Losers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ava Gardner

Despite her long career in movies, Ava Gardner (1922-1990) never won an Academy Award, not even an honorary one, despite the fact that the AFI listed her as one of the "greatest female stars". She first drew attention with her performance in "The Killers" in 1946, and went on to further stardom with "Mogambo" opposite Clark Gable in 1953, and "Seven Days in May" in 1964.
The other choices all won Oscars: Julianne Moore for Best Actress in "Still Alice" in 2014, and Best Supporting Actress Awards for both Donna Reed in "From Here to Eternity" (1953) and Teresa Wright in "Mrs. Miniver" (1942).

Answer: William Jennings Bryan

The famous Scopes Trial, aka The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, was a trial about a Dayton, TN teacher who was prohibited from teaching the science of evolution. William Jennings Bryan was the attorney representing the State of Tennessee against Scopes. Bryan not only lost the case on appeal but, from a political standpoint, was also a three-time loser for President of the United States, in the elections of 1896, 1900 and 1908. Clarence Darrow represented Scopes in this battle of science vs. religion and actually lost, but the verdict was overturned on a technicality. Clay was "The Great Compromiser", and Mansfield was the first US female attorney.

Answer: Washington Generals

On August 14, 2015, after 63 years, the Harlem Globetrotters dropped the exhibition team Washington Generals as their primary opponent. The Generals lost to the Globetrotters over 16,000 times, to become the worst sports team of all time. What you may not know is the fact that the Generals actually did win one game under Coach Klotz on January 5, 1971 in Martin, Tennessee.

They celebrated their win by pouring orange soda on each other in the locker room (no champagne for them). After the game Klotz said that the shocked fans looked at his team as if they had "killed Santa Claus"!

Answer: Josef Mengele

Dr. Josef Mengele (1911-1979) was an SS officer and physician at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. The doctor was known to have performed unspeakable human experiments on the prisoners in the camp, and was given the appellation "The Angel of Death".

He was also one of the doctors responsible for choosing those who were deemed unfit for labor and sent straight to the gas chambers. He eluded capture and was never brought to justice. Mengele died of a stroke while swimming in his adopted country of Brazil in 1979.

He was buried under a false name, but his remains were found and disinterred; they were positively identified forensically in 1985.

Answer: Newhart

Bob Newhart's second sitcom set in an inn in Vermont ran from 1982-1990. He played innkeeper Dick Loudon of the Stafford Inn. Dick and his wife Joanna (played by Mary Frann) relocated from New York City. Most of the comedy was derived from the eccentricities of the characters with whom he came in contact, e.g., Larry, Darryl and Darryl, his handyman George Utley and his housekeeper (of sorts) Stephanie Vanderkellen.

The sitcom was extremely popular, well-written and well-acted but never won an Emmy!

Answer: The Spice Girls

The Spice Girls was a British pop group formed in 1994 with Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice), and Victoria Adams (Posh Spice, who later became Victoria Beckham). Their debut single "Wannabe" (1996) made them a global sensation, and they became cultural icons of the 1990s.

Their debut album "Spice" was, at the time, the best-selling album by a female group. They became one of the most successful "marketing engines" ever, and even made a film called "Spice World" in 1997.

However, none of their songs was even nominated for a Grammy Award.

Answer: Cy Young

Cy Young's (1867-1955) baseball career spanned 22 years, from 1890 through 1911. He established many pitching records, some of which stood for a century. In fact, the annual award given to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (in both the National and the American Leagues) was introduced in 1956 and is called the Cy Young Award, one of the most coveted awards in professional baseball. During his career, Young won 511 games, a feat which will almost certainly never be duplicated under the conditions of the modern era.

However, he also lost 311 games, thereby making him also the 'losingest' pitcher of the 20th century.

Answer: Katherine Heigl and Tom Sizemore

The American thriller "Zyzzyx Road" was directed by John Penney and produced by Leo Grillo. The gross of $30 was contributed by six patrons, who could probably now sell those ticket stubs at a profit. The plot (although you may not care) featured Katherine Heigl as Marissa and Tom Sizemore as Joey, Marissa's jealous ex-husband; it also starred Leo Grillo (the producer) as Grant, an accountant who began an affair with Marissa but, nevermind; I'm already bored! Heigl starred on the TV drama "Grey's Anatomy" and also appeared in the movie "27 Dresses" - not much of a resume. Sizemore has been in some decent films like "Heat", and in jail for assault & battery and drugs.

Answer: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) was a French naturalist who took a very different view of evolution from that of Charles Darwin. His "Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics" was first presented in 1801. He believed that living things evolved in a "continuously upward direction, from dead matter, through simple to complex forms toward human perfection". Lamarck did not believe that species became extinct but, rather, that they changed into other species, created by spontaneous generation (scary, huh?).
Lyell was a geologist; Cuvier was a zoologist, and Wallace was a biologist.

Answer: Jamie Dornan

The 36th Golden Raspberry Awards, for the worst movies of 2015, were announced on February 27, 2016 at the Palace Theater in Los Angeles, California. They were given out the day before the 88th Academy Awards were presented (coincidence, I think not!). And the winner/loser was Jamie Dornan for his performance in "Fifty Shades of Grey".

He actually won a second Razzie for Worst Screen Combo along with his co-star Dakota Johnson. In fact, "Fifty Shades of Grey" was the big winner (?) with 5 Razzies. The losers were: Johnny Depp for "Mortdecai", Kevin James for "Paul Blart Mall Cop 2, and Channing Tatum for "Jupiter Ascending".