Zooming in on Notable Deaths (January 2021) Quiz

Answer: Hank Aaron

Henry 'Hank' Aaron played 21 of his 23 seasons with the Braves franchise, 12 of those in Milwaukee and then nine in Atlanta when the team moved in 1966. At the time of his retirement in 1976, Hank Aaron was the all-time leader in home runs (755), runs batted in (2,297) and total bases (6,856). Sadly while Aaron was closing in on Babe Ruth's home run record he received numerous death threats and racist hate mail. After his Hall of Fame playing career Aaron was a senior vice president for the Atlanta Braves franchise. He also released an autobiography in 1990 titled "If Had a Hammer". Venturing into other businesses, Hank Aaron owned several car dealerships and 30 chain restaurants. Hank Aaron died on January 22, 2021 at the age of 86.

This question was belted for a home run over the left field wall by Phoenix Rising team member Triviaballer who wished he could have seen Hank Aaron play in person but has watched his 715th home run video dozens of times.

Answer: Gerry Marsden

Gerry Marsden died after a short illness related to a heart infection in January 2021. It was he who fell in love with the ballad "You'll Never Walk Alone" from the musical "Carousel" and in 1963, he and his Pacemakers turned it into the anthem adopted by fans of the Liverpool soccer club. It is sung with verve before home games by Liverpool faithful.

While another 60s Liverpool band reached greater heights, Gerry and the Pacemakers have a place in history with hits such as "Ferry Cross the Mersey" (1965) and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" (1964), and dozens of covers of other popular hits like "World Without Love", "Give All Your Love To Me" and "Hallelujah I Love Her So". Geri Haliwell was a 'Spice Girl'; Gerry Adams was the President of Sinn Féin between November 1983 and February 2018; and Gerry Anderson, also an MBE recipient, was the creator of the television hit "Thunderbirds", among many other award-winning shows.

Phoenix Rising's VegemiteKid hopes she has passed on the ear-worm "Ferry Cross the Mersey" to you - and you're welcome!

Answer: The Last Picture Show

"The Last Picture Show" was a coming-of-age drama directed by Peter Bogdanovich and based on Larry McMurtry's 1966 novel. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards with Cloris Leachman winning, while Ben Johnson received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The sequel "Texasville" (1990) was based on McMurtry's 1987 novel, directed by Bogdanovich and with many of the cast reprising their 1971 roles.

Cloris Leachman was an American comedienne and actress, active for more than 70 years. From 22 nominations, she won eight Primetime Emmy Awards, recognising her work on programmes such as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (Phyllis Lindstrom) and "Malcolm in the Middle" (Ida Welker). There were many other awards, together with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1980) and induction to the Television Academy Hall of Fame (2011). Ms. Leachman appeared in three Mel Brooks' films, "Young Frankenstein" (1974), "High Anxiety" (1977) and "History of the World, Part I" (1981). Other notable film credits include "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), "The Muppet Movie" (1979) and "Spanglish" (2004). Her television work included "Lassie", "Dr. Kildare", "Phyllis", "The Ellen Show" and "Raising Hope". She also appeared in many stage productions. "Cloris: My Autobiography" (2009) was co-authored with ex-husband George Englund. Ms. Leachman died January 27, 2021 aged 94.

Phoenix Rising's psnz was pleased to have this opportunity to honour Ms. Leachman's life and work.

Answer: Larry King

Lawrence Harvey Zeiger (stage name Larry King), was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1933. He always dreamed of being on the radio. That dream was realized in 1957 when he got his first broadcasting gig with WAHR in Miami, but right before he went on air, his station manager advised him to drop his surname because it was too ethnic and difficult to pronounce. King adopted his new name from an ad for King's Wholesale Liquors in the Miami Herald spread out on the manager's desk.

Larry King hosted over 50,000 interviews in a career spanning more than six decades, including a 25-year stint on CNN as host of "Larry King Live". He had a natural curiosity and a genuine interest in learning from his interviewees. He preferred to conduct his interviews unscripted. Some of King's most memorable interviews include Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, OJ Simpson, and Jerry Seinfeld. He hosted every US President from Gerald Ford to Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama, even Miss Piggy and Kermit.

King passed away on January 23, 2021 at the age of 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. King survived a major heart attack in 1987 (for which he underwent a quintuple-bypass surgery), a bout with lung cancer in 2017, and a COVID-19 infection just weeks shortly before his death. He recovered from the coronavirus, but it likely weakened his immune system and he reportedly died of sepsis as a complication of an unrelated infection.

This question was written by Phoenix Rising team member JCSon, who believes Larry King was truly the king of the talk show format.

Answer: Mark Twain

"Mark Twain Tonight" was conceived by Holbrook and it first premiered in 1954. The show would revolve around Holbrook delivering dramatic recitations of selected passages of Twain's works, with the focus being on those of a more comic nature. His last performance of the show was on Broadway in 2006. Along the way he earned a Tony award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a play and he also garnered an Emmy after it was televised on CBS in 1967.

