January 14 Birthdays Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marcus Antonius

Marcus Antonius, or Mark Antony, was the son of Marcus Antonius Orator, who had been killed from the order of Gauis Marius, alongside Antony's mother. According to Plutarch, he owed as much as 250 talents (a talent equaling roughly $5,000 of 2007 US dollars adjusted for inflation, so $5 million) after living on the streets of Rome when he was only a teenager.

He was called upon to enter the army and made a name for himself in Egypt and Judea. He then joined Caesar in Gaul, and they became good friends when Antony joined Caesar's staff. Throughout Caesar's rule, Antony was his right hand man, despite not being part of the First Triumvirate.

At Caesar's funeral, Antony reportedly took his toga from the casket, pointed to each stab wound and shouted the name of the perpetrator of each one, followed by a reading of Caesar's will that gave most of his property back to the people of Rome. That alone turned public opinion against the assassins and they were forced to flee the city.

Answer: Benedict Arnold

In the early American Revolution, Benedict Arnold was a proponent of the American invasion of Quebec. When it was decided that the invasion would happen, Arnold was skipped over for the first invasion force in favor of Richard Montgomery. Arnold was given command of a second force to go into Quebec, and Montgomery's army met him at Quebec. Montgomery was killed soon afterwards, and Arnold was replaced by Major General David Wooster.

He was then the military commander of Montreal before the British took over, and was defeated on Lake Champlain commanding a newly-built fleet.

He was not well-liked in the Continental Army, and corruption charges were brought against him, prompting Arnold to switch sides to the British later on.

Answer: Albert Schweitzer

While in Africa, Albert Schweitzer coined the term "Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben," translated into English as "Reverence for Life." He was searching for a universal concept of ethics, and was quoted as saying "Ethics is nothing other than Reverence for Life," and that the material world is ethically neutral by design. Schweitzer was a doctor and pastor for decades in Lambaréné, French Equatorial Africa (later Gabon), using money earned from royalties to expand his hospital to treat locals and also to preach.

Answer: Andy Rooney

Andrew "Andy" Rooney began his journalism career writing for the "Stars and Stripes" paper while in the army during World War II. After the war, he became a writer for CBS radio and television variety shows as well as some CBS News programs. In 1978, "60 Minutes" brought Rooney on the show for "Three Minutes or So With Andy Rooney" to end the program, and it soon gained popularity and changed its name to "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney." Thanks to his outstanding work, Rooney won the Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award in 2003.

Answer: Faye Dunaway

Faye Dunaway began her acting career on Broadway in 1962 in "A Man for All Seasons," but in 1967 made a huge splash in the film industry with her role as Bonnie Parker. "Bonnie and Clyde" was actually her third movie filmed that year along with "The Happening" and "Hurry Sundown." The next year, she had another hit in "The Thomas Crown Affair" with Steve McQueen. All but cemented as an icon, she went on to act in "Little Big Man," "The Three Musketeers," "Chinatown," "The Towering Inferno," and "Network" all before 1980, among several others.

Answer: Carl Weathers

Carl Weathers had several small roles in 1975 before getting his big break playing the amazing boxer Apollo Creed in "Rocky." He would play Apollo three more times, and that role propelled him into the mainstream. In 1978 (before "Rocky II"), Weathers played Sergeant Weaver in "Force 10 from Navarone," the sequel to "The Guns of Navarone." Following the completion of his "Rocky" run, he played alongside future governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura in "Predator," a fact that he would later spoof on "Saturday Night Live" by acting as if he was going to run for office as well.

In 2007, he married Jennifer Peterson, and in 2009 got a role on the FOX comedy "Brothers" alongside fellow former NFL player Michael Strahan.

Answer: Steven Soderbergh

Before Steven Soderbergh, only Frank Lloyd had won Best Director at the Oscars while also having another film up for the award, and that was for the 1928/29 awards. Michael Curtiz had two films up for the award in 1938, but both lost out to Frank Capra.

Beginning with "Out of Sight" in 1998, Soderbergh proved to be very loyal to those he enjoyed working with. "Out of Sight" starred George Clooney, and 2000's "Erin Brockovich" starred Julia Roberts, who both came back to eventually become a couple in the "Ocean's Eleven" movies. Clooney came back in Soderbergh's "Solaris" and "The Good German," while "Ocean's Eleven" alumnus Matt Damon also starred in "The Informant!" Benicio del Toro also worked with Soderbergh multiple times, first in 2000 with "Traffic" and then again in 2008 with both "Che: Part One" and "Che: Part Two" as Che Guevara.

Answer: Shepard Smith

Shepard Smith began getting wide notice when he began working on "A Current Affair," which went off the air in 1996, the same year that the FOX News Channel was started. At Fox, he quickly became the network's go-to guy for the biggest news stories, from the 2000 election controversy in Florida to Hurricane Katrina. "The FOX Report" became the most-watched cable news show in early 2002, prompting the network to give him "Studio B" at an earlier time later that year.

Despite the name, "Studio B" was actually moved out of Studio B in early 2009 to Studio 12H in order to move to high definition, but Smith insisted that the show keep the name.

Answer: LL Cool J

LL Cool J did not have a #1 album on the US charts until his "G.O.A.T." album, and also did not hit #1 on the Hot 100 until 2003, when he performed "All I Have" alongside Jennifer Lopez on his album "10." However, on the US R&B charts, he had four of his first five albums made #1 and on the Rap charts, eight of his songs hit #1 before he released "All I Have." In the acting realm, he earned the Favorite Supporting Actor for an Action Movie in 2000 for "Deep Blue Sea" at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.

He also won a BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in 2004 for "Deliver Us from Eva."

Answer: Jason Bateman

Jason Bateman had plenty of recognition from the beginning of his career, earning four nominations from the Young Artist Awards: two for "Silver Spoons" (1983 and 1984), one for "It's Your Move" (1985), and the fourth for "Valerie" (1988). However, he earned most of his acclaim for playing Michael Bluth on "Arrested Development," for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in 2005, and was nominated for the same award at the Emmys, even though he lost to Tony Shalhoub. Following the end of "Arrested Development," Bateman starred in several movies, including "The Kingdom," "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," and "Couples Retreat."