Material Girl Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marilyn Monroe

Although in life her excesses did not run to "things" - at least not when measured by movie-star standards - Marilyn Monroe is the original "Material Girl," since her performance of "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" ("Talk to me, Harry Winston!") from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" was the inspiration for the famous Madonna video. Marilyn's nude photo portraits, taken when she was an unknown starlet, can be said to be the foundation on which the "Playboy" empire was built.

Other iconic photos taken during the filming of "The Seven Year Itch," in which air forced upwards through sidewalk grates by New York subway trains exposed her legs and panties, may have been responsible for the breakup of her marriage to baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. Marilyn longed to be taken seriously as an actress, and attended the Actors' Studio in New York to develop her craft.

She was chronically tardy, initially due to shyness and stage fright and later also to her dependence on prescription drugs, which were probably responsible for her death in 1962.

Answer: Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII Philopator was her formal title. Considered the last Egyptian Pharaoh, she was known for her relationships with powerful men. According to custom, she was married to her two younger brothers when they were children and she was in her late teens.

She entered into famous liaisons - first, with Julius Caesar (they initially met when she had herself delivered to him wrapped in the gift of a carpet) and, after Caesar's assassination, with Mark Antony. Far from being a lascivious libertine, Cleopatra was shrewdly political; and she used these alliances to maintain her power and reign until defeats in battle led Antony to kill himself.

She followed suit: the story about her committing suicide by inducing an asp to bite her is probably true.

Answer: Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor, who died in March, 2011, was the epitome of a movie star; but she was also no slouch as an actress, winning two Best Actress Academy Awards, in 1961 and 1967. She won an additional honorary Oscar in 1992 for her brave, groundbreaking, and unceasing support of HIV/AIDS philanthropic causes.

A stunning beauty, Elizabeth was one of the first celebrities to launch a line of fragrances, which continues to sell in the tens of millions of dollars annually, White Diamonds being the most successful.

She once attributed her eight marriages to seven different men partly to the fact that she was raised not to indulge in sex outside of marriage. In addition to her legendary diamonds, Elizabeth had an extensive collection of all kinds of gems.

A 2011 auction of just a portion her jewelry collection brought in $116 million for her charitable foundation.

Answer: Marie Antoinette

Poor thing. Many historians believe that Marie Antoinette never really had a chance. One of 16 children born to Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa, for dynastic reasons she was packed off to marry the crown prince of France in 1770 when they were both in their mid-teens.

Although initially popular with the French people, she rapidly lost favor, partly due to her youthful over-indulgence in gambling, clothing, and parties; but also due to the general profligacy of her husband's government, which significantly underwrote the American colonies in their war of independence from Britain, among other excesses.

Although she really never said, "Let them eat cake," in response to reports of a bread famine among the French peasantry, Marie Antoinette was hugely out of touch, largely due her cosseted upbringing and sheltered life at court.

Her response was to spend yet more money on a model farming village in the isolation of the palace grounds. She and her family were caught up in the ensuing French Revolution, convicted of treason, and, along with hundreds of others, guillotined in 1793.

Answer: Imelda Marcos

This was too easy, really; but what else can be said about the former Philippine first lady? A lot, actually: a former beauty queen, she served in a variety of governmental positions during her husband's presidency and prior to their exile in 1986; the estimated number of shoes she left behind ranges from about 1,000 to over 7,500 pairs: these were largely a symbol of the Marcos family's alleged looting of the national treasury, an amount put at over $30 billion; she was acquitted of racketeering and fraud charges in a 1990 New York trial; she returned to the Philippines in 1991 and was elected several times to the national legislature; and although she was acquitted of corruption in a number of additional cases, the bulk of her family's reputedly-ill-gotten fortune has never been recovered.

Answer: Katharine Hepburn

Another Hollywood great who was not greatly into material things, Katharine Hepburn was nevertheless one of the most iconic film actresses in US history; and in terms of Academy Awards, one of the most honored actors ever, winning four Best Actress Oscars in a film career of more than 60 years. Raised by socially prominent, progressive parents, Hepburn was free-thinking and independent, one of the first actors to graduate from college, develop her own projects, stand up to the studio system, and take periodic sabbaticals from the stage.

She maintained a devoted, private relationship for over 25 years with her frequent co-star, Spencer Tracy, despite the fact that he was married with a family. An accomplished athlete who excelled at many sports, Hepburn played tennis daily until well into her eighties.

