Celebrity "Royalty" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Larry King

Lawrence Harvey Zeiger, born in Brooklyn, New York in 1933, chose the highest ranking royal for his stage name, i.e., Larry King. He is an oft-married radio host and television personality. In 1985 Larry began hosting "Larry King Live" on CNN where he interviewed various celebrities.

The show lasted a remarkble 25 years. Among the awards Mr. King has received are two Peabody Awards, an Emmy and ten cable ACE Awards.

Answer: Lady Gaga

Actress, singer and songwriter Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotti was born in New York, NY in 1986. She chose her stage name, Lady Gaga, after hearing Queen's 1984 song "Radio Ga Ga". In 2008 she became a household name after releasing her electropop debut album, appropriately called "The Fame". Among the hit singles from that album are "Just Dance" and "Poker Face".

Her second album, in 2011, "Born This Way" hit the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart. Lady Gaga appeared in "A Star is Born", and received an Oscar for her song "Shallow".

Answer: Richard Deacon

While a deacon is more religious 'royalty', I wanted to include actor Richard Deacon (1921-1984), who played one of television's earliest "patsies" as Mel Cooley. On the "Dick Van Dyke Show", Mel was Alan Brady's brother-in-law and producer of "The Alan Brady Show"; he was also the butt of Alan and Buddy's jokes. Deacon appeared on other early TV shows like "Leave It to Beaver" and "The Jack Benny Program", and had small roles in films such as "The Birds" in 1963.

Answer: Jack Lord

John Joseph Patrick Ryan (1920-1998) chose the rank of Lord for his stage name, i.e., Jack Lord. Jack was an actor, producer and director, and was best known for his role as Steve McGarrett, the head of a police task force on "Hawaii Five-0". The show aired from 1968 to 1980. "Book 'em, Danno." Prior to that, from 1962 to 1963, he starred in the western "Stoney Burke". Jack also had roles in movies which include "Dr. No" (1962) and "God's Little Acre" (1958).

Answer: Earl Monroe

Our next title is an Earl, i.e, former professional basketball player Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1944. Monroe began his NBA career as point guard and shooting guard in 1967 with the Baltimore Bullets. From 1971 to 1980, "The Pearl" played for the New York Knicks. Among the highlights of his career are: NBA Rookie of the Year in 1968, four time NBA All-Star, NBA Champion in 1973, and NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Answer: David Duke

American white supremacist David Duke was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1950. He was a Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan from 1974 to 1980. He is a white nationalist, a convicted felon for felony fraud, an anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. From 1989 to 1992 he served as a Republican Louisiana State Representative.

He espouses "Christian family values", while championing bigotry, hatred, racism and separatism.

Answer: Prince

Singer, actor and filmmaker Prince Rogers Nelson (1958-2016) used his first name, Prince, as his stage name; that is, when he wasn't using an ankh as his symbol. For a while, this multi-talented musician became "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince". Although he died too young from an accidental overdose of fentanyl, he left us with almost forty years of his work, including the 1984 film "Purple Rain".

The soundtrack from the film spent 24 consecutive weeks as number one on the Billboard 200 chart.

Answer: Sacha Baron Cohen

Sascha Baron Cohen is a British actor, comedian and filmmaker born in London in 1971. Among the satirical characters he has created is Ali G, Alistair Leslie Graham, on "Da Ali G Show" which aired on network television in 2000. The character returned to TV in 2014 on "Ali G Rezurection".

In addition, we were introduced to Borat Sagdiyev in the 2006 film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation Kazakhstan".

Answer: Duke Ellington

Musician Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974) was born in Washington, D.C. Even before the 'big band' era, Duke led a jazz orchestra from 1923 to the time of his death. In the 1920s he played at the prestigious Cotton Club in Harlem. Ellington wrote more than a thousand compositions, including "Take the A Train", written in 1939, and covered by Dave Brubeck and Ella Fitzgerald.

In 1999 he was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Award for music.

Answer: Queen Latifah

Dana Elaine Owens, born in New Jersey in 1970, took the regal stage name Queen Latifah. She is an actress, singer and rapper. Her debut album, in 1989, was appropriately called "All Hail the Queen", and included the hit single "Ladies First". From 1993 to 1998, she played Khadijah James on the television show "Living Single".

She was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as Matron "Mama" Morton in the 2002 musical "Chicago".