Celebrity Legends: Fact or Fiction? Quiz

Answer: False

In the early morning hours of March 31, 1993, shooting began on the death scene of Brandon Lee's character, Eric Draven. Michael Massee, who played the character, Funboy, was to shoot a revolver loaded with blanks at Lee as he carried grocery bags into his apartment.

Unfortunately, a small fragment of a dummy bullet was still embedded in the barrel, which, when fired, fatally wounded Brandon Lee. Brandon's mother and fiancée both encouraged the completion of the film. Doing so required some scenes to be re-shot with a double and a few rewrites. Nowhere in the final product is there a scene in which Brandon Lee gets shot through a grocery bag.

Instead, his death was rewritten to have another actor throw a knife at him as he entered the apartment. Draven is then lugged to the middle of the living room where Funboy shoots him, and then heaves his body out of the apartment window. How was all of this done with close-ups you might ask? Easy-- Brandon's face was superimposed on the face of a double.

Answer: True

In 1970, a 24-year-old Sylvester Stallone started his film career out with a starring role in the adult movie "Party at Kitty and Stud's" as one of the title characters. Sylvester later admitted to "Playboy Magazine" that he was paid a measly $200 for his starring "turn" in this film.

After the success of "Rocky" in 1976, "Party at Kitty and Stud's" was retitled as "The Italian Stallion", a reference to Stallone's nickname in "Rocky". "Party at Kitty and Stud's" was not only retitled for re-release but also severely edited, so that its reincarnation looks nothing like the adult film it started life out as.

Answer: My Cousin Vinny

Marissa Tomei did indeed win the Academy Award for Best Support Actress for her portrayal of Mona Lisa Vito in the comedy "My Cousin Vinny". After the Academy Awards ceremony in 1993, it was rumored that Vanessa Redgrave was the actual winner for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Ruth Wilcox in "Howards End" because the presenter, Jack Palance, accidentally called out the wrong name.

As the Academy explains during every broadcast of the Academy Awards, two officials from the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse are stationed in the wings should something like this happen. If a presenter were to call the wrong name, an official would immediately proceed to the podium to call out the correct name.

Answer: False

On July 29, 1974 "Mama" Cass Elliott was found dead in her room in London. Before an autopsy could be done, a rumor about Cass choking on a ham sandwich became known as "fact". It was not until a week after her death that an autopsy showed that she had, in fact, died of a heart attack. Cass Elliott had been overweight for most of her life.

She stood 5ft 5in and weighed 238 pounds at the time of her death. A lifetime of overeating and crash diets had damaged her heart. This legend only continues to thrive and be told time and time again as fact. Viewers can find references to it in movies such as "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and "Beautiful Thing".

Answer: False

Brian Warner, known today as shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, was never on a sitcom as a child. Although many people love to tell this story in variations about different actors growing up to be completely different rockers, this one, just like the others, is not true. Paul Pfeiffer was actually portrayed by Josh Saviano. Marilyn Manson is also said to have played Kevin Owens on television's "Mr. Belvedere".

This is, of course, untrue. Kevin Owens was portrayed by child actor, Rob Stone.

Answer: Size 16

Sizings have been altered throughout the decades to ensure that the "average" man and woman are wearing the "average size" of a particular population. For example, the size of an average woman has increased slightly over the decades, so dress sizings have changed to reflect this.

Although Marilyn's dresses were mostly custom made and therefore would not have a size tag inside, her measurements are readily available for comparison. A woman of Marilyn's height and at her heaviest weight would probably wear a size twelve today, but in the 1950s, she would have easily fit into a size 16 or even 18.

Answer: False

Most Americans believe that February 3, 1959 was "the day the music died" when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson were killed in a plane named "American Pie"-- or at least because of the song written by Don McLean. On that day, Buddy Holly and the others chartered a plane by Dwyer's Flying Service in Clear Lake, Iowa.

The plane's registration number was N3794N-- therefore, it had no "real" name. Don McLean has been quoted as saying, "The growing urban legend that "American Pie" was the name of Buddy Holly's plane the night it crashed, killing him, Ritchie Valens and the Big Boppper, is equally untrue. I created the term."

Answer: mother

Just as his movie "Chinatown" was to be released in 1974 a "Time" magazine reporter called a 37-year-old Jack Nicholson to ask him about some interesting news that the magazine had uncovered. It seemed that the woman Jack had been calling his sister for 37 years was actually his mother.

The news turned out to be accurate. Jack was born to June Nicholson on April 22, 1937 when June was only 17. Jack had to ask his Aunt Lorraine because June had passed away some ten years earlier. Amazingly, this story parallels another Hollywood figure.

In 1968, Bobby Darin had been pondering a profession in politics, which made his real mother make a confession about his birth. A 32-year-old Bobby Darin was told by his "sister" that she was really his mother!

Answer: True

Mike Nesmith's mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, invented Liquid Paper when she was an executive secretary with Texas Bank & Trust in Dallas in 1951. Until her improvement of the formula in 1956, she supplied bottles to other secretaries in the office under the name of "Mistake Out".

After IBM passed on her invention, she began to sell the product on her own. Liquid Paper was sold to the Gillette Corporation in 1979 for $47.5 million dollars!

Answer: False

At approximately 2:15 on the morning of June 29, 1967 on a very narrow road in Louisiana, a gray 1966 Buick Electra violently rear-ended a sluggish tractor-trailer. All three of the adults sitting in the front seat were killed instantly, among them was Jayne Mansfield. Amazingly, three of Jayne's five children who were traveling with them and asleep in the backseat, survived the accident.

When photos surfaced of the wreck, many believed the blonde hair in the back of the car belonged to Jayne.

While the hair did indeed belong to her, it was not physically attached before or after death. It was, of course, a wig.