Michigan Famous People Trivia

1. This Detroit-born comedian was discovered by Jimmy Walker, hosted "Real People" from 1973 to 1984 and received his own successful talk show in 1994. Who is he?

From Quiz Michigan's Famous Folk

Answer: Byron Allen

Born on April 22, 1961, Allen moved to Los Angeles as a teenager where he gained recognition as a stand-up comedian. His discovery by Jimmy Walker led to the "Entertainers With Byron Allen" show in 1993. Since then, Allen's Entertainment Studios production company has produced and distributed many syndicated lifestyle-related and interview programs. He currently hosts "Comics Unleashed".

From Quiz Michigan: Arts, Letters & Social Issues

Answer: Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom was born in Passaic New Jersey on May 23, 1958. for more than a decade, he's been a highly respected sportswriter and a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist for the "Detroit Free Press". Albom has won awards from AP, UPI, Headliners Club, and the National Sportswriters and Broadcasters Associations. The author of nine books, it was 1997's "Tuesdays With Morrie" that propelled the young writer to literary super stardom. Based on conversations with his Brandeis college professor, "Tuesdays With Morrie" remained on the New York Times bestseller list an astounding four years after its publication. It was adapted for television in 1999 starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria. Albom's latest effort is "The Five People You Meet in Heaven". Georgia native Ernie Harwell (b. 1918) is one of the fondest memories of my formative years. Listening to him announce the Detroit Tigers' baseball games on the radio (which he did for 42 of his 55 years in the business) is a lovely memory. Famous for memorable phrases such as "He stood there like a house by the side of the road!", Ernie retired in 2003 and has been inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame. Detroit-born Neal Shine (1930-2007) was a journalist and "Detroit Free Press" publisher. Writer Ben Hamper (c. 1956), lives in Flint, Michigan, and was a writer for the "Flint Voice". His most famous work is his autobiography "Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line."

From Quiz More Famous Folks From Michigan

Answer: Ed McMahon

In addition to being Johnny Carson's sidekick, Ed McMahon was the co-host of the "The Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon". He retired as a Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve.

From Quiz Michigan's Famous Folk

Answer: Gillian Anderson

An Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Award-winning actress, Anderson caught the acting bug in community theater and high school productions (her class voted her "Most Likely to be Arrested" and "Most Bizarre"). She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from De Paul University, Chicago. At age 22, she moved to New York and supported herself waitressing while also appearing in a number of stage productions. She moved to Los Angeles in 1992 and, in 1993, won the part of Dana Scully in "The X-Files". Anderson has appeared in many feature films, including "The House of Mirth" (2000) and "The Last King of Scotland" (2006), as well as in several BBC productions, notably "Bleak House" (2005). In 2007, she became the host of PBS' "Masterpiece Theater". She also in involved in philanthropic work for the UK-based Neurofibromitosis Association, serves on the board of directors for Action for Southern Africa and is a vegan and PETA supporter.

From Quiz Michigan: Arts, Letters & Social Issues

Answer: Edna Ferber

Kalamazoo-born Edna Ferber (1885-1968), began her writing career at 17 in Appleton, Wisconsin. She worked for several other newspapers and wrote a series of books about a traveling women's underskirt saleswoman Emma Chesney, that later became a play starring Ethel Barrymore (1915). Some of her most famous novels were also made into movies, including "Showboat" (1926), "Cimarron" (1929), and "Giant" (1952), which starred Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean. She died of cancer in 1968 in New York. One of my mom's favorite authors, Lilian Jackson Braun (b. 1913), is the author of a popular series known to fans as "The Cat Who..." mystery books, concerning crime-solvers James Qwilleran and his two Siamese cats KoKo and Yum Yum. She began her writing career with the "Detroit Free Press", serving as its "Good Living" editor for 30 years. Her books bring to life the flavor of life in Bad Axe, Michigan (in "the Thumb"), where she lived with her husband until the 1980s. She still uses a typewriter to write her novels and currently lives in North Carolina with her husband and, of course, two cats. Carrie Jacobs Bond (1861-1946), a prolific songwriter lived and worked in Iron River, Michigan, with her husband, Dr. Frank Lewis Bond for many years. Probably her most famous composition was "I Love You Truly" (1901), for which she became the first woman to sell more than one million copies of a song. It was a staple at many weddings throughout the 20th century (including my parents' wedding!). She wrote dozens of other songs including "Hush a Bye" and "Jesus is Calling". Bond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Suzanne Banks is purely fictional.

