Celebrity Centenarians Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bob Hope

Although born in England, Hope grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He had a long career in vaudeville and acting, but was more widely known for his participation in the shows put on to entertain US service men and women by the United Service Organizations (USO).

He made almost sixty tours for the USO over a fifty year period (1941-1991). Remarkably his wife, entertainer Dolores Hope, lived to be 102.

Answer: Dame Vera Lynn

Lynn became the oldest living person to have an album reach the top spot of UK Albums Chart (at age 92). During WWII she had a famous weekly radio show that played requests from the soldiers. She was known for her charity work that mostly focused on helping war veterans, children with disabilities and breast cancer research. Because of her life-long support of the soldiers, she was given a military funeral.

Answer: I. M. Pei

Born in China, Pei moved to the US to attend college. He became one of the world's most sought after architects. He won many awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He also won awards in Great Britain and China. He used the money received from winning the Pritzker Prize (Often referred to as the Nobel Prize for architects) to establish a scholarship for Chinese architectural students to study in the US with the proviso that they return to China after graduation.

He died in 2019 at the age of 102.

Answer: Kirk Douglas

Douglas suffered a major stroke at the age of 79. Although told he would never speak, he worked to learn to speak again and even made a short speech after being awarded an Academy Award for Lifetime achievement two months after the stroke. In 2002 he wrote "My Stroke of Luck" to help families of stroke victims. His wife Anne, died at the age 102 a year after he did.

Answer: 100 meter run

Keeling set sprinting worlds records, for people her age, at age 95 and at age 99. At 101 she set the world record for the number of push-ups by a person her age and broke her own world record in the 100 meter run. According to an article in blackdoctor, Keeling credited her success to her faith and to her working out several times a week, attending a weekly dance class and a diet of greens, fruits, cod liver oil and a shot of Hennessey in her coffee a few times a week.

Answer: George Burns

Born Nathan Birnbaum, Burns was a star in vaudeville, radio, television, and movies. He was also known as a comedian, as well as a singer. Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, started a radio show in 1928 before successfully transitioning the "George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" to television in 1950.

He won an Emmy, Oscar and Grammy during his illustrious career. In 1977 Burns once starred in the movie "Oh God!" where he played the role of God. He died March 6, 1996, a month and a half after his one hundredth birthday.

Answer: Olivia de Havilland

Though born in Japan, De Havilland was a British citizen by birthright. The sisters had a rocky relationship. In 1942, both de Havilland and Fontaine were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Fontaine won but according to biographer Charles Higham, rejected de Havilland's attempts to congratulate her, leaving de Havilland offended and embarrassed.

Answer: Grandma Moses

Grandma Moses had little formal education and left home at the age of twelve to work on a farm, until she married Thomas Moses in 1887. She enjoyed drawing and painting as a child and after her husband died, she began painting at the age of seventy-eight.

Many of her paintings were of rural landscapes that reminded her of her childhood. Her paintings, which were displayed in a rural upstate New York drug store, were noticed by an art collector who, in 1939, purchased all she had. His interest led to three of her paintings being displayed in New York City later that year. Moses became well known as one of America's best known artists.

Answer: Cartoon artist

He was born Abraham Jaffee, in Savannah Georgia to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, but changed his name to Al while serving in the US Army during WWII. He spent his early childhood with his mom in Lithuania before returning to the USA as an adolescent.
While in the army he was noticed for his ability to draw and was assigned to be an artist for the military. After the war he worked for a while for comic book publisher Stan Lee, before becoming a free-lance cartoonist for "Mad" magazine in 1955.
It was at "Mad" where he gained his fame for a talented satirical cartoonist. He was most famous for his "Fold-in" drawings which produced a new picture and caption when the page was folded vertically. In 2016 Guinness World Records officially declared that Jaffee had the longest career as a comics artist at "73 years, 3 months.

Answer: Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

Born Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, she became queen when her husband, King George VI, reluctantly became king after his brother, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry a divorced woman, American Wallis Simpson. She served as the Queen Consort from 1936 until her husband died in 1952.

When her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne, she took on the title Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother to avoid confusion. She lived until 2002 and, after an extended period out of the public eye, she assumed some royal duties at the urging of Winston Churchill.

The "Queen Mum" remained a popular member of the royal family until her death.