Queer as... Famous Folk Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jane Addams

Jane Addams and her friend Ellen Gates Starr founded Hull House in 1889. They created the first public - and free - playground of Chicago, provided some courses for immigrants, also provided free meals and some healthcare. Jane Addams was in a "Boston marriage" for over 40 years with Mary Rozet Smith; they owned a house together, travelled together, and shared the same bed.

Ellen Gates Starr is also thought to have been a lesbian, but it seems that she and Jane Addams never had a romantic relationship. She never married.

Sarah Grimké was an American abolitionist and suffragist. Her niece, Angelina Weld Grimké, was a poet, and a lesbian.

Answer: Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark, in 1802. Some of his most famous fairy tales include "The Little Mermaid", "The Snow Queen", "The Ugly Duckling", and "The Emperor's New Clothes". There has been much speculation about his sexuality. It is known he fell in love with several women, and one of them refused to marry him. He also professed his love to several men, in letters. He never married, and some say he remained a virgin all his life.

Charles Perrault was a 17th century French author who published "Tales of Mother Goose" in 1697, which included "Sleeping Beauty", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Cinderella", and "Puss in Boots".

The Grimm Brothers first published their "Fairy Tales" in 1812. In total, they re-wrote and published over 200 tales, among them "Rapunzel", "Cinderella", "Hansel and Gretel", "Little Snow White", and "Little Red Cap".

Answer: Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando reached stardom with the movie "A Streetcar Named Desire". In a biography published in 1976, Brando declared: "Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed." David Niven also mentioned that, while filming "A Streetcar Named Desire", he found Brando and Laurence Olivier kissing in a swimming pool.

Laurence Olivier was knighted and later made a life peer by Queen Elizabeth II and was the first actor to be made a Companion of Honour. His sexuality has been debated for years. Olivier is reported to have had several relationships and affairs with men. He was also married no fewer than three times, most famously to Vivien Leigh.

James Dean was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor (for his roles in "East of Eden" and "Giant"). Dean avoided being drafted in the army by registering as a homosexual. Though he then said it was a lie to avoid the draft, it has been documented that James Dean had several intimate relationships with men as well as women.

Alec Guinness is well known for several roles, including that of Colonel Nicholson in "Bridge of the River Kwai" (for which he received the Acamedy Award for Best Actor), and that of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the fourth episode of "Star Wars". It seems that, in 1946, Guinness was fined for a homosexual act in a public lavatory (when arrested, he gave a false name). Towards the end of his life, he did admit to a biographer interviewing him that he had engaged in sexual relations with men.

Answer: Hadrian

Hadrian was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. Much was written about his love for Antinous, a Greek youth, and their relationship was already well documented during Hadrian's time. Antinous drowned in the Nile in 130. Hadrian, full of grief, founded the city of Antinopolis in his memory and declared Antinous to be a god.

Alexander the Great had a well-known relationship with Hephaestion, a childhood friend and a general. Historians have written extensively on their relationship and some have suggested that Hephaestion's death led to Alexander's agitated mental health and carelessness with his physical health. Alexander died less than a year after Hephaestion.

The story says that Julius Caesar, then a 19 year old ambassador, had a relationship with King Nicomedes IV of Bythinia, which, years later, prompted his political opponents to nickname him "the Queen of Bithynia". While it is very likely that Caesar used sex as a political tool to form alliances, there does not seem to be firm evidence that he did use it with men.

Several texts from Roman historians show that Nero twice married men in official (but not entirely legal) ceremonies. One was called Pythagoras and had formerly been a slave. According to Tacitus, "the bridal veil was put over the emperor." When Nero married Sporus, who was a young castrated child-slave, Sporus was given the title of Empress.

Answer: Chevalier d'Éon

Charles d'Éon de Beaumont became involved with the secret service of King Louis XV in 1756 and became an embassy secretary, first in Russia, then in England. Starting in 1775, d'Éon began dressing up in public as a woman and claimed that she had been born a girl. She spent the remaining 33 years of her life as a woman and lived with a widow. When she died, the doctor who examined the body discovered she was anatomically male.