Holbrook also had a long and successful movie career, made noticeable by his performance as Deep Throat in the 1976 film "All the President's Men". He received an Oscar nomination for his performance as Ron Franz in "Into the Wild" (2007), played Abraham Lincoln in the television mini-series "Lincoln" (1976) and "North and South" in 1985 and bookended that by playing Francis Preston Blair in the Spielberg movie "Lincoln" in 2012. He passed away at the age of 95.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: Phil Spector

Harvey Phillip Spector (b. 1939, The Bronx, New York), a record producer, musician and songwriter, was one of the most influential figures in the development of pop music. In the 1960s he was known for his recording practices including the "Wall of Sound". This was particularly dense orchestral music utilising large ensembles that translated well with the radios and jukeboxes of the era. He said, "I was looking for a sound, a sound so strong that if the material was not the greatest, the sound would carry the record."

Spector was a founding member of the Teddy Bears (1958) and wrote their number one hit "To Know Him Is to Love Him". With Lester Sill, he founded Phillies Records, later working with the Ronettes, the Crystals and Ike & Tina Turner. Other acts he was associated with included The Beatles (plus John Lennon and George Harrison as solo artists), the Righteous Brothers, Leonard Cohen and the Ramones. He won two Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. Early in the 21st century, Spector faced two trials for the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson. The first trial had a hung jury, but he was found guilty in 2009 and sentenced to 19 years to life. He died in prison on January 16, 2021 aged 81.

Phoenix Rising's psnz wanted to honour Mr Spector's musical accomplishments.

Answer: Tanya Roberts

Tanya Roberts was a stunningly beautiful woman who first came to attention as Julie Rogers in the final series of "Charlie's Angels" (1980/81), where it was hoped that her presence would help lift the show's falling ratings. She then appeared in the cult movie "The Beastmaster" (1982), took the starring role in "Sheena: Queen of the Jungle" in 1984 (earning a "Worst Actress" Razzie nomination for it) and then made it big time as a Bond girl, starring alongside Roger Moore in "A View to a Kill" in 1985. Unfortunately, she garnered another Razzie nomination for that.

It appeared that her legacy would be one of stunning beauty but couldn't act. That was until she took on the role of Midge Pinciotti in the first three seasons of "That 70s Show" (1998-01) where she beautifully (pun not intended) portrayed the somewhat ditzy blonde who is slowly coming to realise that the life of the loving housewife is not what it is supposed to be. Roberts passed away on January 4 from blood poisoning at the tender age of 65.

This question was written by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who had no idea that her performance in "Sheena..."was poor. He blames it on the hormones.

Answer: 7 Up

Born in 1941 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Mr Apted started his career as a production assistant at Granada TV in Manchester after studying law and history at Cambridge. In 1964 he worked on what was to be a one off documentary which would demonstrate that the thesis that the British class system remained largely in place. The program involved interviewing a series of seven year old children across a wide variety of backgrounds based on the Jesuit motto "Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man". The show was hugely popular. Mr Apted was selected to direct subsequent episodes when the children were 14 and 21. The show recurred every seven years with Mr Apted at the helm. The series won a Peabody Award in 2012 "for its creator's patience and its subjects' humanity." "63 Up" was produced in 2019.

His other achievements in film include 24 movies (He moved to Los Angeles in 1980). He directed "Coal Miner's Daughter" which received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and it won Best Actress for Sissy Spacek. The Bond movie "The World is Not Enough" was also directed by him in 1999. Mr Apted passed away on 7 January 2021 at his home in Los Angeles.

This question was submitted by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1 who grew up with the "7 Up" series.

Answer: Cicely Tyson

Cicely Tyson starred as the title character in the 1974 television movie, "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman". It was based on Mr Gaine's novel by the same name. The story is set in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement in the US but spans over 80 years of Miss Pittman's life. The tv movie was awarded nine Emmys. Cicely Tyson was born in Harlem, NY in 1924. In addition to Emmy Awards, Ms Tyson won a Screen Actor Guild Award and a Tony Award. She won an Academy Honorary Award in 2018 making her the first African-American woman to be awarded the honorary accolade. Ms Tyson was 96 years old when she passed away in Harlem on January 28, 2021.

This question was written by Phoenix Rising's jaknginger

Answer: Motocross

Non-speed motorcycle trials competitions began in Britain early in the twentieth century. When these developed into scrambles or speed racing, the sport became known as motocross, a portmanteau of "motorcycle" and "cross country".

Joël Robert was born in Châtelet, Belgium in 1943. His father had been a motocross and speedway rider and young Joël began riding his first motorcycle at age 6. This led to a professional motocross career between 1960 and 1976. He was 250cc World Champion in 1964 and all the period 1968-1972. With 50 Grand Prix wins and 250 World and international victories, it took a knee injury to end his career. Mr. Robert was integral in bringing motocross to the United States and was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000. In 1997 and 1998, he managed Belgium's victorious Motocross des Nations team. In 2020, FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) named him as a Motocross Legend. He died on January 13, 2021 aged 79.

Phoenix Rising's psnz was happy to honour M. Robert's sporting contributions and jump this question into the quiz.