From Quiz More Famous Folks From Michigan

Answer: Edgar Bergen

Edgar Bergen (1903-1978) taught himself ventriloquism when he was 11 years old. His equally famous daughter, Candice Bergen, was the star of "Murphy Brown."

From Quiz Michigan's Famous Folk

Answer: Sonny Bono

Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono was born in Detroit on February 16, 1935. He started in the music business working with Phil Spector in the early 1960s. He then married Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPiere (Cher), with whom he recorded such hits as "I Got You Babe" and "And the Beat Goes On". Sonny and Cher also had their own variety show in the 1970s, that continued even after their divorce. Sonny went into politics, eventually becoming mayor of Palm Springs, California, but losing a bid for the state senate as a Republican in 1992. Bono died January 5, 1998, of injuries received in a skiing accident. He was 62.

From Quiz Michigan: Arts, Letters & Social Issues

Answer: George Trendle

Born in Ohio, George Washington Trendle (1884-1972), opened a law practice in Detroit and became involved in Detroit entertainment in the 1920s. Referred to as "The Miser of Motown" by author Jack French, Trendle, the owner of WXYZ radio in Detroit, produced "The Lone Ranger", even though it was primarily the creation of Fran Striker and James Jewell. Trendle proceeded to make a fortune from the hit series, while Striker and Jewell never saw a nickel of the profits. "The Lone Ranger" began broadcasting on the Michigan Regional Network in 1933. Trendle was the power behind many radio series, but "The Lone Ranger" and "The Green Hornet" (1938) were the most successful and both made the move from radio to television. George Trendle died in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, in 1972. Dick Osgood, a Trendle employee, documented the long years of greed and glory-stealing in his book "WYXIE Wonderland". H. Allen Campbell was an advertising "hatchet man" for Trendle who once told Earl Graser, radio voice of the Lone Ranger: "You're no radio actor. All you can do is play the Ranger. You know, I think we ought to make some changes with the Ranger. It might add interest if he was shot and then he could be in the hospital for weeks. Yeah, we might even have him die!" Dan Reid was the real name of the Green Hornet, and nephew of the Lone Ranger. Isn't showbiz fun? :)

From Quiz More Famous Folks From Michigan

Answer: Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola was given his middle name in honor of automobile giant Henry Ford. Coppola had polio as a boy, and made his first movie at the age of 10.

From Quiz Famous Folks from Michigan

Answer: Kemal Kasem

Kasem hosted "American Top 40" from 1970 to 1988, and again from March 1998 until January 10, 2004. From January 1989 to March 1998, he was the host of Casey's Top 40, Casey's Hot 20, and Casey's Countdown. Kasem was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1992.

From Quiz Michigan's Famous Folk

Answer: Derek Jeter

Born June 26, 1974, Derek Jeter was a star player at Kalamazoo Central High School, garnering many awards and accolades, including the Kalamazoo Area B'nai B'rith Award for Scholar Athlete, 1992 High School Player of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association and USA Today's High School Player of the Year. He was inducted into the Kalamazoo Central High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007. As a pro, Jeter has won the American League Rookie of the Year Award, a Silver Slugger Award and three Golden Glove Awards. He became the only player to win both the All-Star Game MVP Award and the World Series MVP Award in the same year (2000). As of 2007, his .317 career batting average ties him at fifth highest-ranking batting average among active Major League players. Other listed choices are all active (as of 2008) New York Yankees.