She gave a memorable speech that was much parodied ("The calla lillies are in bloom again ...") in one of her earliest film roles, "Stage Door." But she actually loved the flowers; they were some of her favorites. Just as she was no follower, Hepburn was not purposely a trend setter: she was quite self-conscious about her neck and strove to cover it at all times; both on and off-screen.

She wore trousers almost exclusively, not so much as a fashion statement but because she found them more practical and comfortable. Hepburn's resulting "non-deliberate" style became a model for countless women through the years. A longtime resident of a New York City townhouse, she returned to the family home in Connecticut near the end of her life. Katharine Hepburn died on June 29, 2003.

Answer: Nancy Reagan

Nancy Davis Reagan was the wife of Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. By all accounts they adored each other. President Reagan was elected President in 1980 and inaugurated in 1981. Mrs. Reagan was not popular initially, in part because her plans for renovating the White House living quarters and purchasing a new set of formal china for state entertaining were deemed too extravagant in an economic recession.

The fact is that both were sorely needed: in the end they were paid for by private donations and not government funds. Mrs. Reagan was always stylishly dressed in designer creations and wore the color red on many occasions: it was a favorite, she said, because it revived her when her physical or psychic energy was flagging. During her husband's administration she acted as his champion, garnering praise for supporting him during his recovery from an assassination attempt in 1981.

However, this motive also often saw Mrs. Reagan clashing with her husband's staff, as when she consulted astrologers to set details of his schedule.

She made drug abuse education and prevention her major project as First Lady, adopting "Just Say No" as its slogan and travelling over 250,000 miles in the US and abroad promoting its aims. President Reagan left office in 1989 and died in 2004 of Alzheimer's disease.

Answer: Elizabeth II

Another Material Girl not exactly of the norm: most of the things at Queen Elizabeth's disposal came as part her role as sovereign and thus belong to the country; others were inherited. And although her role requires an extensive and varied wardrobe, she never had a reputation as a clotheshorse.

Many queens throughout history have had castles, palaces, and crown jewels; although few have had so many and such grand ones. Her own mother as Queen Consort also owned Welsh corgis; but no one has combined all of these with James Bond! Who will ever forget the hilarious video made for the 2012 London Olympics in which The Queen appeared to join actor Daniel Craig as Bond to parachute into the Opening Ceremonies?!

Answer: Barbara "Babe" Paley

Babe Paley is considered by many to have been the best-dressed woman of all time. The daughter of a Boston neurosurgery pioneer, she and her two sisters were famous in part for the prominent men they married, which included one of the sons of Franklin Roosevelt, the millionaire Vincent Astor, and sportsman-diplomat Jock Whitney. Babe's second husband (married 1947) was William Paley, who founded CBS. Though fixtures in New York society, together they extended their reach internationally, thus becoming founding members of the "Jet Set" of the 1950's - 1960's.

They lived primarily in New York City, but had homes all over the world, which Babe strived to make into showplaces. She was one of author Truman Capote's "Swans," fashionable women with whom he socialized and gossipped.

Many, including Babe, summarily cut Capote off when he betrayed their confidences, however indirectly, in his 1975 roman a clef, "La Cote Basque 1965." Babe Paley died of lung cancer in 1978.

Answer: Wallis Simpson

Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson was an American divorcee in 1920's-1930's London, where she met the future King Edward VIII, who eventually abdicated his throne to marry her. Her first husband was a US naval officer who was posted to China, where she joined him.

Her second marriage to Ernest Simpson was based in London, where they entered fashionable society. Not beautiful in any traditional sense, Wallis was nevertheless captivating, noted for her stylish dress, magnetic conversation, and brilliant entertaining.

She met Edward, then Prince of Wales, in 1931; and by 1934 he was madly in love with her, despite the strong disapproval of his family. When he became King in 1936, Edward insisted on marrying Wallis, thus setting off a crisis which led to his abdication at the end of the year when his determination was finally thwarted.

They married in France in May, 1937, becoming the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, travelling the world for the next 35 years, briefly as dupes of the Hitler regime, then in a controversial WWII posting to the Bahamas, later as jet-setting socialites, eventually settling in Paris.

Some partial rapprochement with the British Royal Family followed over the years: the Duke died in 1972. Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, died in 1986, isolated and probably suffering from dementia. The bulk of her collection of jewelry was auctioned in 1987, raising $45 million for the Pasteur Institute.