Vice Presidents on Television Trivia Quiz

Answer: Randy Quaid

Randy Quaid won a Golden Globe for his portrait of a young Lyndon Johnson in "LBJ: The Early Years" (1988). The film covers Johnson from 1934 through his vice presidency. He was also nominated for an Emmy. Patti Lupone played Lady Bird Johnson.

Quaid is best known as a comic actor, especially in the National Lampoon "Vacation" series. Early in his career, Quaid was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the Jack Nicholson film "The Last Detail" (1974). One of his most popular roles was as washed up pilot Russell Case, who saved the day in "Independence Day" (1996). Quaid was acting regularly until 2009, but acted very little in the 2010s.

Lyndon Johnson (1908-1973) was the 37th Vice President and 37th President. Johnson began his political career in the House of Representatives (1937-1948). He was elected to the Senate in 1948 and rapidly became one of its most powerful members. Johnson sought the presidency in 1960, but lost to John Kennedy, who added him to the ticket for geographic balance. Johnson became president following the assassination of Kennedy in November 1963. LBJ is best remembered for his civil rights and social safety net programs. The unsolvable quagmire of the Vietnam War doomed Johnson's presidency and he chose not to run in 1968. Johnson died in January of 1973, a month after Harry Truman.

Answer: Gary Sinise

Gary Sinise won a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for playing the 34th Vice President in the 1996 biopic "Truman" which was based on the novel by historian David McCullough. The film covers the life of Truman from his early years to the presidency.

Gary Sinise is probably best known as Lieutenant Dan Taylor from "Forrest Gump" (1994). While he didn't win an Emmy for "Truman", he did win for playing George Wallace in 1997.

Other notable performances by Sinise include Ken Mattingly in "Apollo 13" (1995), Stu Redman in "The Stand" (1994) and Mac Taylor on "CSI: New York" (2004-2013).

Harry Truman (1884-1972) was the 34th Vice President and 33rd President of the United States. A native of Missouri, he served in the Senate (1934-1944) until Franklin Roosevelt selected him as his running mate. With the death of FDR in April 1945, Truman became president; he was re-elected in 1948 and left office in January 1953. Truman died in December 1972.

Answer: Paul Giamatti

Paul Giamatti earned both an Emmy and Golden Glove for his turn as founding father John Adams in the 2008 TV miniseries of the same name. Like "Truman" it is based on the work of David McCullough. The miniseries begins with the Boston Massacre in 1770 and follows the remaining 56 years of Adams' life.

Paul Giamatti graduated from the Yale School of Drama in 1990. He got his first small film parts in the late 1990s. Two of his early notable roles were in "American Splendor" (2003) and "Sideways" (2004). Other films include "Cinderella Man" (2005), "Fred Claus" (2007) and "12 Years A Slave" (2013). In 2016, Giamatti became a regular on the Showtime series "Billions." Paul is the son of A Bartlett Giamatti, the former commissioner of baseball.

John Adams (1735-1826) was the first Vice President of the United States. A leading voice for independence, Adams was a key player in passage of the Declaration of Independence. Adams spent the next decade abroad, as ambassador to France, the Netherlands and Great Britain between 1776 and 1788. He returned and was elected Vice President in 1789. He succeeded Washington as President in 1796, but lost to Thomas Jefferson in 1800. Adams died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Answer: Beau Bridges

Beau Bridges received an Emmy nomination for playing Richard Nixon in the 1995 television film "Kissinger and Nixon." Ron Silver played Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The makeup team won an Emmy for their work.

Beau Bridges has numerous Emmy nominations, and has won three times, including in 1992 for playing Reagan Press Secretary James Brady. Bridges is the son of actor Lloyd and brother of Jeff. He did some acting as a child, but his career really begins in the early 1960s. Notable films include "Norma Rae" (1979) and "The Fabulous Baker Boys" (1989).

Richard Nixon (1913-1994) was easily the most complex person ever to become President. He served as the 36th Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower before being elected to the presidency in 1968. A complex web of corruption crashed down on Nixon, and he resigned to avoid impeachment in August 1974. Nixon died in April 1994.

Answer: Ed Flanders

Veteran character actor Ed Flanders was nominated for an Emmy for playing Vice President/President Calvin Coolidge in the 1979 miniseries "Backstairs at the White House." Told from the standpoint of the house keeping staff of the White House, the miniseries covered presidents from William Howard Taft to Dwight Eisenhower.

Ed Flanders (1934-1995) is best known for playing Doctor Donald Westphall on the medical drama "Saint Elsewhere" (1982-1988). He was a regular on television in the 1970s, including shows such as "MASH" (1972) and "Hawaii 50" (1969-75). He played Harry Truman on the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" in 1976.

Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) was the 29th Vice President and 30th President. Coolidge was an attorney and served in the state legislature before becoming Governor of Massachusetts in 1918. Coolidge gained famed in Republican circles for breaking a police strike in Boston, leading him to be selected VP in 1920. Coolidge became president when Warren Harding died in August 1923. Coolidge was easily elected in 1924, but chose not to run in 1928. He lived to see the election, but not the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt.

Answer: Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey won a Golden Globe and received multiple Emmy nominations for playing master political manipulator Frank Underwood in "House of Cards" (2013-2017). When the series starts out Frank is the House Majority Whip. He eventually becomes Vice President and later President.

There have been five Vice Presidents during "House of Cards" run: Jim Matthews (Dan Ziskie), who left to run for Governor of Pennsylvania; Frank Underwood; Donald Blythe (Reed Birney), Underwood's VP for two years; Clair Underwood (Robin Wright), First Lady who became Vice President, then President, and Mark Usher (Campbell Scott), Claire's VP.

Kevin Spacey has two Academy Awards, for "The Usual Suspects" (1995) and "American Beauty" among numerous other accolades. Other notable Spacey films include "K-PAX" (2001), "Beyond the Sea" (2004) and "Superman Returns" (2006). Spacey's career imploded in 2017 after multiple allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior.

Answer: Tim Matheson

Tim Matheson played Vice President John Hoynes during the first four seasons of "The West Wing" (1999-2003), and earned two Emmy nominations. Hoynes had been a senator from Texas, and Josiah Bartlet's main competition during the presidential election. In a unifying move, Bartlet asked Hoynes to join the ticket. Hoynes eventually resigned after it was revealed he disclosed highly classified information in order to impress a woman he was dating.

Tim Matheson began acting at the age of 14, in 1961. His early work was in television, including doing the voice of Jonny Quest (1964-65). Matheson is probably best known as Eric "Otter" Stratton, the smooth talking frat leader in "Animal House" (1978). In 2016, Matheson played Ronald Reagan in "Killing Reagan". Since 2000, Matheson has done a great deal of work behind the camera as a director.

The second Vice President on the West Wing was Bob Russell, a Colorado congressman who turned out to be more competent than originally suspected, and was played by Gary Cole.

Answer: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Julia Louis-Dreyfus racked up an amazing six consecutive Emmy wins as Vice President Selina Meyer on the political comedy "Veep" The show was created by Armando Iannucci, the creator of the BBC political comedy "The Thick of It," which starred Peter Capaldi as an incredibly vulgar and offensive political advisor.

Selina served as VP for most of the first three seasons, then moved up when the president resigned for personal reasons. Despite being the incumbent, she lost in an absurdly narrow election. The last few seasons focused on her life out of office. The series aired on HBO from 2012 to 2019.

Julia Louis-Deryfus got her start on "Saturday Night Live" between 1982 and 1985. For most of the 1990s, she was Elaine Benes on "Seinfeld" which earned her an Emmy in 1996 and five SAG Awards. She would win another Emmy in 2006 for "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

Answer: Gregory Itzin

Gregory Itzin played Vice President/President Charles Logan during seasons 4 and 5 of the Kiefer Sutherland action series "24" (2006). He made a return during season 8.

Charles Logan was a corporate executive who became Senator from California before being chosen as Vice President by John Keeler. Logan became President was Keeler was gravely injured when Air Force One crashed (season 4). After Jack Bauer uncovered that Logan had given nerve gas to terrorists, he was forced to quietly resign the presidency. "24" was a series that was very tough on presidents; they didn't have a long shelf life.

Gregory Itzin is a veteran character actor who has been working since the 1970s. His first job was as a tour guide in the 1979 miniseries "Backstairs at the White House." Since then he was appeared on a wide range of TV shows, include "Matlock" (1987), "LA Law" (1987-94), "The Practice" (1997-2003) and "Judging Amy" (2001-05). He was a recurring character on "Covert Affairs" (2010-2013).

Answer: Jayne Atkinson

Jayne Atkinson played Vice President Teresa Hurst on "Madame Secretary" (2018). Hurst was a former Senator from Pennsylvania who was chosen by President Dalton as his running mate when he ran as an independent. "Madame Secretary" starred Tea Leoni as the Secretary of State, and later President.

Actress Jayne Atkinson certainly had good preparation to be VP. On "24" she played Karen Hayes, the head of Homeland Security for the west coast and later National Security Advisor. On "House of Cards" she played Secretary of State Catherine Durant. Ironically, Atkinson herself is not qualified to be Vice President as she was born in Bournemouth, England.