Giacomo Casanova studied law, briefly attended a seminary, joined the military, gambled, and spent most of his life running away from scandals and prison sentences. In his memoirs, he mentions four men with whom he had sexual relationships. (Casanova mentions just over 100 women in his memoirs, though he claimed to have seduced more than a thousand).

Gian Gastone de' Medici was the seventh and last Grand Duke of Tuscany. Throughout his life, he was known to have his attendant, Dami, recruit young poor men and bring them back to him.

T.E. Lawrence's sexuality has been greatly discussed among historians. Much has been written about his relationship with Selim Ahmed, known as Dahoum. His book "Seven Pillars" is dedicated to S.A (many think it is Dahoum) with the words "I loved you".

Answer: Diane Murphy (Tabatha/Tabitha Stephens)

Diane Murphy and her twin sister Erin played the role of Tabitha Stephens in the last years of the show. After 1968, only Erin continued to play the role. Murphy has an M.B.A in management and a bachelor's in psychology and sociology. She lives in California and is an out lesbian.

Dick Sargent joined the "Bewitched" cast in 1969 after Dick York had to resign due to health reasons. He publicly came out as gay in 1991; in 1992, he was a Grand Marshal of the Los Angeles Gay Pride, alongside former co-star Elizabeth Montgomery. Sargent died in 1994 of prostate cancer.

Elizabeth Montgomery was married four times and had three children. As an activist, she was very vocal against the Vietnam War and was very outspoken about women's rights and gay rights. She died of colorectal cancer in 1995.

David White and his wife Mary Welsh had a son in 1955. She died in 1958 due to complications during a second pregnancy. David White had another daughter for a second relationship which lasted until his death, in 1990. His son, Jonathan, died in 1988 in the terrorist bombing of a Pam Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Answer: W.H. Auden

Wystan Hugh (W.H.) Auden was born in England. In 1939, he moved to the United States and taught in several universities. In the 1950's, he became professor of poetry at Oxford, dividing his time between New York and Europe. While he was discrete about his sexuality, his relationships with writer Christoper Isherwood and poet Chester Kallman were widely known. His poem "Funeral Blues" was used in the film "Four Weddings and a Funeral" in 1994.

Lord Byron started writing poetry in his teens. He was educated at Harrow and Cambridge where, he wrote later, he had an affair with a fellow student. By 1812, he had become one of the leading poets of the Romantic Movement. Throughout his life, he was involved in many affairs and scandals, with men and women alike. Some have argued that his reason for leaving England in 1816, never to return, was his tumultuous love life.

Walt Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, and even a nurse during the American Civil War. In 1855, he published his first version of "Leaves of Grass" with his own money. The sexual themes of the poems drew the attention, and criticism, of the audience. In his diary, Whitman makes several allusions about men he finds attractive, dates, and nights spent with them.

Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet, writer, and journalist. His writing in the magazine "La Gaceta de Cuba", and the fact that he was openly gay, led to his arrest by the Cuban authorities in 1973. He was released in 1976 and fled to the United States by boat in 1980. In 1987, he was diagnosed with AIDS and he committed suicide in 1990. His autobiography, "Before Night Falls", was turned into a movie in 2000.

Answer: Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Stockholm, Sweden. Her first movies in the U.S. were silent (which was an advantage as she spoke no English when she first arrived) but starting in 1930, she began to play speaking roles. Her last film came out in 1941, and she never acted again. She never married, and always lived alone. There has been much speculation about her sexuality. It is known that she had a few affairs with men, and she has also been linked to several women, including actress Lilyan Tashman, writer Mercedes de Acosta and actress Louise Brooks, who described her as a "charming and tender lover".

Marlene Dietrich was born Marie Magdalene Dietrich in Schöneberg, on the outskirts of Berlin, in Germany. In 1930, she became famous thanks to the movie "The Blue Angel" and moved to the U.S. to be the Paramount Pictures' answer to MGM's Greta Garbo. While filming a film in London in the 1930's, she was offered a lucrative contract by Nazi officials. She turned them down and applied for American citizenship in 1937, obtaining it in 1939. During WWII, Dietrich toured Europe and the Pacific coast to support the troops. She received the Medal of Freedom in 1947, and the Légion d'honneur from the French government. Dietrich often dressed as a man (she was often called "the best dressed man in Hollywood") and had affairs with many men and women, including Mercedes de Acosta.