From Quiz Michigan: Arts, Letters & Social Issues

Answer: Alden B. Dow

Son of Michigan industrialist Herbert H. Dow, founder of The Dow Chemical Company, Alden B. Dow (1904-1983) was born in Midland, Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan and Columbia University. Both he and his wife, Vada, studied under Frank Lloyd Wright at Talesin in Wisconsin in 1933. Among Dow's many other designs are the Midland Center for the Arts, the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library (named for his mother), both in Midland; Muskegon Community College, and the Ann Arbor City Hall, Library and Community Center. He also designed many private, highly-sought-after homes in Midland. The Alden Dow House and Studio, also in Midland, is a National Historic Landmark. Dow was awarded the Michigan Society of Architects Gold Medal in 1960 and was the first to receive the Frank Lloyd Wright Creativity Award in 1982. Albert Kahn (1869-1942) was a German-born industrial architect whose designs can be see throughout Detroit and around the state, including the General Motors Building, the Art Deco-style Fisher Building, and the Edsel and Eleanor Ford Home in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Eero Saarinen (1910-1961), emigrated to the U.S. from Finland in 1922 and studied at the prestigious Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, with Charles and Ray Eames. According to "Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future", a November 2007-March 2008 Cranbrook exhibition of Saarinen's work: "... [he] was one of the most prolific, unorthodox, and controversial masters of 20th-century architecture. Although his career was cut short by death at age 51 in 1961, Eero Saarinen was one of the most celebrated architects of his time, both at home and abroad." Julia Morgan (1872-1957) was one of the first women to study at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-arts in Paris. A prolific designer, her most famous work is, arguably, San Simeon, also known as the Hearst Palace, in California.

From Quiz Famous Michiganders

Answer: Thomas Dewey & Dewey & Thomas E Dewey

Though Dewey was born in the town of Owosso, he lived most of his life in New York.

From Quiz More Famous Folks From Michigan

Answer: William Boeing

William Boeing (1881-1956) founded the Boeing Airplane Company, which got its first orders from the US Navy for 50 airplanes in 1917. His family became one of the wealthiest families in the world.

From Quiz Michigan's Famous Folk

Answer: Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer

George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876) graduated last in his class at West Point, but was heavily involved in many vital Civil War battles, including the first Battle of Bull Run, the Peninsula Campaign and Gettysburg. He was also present at Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. As the cavalry commander for the Michigan Brigade, Custer's established a reputation as reckless and too willing to take personal risks. Throughout his military career his rank rose and fell (including several brevet promotions that were usually temporary), and was even once court martialed for being AWOL. In 1867, he became a Lt. Col. commanding the newly formed 7th Cavalry Regiment in Kansas and took part in many skirmishes in the Indian Wars. His luck ran out on June 25, 1876, when his force was completely wiped out by Native American forces led by Crazy Horse and White Bull at Little Big Horn, commonly known as "Custer's Last Stand". For a very romanticized account of Custer's last battle see "They Died With Their Boots On" (1941), starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Not particularly historically accurate, but a good way to spend slightly over 90 minutes! Custer married Elizabeth Clift Bacon (1842-1933), a native of Monroe, Michigan. They had no children. Several cities and townships in Michigan are named after Custer.

From Quiz Famous Michiganders

Answer: Oliver Curwood

Hemingway often came to Michigan to hunt, and he used the area in the settings of his Nick Adams stories. Curwood Castle still stands on the banks of the Shiawassee River in Owosso.

From Quiz Famous Folks from Michigan

Answer: Madonna

Madonna was born Madonna Louise Ciccone in Bay City and raised in the Detroit suburbs. She has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide. She starred in "Evita" (1996) as Eva Peron, wife of Argentina's president Juan Peron (for which she won a Gooden Globe Award for Best Actress).

From Quiz Michigan's Famous Folk

Answer: Bob Eubanks

Robert Leland Eubanks (b. 1938) got his start as a popular disc jockey in California in 1955. In fact, he mortgaged his house so that he could get the Beatles to perform their first West Coast concert in 1964 at the Hollywood Bowl. While hosting game shows, Eubanks worked in the country music business managing artists like Dolly Parton and Barbara Mandrell. Eubank's producing credits include "The Toni Tennille Show", "Buddy Hackett's You Bet Your Life", "The Guinness Game" and "Infatuation". He also was involved in the production of the films "Payback" (1999) and "Forced To Kill" (1993). Recently, he has started a new career as a motivational speaker. Chuck Barris created/produced "The Newlywed Game", "The Dating Game" and "The Gong Show". Alex Trebek currently hosts "Jeopardy"; Bill Cullen was a familiar game show figure who's hosted many show, including the original (1960s) "The Price is Right", "Hot Potato" and "Password Plus".

