provided her own singing voice for "Walk the Line".

- Kordell Stewart (Marrero) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He earned the "Slash" moniker (given to him by Steeler head coach Bill Cowher as a rookie) for contributing as a WR/RB while being eased into the QB position during his 1st 2 NFL seasons ('95 and '96).

- Paul Prudhomme (Opelousas) was an American celebrity chef whose specialties were Creole and Cajun cuisines, which he was also credited with popularizing. His blackened redfish became so popular and was so widely imitated all over the country that the fish itself - Sciaenops ocellatus, also known as red drum - became endangered through aggressive overfishing.

- Louis Armstrong (New Orleans), nicknamed "Satchmo", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. In 1964, he performed a feat many considered impossible when he knocked The Beatles off the top spot in the charts with "Hello Dolly". Even more impressive is that he did so at the age of sixty-three.

- Jerry Lee Lewis (Ferriday) was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. He was nicknamed "The Killer" and he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". He was an incendiary showman who often played with his fists, elbows, feet, and backside, sometimes climbing on top of the piano during gigs and even apocryphally setting it on fire.

- Mahalia Jackson (New Orleans) was an American gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. In her lifetime, she was one of the greatest musical talents in the United States in the 20th century, earning her the title of the "Queen of Gospel". She was also a civil rights activist in her time, using her voice to champion many causes and earning respect among many people and global leaders who mourned her when she died.

- Lillian Hellman (New Orleans) was an American playwright, prose writer, memoirist, and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway, as well as her socialist views and political activism. She was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award - in 1957 as the author of Best Musical nominee "Candide" and in 1960 as the author of Best Play nominee "Toys in the Attic."

- Huey P. Long (Winnfield), nicknamed "The Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a US senator from 1932 until his assassination in 1935. In 1914 he attended Tulane University Law School for only a year before convincing the school board to let him take an oral bar exam. He passed and became a lawyer.

- Wynton Marsalis (New Orleans) is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He became the 1st musician to win Grammy Awards in both the jazz & classical music categories in the same year. He became the 1st jazz artist to win the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1997 and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2005.

- Van Cliburn (Shreveport) was an American pianist. At the age of 23, he achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold War. He played for royalty and heads of state from dozens of countries and for every US president from 1958 until his death in 2013.