Fourteen People : Common Bond Trivia Quiz

Answer: John Candy

Candy was an important member of Toronto's "Second City Television" (alongside Harold Ramis, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara and other giants of comedy). In 1991, he became part owner of the Canadian Football League team the Toronto Argonauts (which won the championship that year). He died of a heart attack at age 43.

Answer: Twiggy

Twiggy was (and is) a multi-media star. She released albums in the seventies (one of them reaching #33 on the United Kingdom charts), won Golden Globes for her stage work and, in 2005, became a judge on television's "America's Next Top Model".

Answer: Pee-wee Herman

"Pee-wee's Playhouse" won 22 Emmys and co-starred Laurence Fishburne (as Cowboy Curtis), S. Epatha Merkerson (as Reba the Mail Lady) and Phil Hartman (as Captain Carl). Herman got into a bit of trouble in 1991, when he was arrested for indecent exposure in an adult movie theater, but he's made a comeback since then, playing in 1999's Johnny Depp movie "Blow" and guest-starring on shows like "30 Rock" and "Pushing Daisies".

Answer: James Brown

Brown, when he was six years old, lived with his aunt who ran a whorehouse. He dropped out of school in the seventh grade and eventually taught himself the harmonica and learned how to play guitar, drums and piano in his quest to be an entertainer. As of 2009 he'd won induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the New York Songwriters Hall of Fame, an honorary doctorate from Paine College, a Kennedy Center Honor, and many more accolades.

Answer: Chaka Khan

In 1984, Chaka Khan's version of "I Feel For You" (featuring Melle Mel saying "Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan" for what feels like hours) hit #1 on the American dance charts and stayed there for three weeks. The song has also been performed by The Pointer Sisters and (eek!) Justin Timberlake dueting with Britney Spears.

Answer: Dan Aykroyd

Aykroyd was born in Ottawa in 1952. In recent years he's been promoting his Crystal Head Vodka (it's triple-filtered!), but he still pops up in the occasional movie (like 2007's "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" and 2008's "War Inc.").

Answer: Henry Gibson

Henry Gibson also played Judge Clark Brown on "Boston Legal", and Father O'Neil in "Wedding Crashers". He died of cancer in September of 2009.

Answer: Frank Oz

Oz was born Richard Frank Oznowicz in England in 1944, and moved to California when he was five years old. He did puppet work for 1986's "Labyrinth" (starring David Bowie and a young Jennifer Connelly) and collaborated with Jim Henson and his Muppets on almost a hundred projects.

Answer: Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson won 17 Grammys (five of them after his death in 2004) and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Jazz Hall of Fame and the National Black Sports & Entertainment Hall of Fame. He's got a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame and a post office building in Los Angeles named after him.

Not bad for someone who went blind before he turned eight and grew up poor as dirt in the segregated South.

Answer: Carrie Fisher

Fisher is, of course, best known for the role of Princess Leia Organa in the "Star Wars" films, but she's also a proficient script doctor and a fine novelist. She's had a typical Hollywood life (married to singer Paul Simon, engaged to Dan Aykroyd, a drug-overdose corpse in her house and battles with bipolar disorder and illegal drugs, which led to electroshock therapy), but her humor and intelligence have served her well, and she continues to do edgy, fascinating work.

Answer: Steven Spielberg

Spielberg has had three films ("Jaws", "E.T." and "Jurassic Park") become the top-grossing movie of all time

Answer: John Belushi

In addition to Belushi, the original SNL cast consisted of Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, George Coe, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Michael O'Donoghue and Gilda Radner. Belushi died in 1982 from an overdose of cocaine and heroin.

Answer: Steve Lawrence

Steve and Eydie won Las Vegas Entertainment Awards for 'Musical Variety Act of the Year' three consecutive times (and four times total), appeared on "The Tonight Show" repeatedly in the fifties, and Lawrence was nominated in 1964 for a Tony Award for his role as Sammy Glick in "What Makes Sammy Run?"

Answer: Aretha Franklin

Franklin was the first female artist inaugurated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the first black woman to grace Time Magazine's cover, the youngest person to receive a Kennedy Center honor and she's won, to this point, eighteen Grammy Awards. An amazing woman with an amazing voice.

Answer: The Blues Brothers

All of these people appeared in 1980's John Landis movie "The Blues Brothers". John Candy played Burton Mercer; Twiggy played 'Chic Lady'; Paul Reubens played the waiter at Chez Paul; James Brown played the Rev. Cleophus James; Chaka Khan was in the choir in Rev. James's church; Aykroyd played Elwood Blues; Henry Gibson was the head of the Illinois Nazis; Frank Oz played a corrections officer at Joliet; Ray Charles owned the pawnshop where the band got their instruments; Carrie Fisher played the 'Mystery Woman' who got left at the altar by Jake; Steven Spielberg played the clerk at the Cook County Assessor's Office; John Belushi played Joliet Jake Blues; Steve Lawrence played agent Maury Sline, and Aretha Franklin played Matt Murphy's wife and co-worker at their soul food restaurant.