Celebrity Politicians Trivia Quiz

Answer: Carmel, California

When the quaint central coast town of Carmel-by-the-Sea gave Eastwood trouble over building permits for a project of his, he ousted the incumbent mayor. Elected in 1986, he served a single, two-year term.

Answer: Bono

After a career as a musical and television star, Sonny Bono was elected mayor of Palm Springs, California and then served as a Republican congressman (1995-1998). His career was cut short by his tragic death in a skiing accident in 1998.

Answer: P.T. Barnum

Barnum served as mayor from 1875-76 and also served in the Connecticut state legislature. Jack London was a Socialist candidate for mayor of Oakland, California in 1901. Muckracking author Sinclair ran for many offices, but most prominently was the Democratic nominee for governor of California in 1934.

Answer: Gopher

Grandy served four terms as a Republican (1987-1995) and then narrowly lost a Republican primary race for governor of Iowa in 1994.

Answer: Mickey Rooney

After riding "The Good Ship Lollipop", Shirley Temple ran an unsuccessful campaign for a California congressional seat in 1967. She later served as a diplomat. Sheila Kuehl, who played Zelda in "The Many Loves of Doby Gillis", has served as a California state senator, and "Diff'rent Strokes" star Gary Coleman was a candidate in California's wacky 2003 gubernatorial recall election. Rooney's character Whitey Marsh was elected mayor in "Boys Town", but that is the closest Rooney came to public office.

Answer: Cincinnati

Elected in 1977 at the age of 33, Springer served for one year. In 1982, he lost a Democratic primary for governor of Ohio.

Answer: Fred Thompson

Jim Bunning played baseball for the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies before being elected to the U.S. senate. Bradley played basketball for the New York Knicks before being elected to the senate. While Watts was known in the U.S. primarily as a college football star, he did play professionally in Canada before being elected to the congress, from Oklahoma. Fred Thompson is an actor who served in the U.S. senate.

Others who made the jump from pro sports to politics have included footballer/congressmen Steve Largent and Jack Kemp and pro wrestler Jesse "the Body" Ventura, who served as governor of Minnesota.

The old Washington Senators baseball team got its name from Arthur Gorman, a former member of the team (then the Washington Nationals) who was elected to the U.S. senate.

Answer: George Murphy

Ronald Reagan was another movie star and Screen Actors Guild president who was elected to high office, but he was elected governor, not senator, and in 1966. Douglas was a Broadway star who represented California in congress and lost a race for the senate to Richard Nixon in 1950. Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in 2003.

Interestingly, in 1943's "This is the Army", Murphy played Ronald Reagan's father.

Answer: False

Utah Senator Jake Garn, a former Navy pilot, served as a payload specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985 and Florida Senator Bill Nelson served in the same capacity aboard Columbia in 1986.

Answer: Bill Bradley

Bradley was captain of the U.S. basketball team at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Campbell was on the Judo team during that same Olympics but did not win a gold.