Follow That Dream Trivia Quiz

Answer: Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire, had he listened to the studio executive, might have resigned himself to remain a Broadway dancer. Instead, he persisted and went on to become very successful as an actor, especially in the musical genre. His partnership with Ginger Rogers was legendary.

Some of his better-known film accolades include "Holiday Inn", "Funny Face", "Shall We Dance" and "Royal Wedding", but the list goes on. He was only nominated once for an Academy Award, in 1975 for his supporting role in "The Towering Inferno", but he received an honourary one in 1950.

Answer: Sony

Sony was founded in post-WWII Japan when Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka reconnected to found an electronics company. Today, the Sony Corporation is one of the biggest companies in the world. Sony now runs many different divisions, though the electronics are still very prominent within the company.

Akio Morita was born into a family that was in the Japanese food industry specializing in soy and rice products. They later became the largest stakeholders in the 'Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation' which was renamed in 1958 as the Sony corporation.

Answer: Vincent van Gogh

When "Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers" by Vincent van Gogh sold in 1987 for 24.75 million pounds, it tripled the previous record held for most expensive painting sold. Nevertheless, (apparently) van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime, "The Red Vineyard", for only 400 francs.

Vincent van Gogh suffered from rejection throughout his life. He was in love several times and was rejected each time he proposed to the lady of his dreams. Paul Gauguin also lived next to van Gogh for a while and van Gogh constantly sought Gauguin's acceptance as an artist. However, Gauguin was arrogant. When Gauguin moved away, van Gogh was so distressed that he cut off part or all of his left ear with a razor and sent it to him.

Answer: Disney

Walt Disney always loved illustrating and got into it from a very young age, however, Walt's father, Elias, was the dominant force in the Disney household and Walt had to work for Elias' different business ventures. He tried to get into the US Army during World War I, but was rejected, so he joined the Red Cross instead.

Walt started two different illustration studios, "Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists" and "Laugh-O-Gram Studios" but both of them went under. In a joint venture with Universal Studios, Disney lost most of his animation staff for the production of "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit", a popular cartoon at the time, and he was out of the cartoon business yet again. Nevertheless, a brilliant idea originally called 'Mortimer Mouse' featured in the film "Steamboat Willy", and Mickey Mouse was born.

Answer: Theodor Seuss Geisel

If Dr. Seuss had not persisted, we would not have gotten such iconic books such as "The Lorax", "The Cat in the Hat", and "Green Eggs and Ham" which were all written and illustrated by a guy whose first book was published only because Theodor ran into an old classmate who was able to hook up the publishing of "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street" (finally)!

Dr. Seuss' rhymes are very simple and catchy and that was part of what made him very popular. However, it was his illustrations that were his passion. He was going for a PhD at Oxford in English Literature when his future wife convinced him to pursue a career in illustration. Geisel's first steady gig was with "Judge" magazine but during World War II he even tried his hand at political cartooning.

Answer: Steven Spielberg

As a teenager, Steven Spielberg first picked up a movie camera because his father's stills camera was broken and Spielberg needed to get his Boy Scout badge in photography. The rest, as they say, is history...

As a child, Spielberg faced antisemitism and dyslexia (which was only diagnosed in 2007) and had such mediocre grades that USC would not accept him. He did not let that deter him and Spielberg funded his first films independently. He eventually got into Cal State Long Beach in 1966, but, ironically, he only completed all of the requirements for his BA in 2002.

Spielberg burst onto the mainstream scene with "Jaws" in 1975 which set box office records and was a huge success. He has won the Academy Award for Best Director twice, for "Schindler's List" in 1993 and "Saving Private Ryan" in 1998. Two others of Spielberg's films were complete and utter box-office blockbusters so that they also set records: "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" in 1982 and "Jurassic Park" in 1993.

Answer: Elvis

Elvis Presley was born poor, his family had to survive a devastating tornado, and he was generally a loner as a child. He learned to play the guitar and was heavily influenced by African American blues, music that was generally frowned upon by the conservative southern Whites.

Elvis always liked music and really solidified his talent for being on stage while at a school talent show. However, his initial forays into the industry were unsuccessful; he auditioned for the Songfellows, a local vocal quartet, but was rejected as he was told that he "couldn't sing". He cut an acetate for his mother, but in the hopes of getting discovered, but aside from words of encouragement, it went nowhere. He auditioned for a professional band as well but the bandleader, Eddie Bond, told Presley to stick to truck driving.

We all know who Elvis Presley is and what he has done. His title as the "King of Rock and Roll" is well-deserved for his achievements. His music was unique at the time for a White singer and he was very popular with the younger crowd. In fact, Elvis was so popular that at some of his concerts the National Guard had to be called in to keep the peace. Presley also was a very successful actor and had some very strong roles, some of which featured his musical talents as well.

Answer: Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison initially had to be home-schooled by his mother because he was kicked out of school after only three months. His one and only teacher, the Reverend Engle, said that Edison was "addled" because he was constantly caught day-dreaming. When he grew up, his thirst for knowledge had not lessened. He took the graveyard shift as a telegraph operator so that he could experiment to his heart's content. However, this also proved to be his downfall when he accidentally spilled acid onto the floor and it seeped through the boards onto his boss' desk. You might surmise that the boss was not happy about it.

Edison in his lifetime founded fourteen companies, the most successful being a company many of us still know today - General Electric. He also never gave up his dream to invent and, other than the light bulb, he also invented the gramophone, the fluoroscope, and a 'kinetoscope' - a machine that screened a short film for a viewer through a peephole.

Answer: Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was Britain's fearless leader throughout most of World War II. However, for a while, it looked like he would be out of politics forever. When the party was defeated in 1929, Winston Churchill was shunned by many and he was counted out of the game by most. However, his firm belief that Britain should take heed and arm against Adolf Hitler's rise to power gave him political strength when an all-out war broke out.

Churchill served as Prime Minister for two terms, the first from 1940 to 1945 and the second from 1951 to 1955. Like the king who appointed him, Churchill also had a speech impediment, however, Churchill's was that he had a lisp. However, his dentures were designed to correct the problem to the point where it was not at all evident.

Answer: Deafness

Derrick Coleman lost his hearing when he was three years old, but, his mother never lost her faith in him. When Derrick was playing high-school football, she attached the hearing aids that he used to the inside of his helmet with pantyhose because it helped cut down on feedback. Coleman also learned to read lips in the huddle so he would know what play was being called.

Undrafted, Coleman was signed by the Minnesota Vikings in 2012 but was cut later that year. The Seahawks signed Coleman and he made their 2013 team winning the Super Bowl with them that season. Leading up to the big game, Coleman was featured in an inspirational commercial for Duracell batteries.