Louise Brooks began her career as a dancer and made her film debut in the late 1920's. She soon became a silent movie star, and her bob haircut became so famous its style was called "a Louise Brooks". In 1929, she broke her contract with Paramount to go to Germany, and for the rest of her career, she was reduced to playing small parts in B movies until her retirement, in 1938. She was married twice, and both marriages were short and childless. Louise Brooks thought speculations about her sexuality were amusing and once wrote: "Out of curiosity, I had two affairs with girls - they did nothing for me."

Tallulah Bankhead began her career in the late 1910's, still a teenager. She was quite opened - and witty - about sex, alcohol and drug abuse. A famous quote of hers, for instance, mentions: "My father warned me about men and booze, but he never mentioned a word about women and cocaine." Rumours about her bisexuality followed her all her life. While she was romantically linked with many women, including Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Mercedes de Acosta and Billie Holiday, she never confirmed anything. She did say, however, that the Kinsey Reports were "were old hat to me" and that she was not surprised by its findings.

Answer: Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci lived and studied in Florence at a time where the "Officers of the Night" were in charged with eradicating homosexuality from the city. Many accusations were, in fact, false and were made to compromise rivals. As far as da Vinci is concerned, there are some suggestions (but no proof) that he was in fact homosexual: he never married, never wrote about specific women in his extensive diary, described sexual relationships between men and women as disgusting, and surrounded himself with young and attractive models, assistants, and students.

Many contemporaries of Michelangelo alluded to his appreciation of men. Michelangelo favoured male models (even to paint women) and seems to have had many romantic and physical relationships with several of them (he wrote many love and erotic poems adressed to men). His fresco of the Sistine Chapel created a scandal because it depicted too many muscular naked men, whose genitals were on display. Several years after Michelangelo died, many fig leaves were added to hide them.

Much has been speculated about Donatello's sexuality. He, like da Vinci, lived in Florence when the "Officers of the Night" were prosecuting men for homosexuality. It seems that his friendship with Cosimo de' Medici prevented him from being in trouble with the law, because some historians argue that Donatello did not hide his relationships with young models. In any case, his statue of "David" has been described as an example of homoerotic work, as it portrays a sensual and androgynous young man.

Caravaggio led a fairly violent life. It is known that he liked brawls and fights. He was accused of assault several times, and of insulting fellow artists. He stabbed and maimed at least two people, and he had to flee Rome in 1606 after he murdered a man (he is widely thought today to have been a pimp in a brothel). There have been much debate among historians and art critics about his sexuality, and it is fairly accepted today that he probably had sexual relationships with men as well as women.

Answer: Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King's international career really started in 1961, when, aged 17, she won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon with Karen Hantze Susman. She won the singles final at Winbledon in 1966 and would remain one of the world's best players during the following decade. In 1973, she defeated Bobby Riggs in what has been called "The Battle of the Sexes", after Riggs had claimed that women were inferior tennis players than men. In 1983, she retired from single competitive games only; she continued competitions in doubles games until 1990. She was outed as a lesbian in 1981 and has since become an advocate for GLBTQ equal rights.

Martina Navratilova won her first single Wimbledon tournament in 1978 and her last in 1990. Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, and won the women's singles title at Wimbledon nine times (still a record to this day). She is one of just three women, and the most recent one, to have accomplished a career Grand Slam in singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. Navratilova is the only player of either sex to have won eight different tournaments at least seven times. In 2003, she won the mixed double titles at Wimbledon and the Australian Open, and in 2006 the US Open, which made her the oldest Grand Slam champion (she was almost 50 when she won her last finals). She came out as a lesbian in 1981.

Amélie Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles in 2006, at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. She was named the World Junior Champion in 1996. In 2004, she won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Athens and that same year became the first French woman to become the world's number one player since computer rankings began. She retired from competition in 2009. She came out as a lesbian in 1999.

Gigi Fernández won 17 Grand Slam doubles titles, and two Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996. She was the world's number one ranking in women's doubles four times and she was part of the United States team who won the Fed Cup in 1990. She was born in Puerto Rico and was named Puerto Rico's "Female Athlete of the century" in 1999. She retired in 1997 and has been out since the 1990's.