From Quiz Michigan: Arts, Letters & Social Issues

Answer: Mary Chase Perry Stratton

According to the "Pewabic Pottery" entry on the Michigan Arts and Sciences website, Pewabic Pottery was built in Detroit in 1907-08 by William Stratton for his future wife, Mary Chase Perry (1867-1861). Her interest in china painting soon led to teaching classes in the art and building a solid reputation as a skilled artisan. She loved experimenting with different glazes. When she discovered her neighbor, Horace Caulkins, had invented a new high-heat furnace for dental products, a new glazing process was born. Stratton worked at the pottery until her death at age 91. Today, Pewabic Pottery tiles are found in distinguished buildings throughout Michigan and the United States. Gwen Frostic (1906-2001), a Sandusky, Michigan, native, honed her considerable artistic talents despite suffering from symptoms of cerebral palsy. She began working in metals but, because of World War II, moved on to linoleum block carving and eventually to her own printing shop, Presscraft Papers in Benzonia, Michigan, where she worked until her death. Frostic was granted several honorary doctorates and May 23 is Gwen Frostic Day in Michigan. I had the honor of interviewing Ms. Frostic for a feature several years ago and she truly was a friendly, talented, life-loving individual. Edward Q. Wagner (b. 1855, Germany - d. 1922, Detroit) sculpted the Anthony Wayne pediment at the Wayne County Building, Detroit. Wagner worked generating architectural sculpture at both the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and the St. Louis Exposition in St. Louis in 1904.

From Quiz Famous Michiganders

Answer: Tim Allen & Allen

Tim Allen filmed several episodes of "Home Improvement" in Michigan, including one in Traverse City.

From Quiz More Famous Folks From Michigan

Answer: William Hewlett

William Hewlett (1913-2001) and David Packard (1912-1996) founded the Hewlett-Packard company in 1939 after the two met while attending Stanford University. He was President of Hewlett-Packard from 1964 to 1977, and CEO from 1968 until 1978.

From Quiz Michigan's Famous Folk

Answer: Terry O'Quinn

Terrence O'Quinn, (born: Quinn), (b. July 15, 1952) began his acting career while attending Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI, where he also was a standout playwright and director. His early TV appearances included "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "JAG", "Moonlighting", "Homicide: Life on the Streets" and "The X-Files". His recurring role on "Alias" caught the attention of producer J. J. Abrams, who later offered him the role of John Locke on "Lost"--without an audition. O'Quinn has also appeared in the films "Tombstone" (1993) and "The Stepfather" (1987) and "Rocketeer" (1991).

From Quiz Michigan: Arts, Letters & Social Issues

Answer: Gabriel Richard

According to a 1997 article by Kay Hughes in "The Detroit News", Father Gabriel Richard (1767-1832), born in La Ville de Saintes, France, came to Detroit in 1804 to serve as assistant pastor for St. Anne's Church and to open a school (which was destroyed by fire--along with most of the city--in 1805). This fire prompted Fr. Richard to write Detroit's motto: "Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus" ("We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes.") Fr. Richard also ministered to the local Native Americans and was greatly respected by them. He died of cholera in 1832. Antoine de la Mothe le Sieur de Cadillac (1658-1730), was stationed for a period in Canada as a captain in the French army. In 1694 he was appointed commander of the French post at Mackinac (now part of Mackinac Co., Mich.). In 1697 he presented to King Louis XIV of France (the "Sun King") a plan for a permanent trading post in the American Northwest. With royal approval, he founded Pontchartrain d'Étroit (now Detroit) in 1701. Fr. Jacques Marquette (1637-1675) founded missions in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace, Michigan, before setting off with Louis Joliet to be the first white men to map the northern Mississippi River. He died and is buried in St. Ignace. Although born in New Hampshire, Zachariah Chandler (1813-79), was Mayor of Detroit (1851-52), a four-term U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan (1857-75), and Secretary of the Interior under U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant (1875-77). He may be best known leader of the Radical Republicans during the American Civil War.

From Quiz Michigan's Famous Folk

Answer: Serena Williams

Serena Jameka Williams (b. September 21, 1981) won her first tennis tournament at the age of four and a half. By age 10, she'd won 46 of 49 tournaments in which she competed. She won her first Grand Slam tournament by winning the U.S. Open on September 11, 1999--the first African American woman to accomplish that feat since Althea Gibson in 1958. Her equally talented sister, Venus, was born in Lynwood, California in 1980.

From Quiz Famous Michiganders

Answer: Aretha Franklin

From Quiz More Famous Folks From Michigan

Answer: Harriet Quimby

A 1991, a US airmail stamp featured Harriet Quimby. She died at the age of 37 in an airplane crash when she was ejected from her seat whilst flying at 1500 feet.

From Quiz Michigan's Famous Folk

Answer: Jerry Bruckheimer

Jerome Leon Bruckheimer (b. September 21, 1945) attended Detroit's Mumford High School and received a degree in psychology from the University of Arizona. His first job was in the mail room of a New York advertising agency. In the 1970s, Bruckheimer produced three movies with director Dick Richards, including "Farewell, My Lovely" (1975), and with Paul Schrader on "American Gigolo" (1980) and "Cat People" (1982). Before Simpson's untimely death in 1996, he and Bruckheimer co-produced several hit movies including "Flashdance", "Beverly Hills Cop" (1984) and "Top Gun". Since then, many other movie hits followed, including "Armageddon" (1998), the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series (2003-2007) and "National Treasure" (2004). Bruckheimer has been an equally successful television producer and is responsible for such hits as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", "CSI: Miami", "Without a Trace", "Cold Case" and "The Amazing Race". At one point three of his series ranked in ratings top 10--a singular television achievement!

From Quiz Michigan: Arts, Letters & Social Issues

Answer: Annie Klobuchar

Known as "Big Annie" because of her statuesque 6'2" height, Annie Klobuchar (1888-1956) was born in Calumet, Michigan. In 1913, the miners and their families went on strike, as wages were shamefully low and many had been injured or killed by substandard equipment. Each morning at 6 a.m. "Big Annie" (and the large American flag she customarily carried) led the group of marchers on the seven mile march to the mines. The strike continued for a year, despite the hiring of "Waddies" (toughs hired from New York tenements), local deputies, the Citizens' Alliance, and a Christmas Party organized by Annie that became known as the Italian Hall Disaster when someone (believed to be from the Citizens' Alliance) yelled "Fire!". In the frenzy to escape the non-existent flames, 74 people died, 11 of them children. Finally, in April 1914, the miners went back to work, their pay raised from $2.50 to $3.00 per day, but with no changes in working conditions. South Haven, Michigan's Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954), was an American botanist and educator whose study of cultivated plants significantly influenced the development of plant genetics, plant pathology, and modern agricultural techniques. Marie Dye (1891-1974), was the first woman with a Ph.D. to be appointed to the Michigan State University faculty. She went on to become the first female full professor in the Division of Home Economics in 1930, and later was appointed Dean of the Division. Her career ultimately spanned thirty-four years (1922-1956). Michigan's first female governor, Jennifer M. Granholm was born in 1959. An attorney, she first made history in 1999 by being sworn in as Michigan's first female Attorney General. She is a devoted advocate of child development and education and created Project Great Start to increase childhood literacy and educational programs.

From Quiz Famous Michiganders

Answer: Jeff Daniels

Jeff Daniels is quite active in the community of Chelsea, Michigan, including sponsoring essay contests for local schools. He starred in the film 'Dumb and Dumber' with Jim Carrey, in which he played a real dope!

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